A 3 day celebration of all things MCM: the houses, the art, and of course, the parties!
We delivered these great events:
Our 2023 festival included several smaller capacity events. Our members always get first dibs and discounted pricing for our events.
We kickstarted our Beaumaris Modernist Festival with some smoothly crooned tunes at our spiritual home, the fabulous Beaumaris Bowls Club, and danced the night away to the dulcet tones of the Garth Ploog Trio.
Frances Burke was a pioneering Australian textile and interiors designer, who collaborated with Robin Boyd and many of his contemporaries. Boyd’s 1953 Bridgford House, commissioned by Charles “Bill” Bridgford and wife Phyllis, was transformed into a ‘House Museum’ and lecture space, exhibiting a selection of rare and original mid-century Frances Burke fabrics.
The feature sessions were on the Sunday, with Prof Philip Goad in conversation with Maggie Edmond, architect and former owner of the Bridgford house.
Framed and unframed Burke fabrics in the exhibition were sold and a significant amount was raised for The Make Fund, a charitable fund designed to give back to Australian Design research.
Two en plein air art classes reproduced a mid-century home in Beaumaris in mixed media.
With thank to Beaumaris Art Group, and art teachers, Anne Conomy and Su Fishpool.
In this fabulous mixed media collage class, kids aged between 8-14 years bought a once magnificent, but sadly now demolished, mid-century modern Beaumaris home back to life.
Using colour, pattern and collage techniques, and inspired by the works of Melbourne artist Howard Arkley, the class was led by Alycia Palermo, head of art at Beaumaris Primary School.
Andrew Gaynor took 3 groups around on a bus and walking tour to explore Clarice Beckett’s Beaumaris, beautifully captured in her paintings.
Andrew has been researching Clarice Beckett since the early 2000s and has walked Beckett’s trails identifying exact locations for many of her paintings, particularly around the artist’s home suburb of Beaumaris.
Attendees enjoyed an intimate house tour of two incredible MCM Beaumaris homes (addresses revealed on the day), as well as a guided walking tour of the Eastern part of Beaumaris, featuring houses designed by architects, Chancellor & Patrick, Eric Lyon, John Baird & Kevin Knight.
The tour included one of the most intact streetscapes in Beaumaris, with some fascinating facts about the history of this area, which included a boarding school, a golf course, a farm and a house called ‘The Castle’ in the Deauville Estate.