Organisers of this year's Dobell Festival clearly missed the memo about working with kids and animals.
The month-long celebration in June of Lake Mac's most famous artist and his legacy will feature free, family-friendly artmaking sessions, an art program for children with anxiety and a first-of-its-kind Dog Day Out at the Museum of Art and Culture, yapang.
Lake Macquarie Mayor Kay Fraser said this year's program featured more than 30 events and activities across the city covering everything from painting and drawing to music, theatre and writing.
"Sir William Dobell was renowned for his passion, innovation and experimentation, and the Dobell Festival program reflects those qualities," she said.
Perhaps less known was Dobell's love of dogs – particularly the spaniels that kept him company in his Wangi Wangi home in his later years.
That canine connection inspired the Sunday 30 June Dog Day Out, with pet photography, digital pet sketches, pet portrait painting, a dog-inspired writing workshop and live dog-themed music on the cards in the MAC yapang outdoor sculpture park.
Artist and writer Helen Hopcroft said dogs had for good reason been an artistic focal point for thousands of years.
"Artists draw and depict what is in the world around them, but dogs are also just stupendously beautiful animals," she said.
"I think it's great to reflect on how the dog as a subject is making its way back into contemporary art, whether that's music, visual art, writing or even to a certain extent theatre."
However, Ms Hopcroft was under no illusions about the challenges that might arise about trying to work with packs of pooches for the Dog Day Out.
"We're expecting a certain amount of friendly chaos on the day, I've got to say, but we're really looking forward to it," she said.
Other highlights of this year's festival program include:
- The Young Dobell exhibition opening on 15 June showcasing portraits and landscapes by local young artists
- One Song Sing in Pearson St Mall Charlestown on 16 June
- A performance of Portraits by Catapult Dance at Warners Bay Theatre on 22 June
- A Wellbeing Through Art session on 25 June at Morisset Library, bawarramalang
The festival kicks off on Friday 31 May with the opening of the 47th annual Dobell Festival of Art and Craft presented by Wangi Lions Club, showcasing more than 300 artworks and hundreds of craft item entries from across the Hunter.
