Steve Cox has been teaching painting and drawing at art schools around Melbourne for the last 30 years. However, over the last few years he has witnessed the systematic eradication of drawing and painting from the art school experience. Originally Steve imagined this must have been a local administrative mistake, but it appears to be a global phenomenon. There are many who believe that painting and drawing are irrelevant to the future facing Contemporary Art. Has the concept of art that once sustained painting and had its day? Steve believes students are now facing ‘Art School Lite’.
Category: Newsletter
Posts that are sent to subscribers announcing a new UNFUL issue
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James Walton: interview
James Walton’s interview in the Bass Coast Post
I wrote the first lines of a poem in 1970 and didn’t write creatively again until late 2013 when I tuned 60 years of age. I finished that poem for a workshop with Mark Tredinnick who told me I, “demanded a lot of the reader but it was worth the journey”.
I suppose that was the moment, along with The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald placing a poem in the then Saturday Spectrum in May 2014, and then a number of placings in local and international poetry competitions in quite rapid succession.
It must have all been bottled up there somewhere and got released nearing retirement.
Archived at https://archive.is/j39LR
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Stuart Barnes shortlisted in 2026 Montreal Prize
Congratulations, Stuart!
Learning to Sing: A Bird’s-eye View
The Montreal International Poetry Prize was founded and incorporated as a not-for-profit organization in 2010 by the poet and critic Asa Boxer, with the help of Peter Abramowicz and Len Epp. It sponsors a crowd-funded biennial competition, awarding one prize of $20,000 to one poet for a single poem.
The Montreal International Poetry Prize has become a truly global competition, supported by its international jury of award-winning poets from North America, the Caribbean, the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, Nigeria, and Uganda, and with participants from more than 100 countries.
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Anne Casey wins NYC Big Book Award
NYC Big Book Award is committed to finding the audiences for excellent books and to celebrate New York City.
Anne Casey’s Seang has won this year’s Big Book Award in the category of Poetry—Social Justice, Migration & Political Witness.
Congratulations, Anne!
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‘Queenscliff Monotypes’ by Susan Wald
Susan Wald’s Queenscliff Monotypes is opening on 26 March 2026, and continues until 13 April 2026, at Queenscliff Gallery. She will be at the gallery on Sunday 29 March 2026 to talk about the work. Details below …
Exhibition preview: Queenscliff Monotypes
Event link: QG Exhibitions
Acquisition enquiries: theo@qgallery.com.au— Facebook: QueenscliffGallery
— Google: Queenscliff Gallery
— Instagram: @queenscliffgallery
— Twitter: @Q_cliffGallery
— YouTube: queenscliffgallery -
Alex Skovron’s Switchpoints
Alex Skovron’s new book, Switchpoints, is a collection of 100 narratives in prose and
verse. It was published in March 2026. A link to the publishers, Puncher & Wattmann,
can be found at the foot of this page.
A philosopher sets about compiling an encyclopaedia of embraces; an artist accuses
her mirror of a lifetime of dishonesty; a flâneur collects melodies from the faces of
passing strangers; an author envisions the ultimate map charting every single move
of his existence; a girl dreams of a magic box that would tell her everything …
Switchpoints, Alex Skovron’s twelfth book, is a collection of 100 short narrative pieces, some in prose, others in verse. It is inhabited by a broad assortment of individuals of all ages, from children to the elderly, visited at particular and possibly significant moments in their daily life—moments of doubt or discovery, inertia or inspiration, of personal reflection, reminiscence or philosophical musing. There are skewed apprehensions and tender recognitions, lingering regrets and poignant realizations—‘switchpoint’ moments that trigger a jolt in thought or demeanour, or signal a shift in viewpoint or sense of self; or may not. The prod might be a line from a novel or poem, a painting or a piece of music, a landmark, a famous disaster, or perhaps no more than a sudden idea, a fading dream or an elusive recollection. Underpinning it all is a fascination with the workings of mind, the riddles of memory, the mystique of time.
Switchpoints can be purchased directly from the publisher.