What a wait! After years of witnessing the site in Katoomba slowly transform into a new social space for creativity, learning and relaxing, the new Cultural Centre has opened to the public with the first curated exhibition in the Regional Gallery titled ' Picturing the Great Divide: Visions from Australia’s Blue Mountains'. The Cultural Centre web site says of this exhibition;

'The inaugural exhibition at the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre will demonstrate the powerful impact the Blue Mountains region has had on the cultural life of the nation. The diverse works on display will identify and celebrate the extraordinary nature of this world heritage landscape. Further to this, the exhibition will trace the constant hold the Blue Mountains catchment has had on the imagination of visual artists since the early days of European settlement.'

The New Centre also has a new public library and a World Heritage Exhibition which is devoted to education about the distinctive environment, history and culture of the Blue Mountains region. This display is called 'Into The Blue' and is an interactive space to explore the diverse regions of the Blue Mountains.

In other news, the gallery which represents me in Katoomba has recently had a name change from 'Katoomba Fine Art' to 'Lost Bear Gallery'. The gallery won't be hard to miss as you travel down Lurline Street with the newly repositioned Ian Swift sculpture of a Bear as sentinel out front!