The Blackwood River Arts Trail celebrates fifth anniversary

The Blackwood River Arts Trail (BRAT) is celebrating its fifth anniversary this April with its most exciting program yet.

Running from Saturday, April 5, to Sunday, April 20, the trail features over 100 artists across over 30 venues in the Blackwood River region.

An amazing array of art forms can be found along the trail, including sculpture, painting, ceramics, textiles and wearable art, mosaics, weaving, felting, illustration, poetry and photography. Across two weeks, artists will be opening their home studios for an intriguing glimpse into their processes and creative environments, with exhibitions on display in cafes, gardens, gift shops, small galleries and collective spaces. There is also the opportunity to participate in a variety of creative workshops offered by artists along the trail.

Work on display includes that of both emerging and established artists. In Balingup, Tracey Saggers’ work featuring painting and found object sculpture is on display at Jalbrook Estate, and in Kirup Gary Smitherman’s intriguing landscape art and sculpture at House of Dada. In Nannup, the youngest BRAT artist, eight-year-old Charlie Baker, will exhibit his pencil and charcoal studies, while Tromp Studios will feature a display of painting and felt/textiles. Cassi Jo Davis and Trish Durham will exhibit their painting, textiles, jewellery, and sculpture in Goorbilyup Gallery in Bridgetown, while Monique Chapman, a leather crafter, exhibits her work in Boyup Brook, along with Anna Murchison’s painting and poetry at Curlew Estate, Mayanup.

Returning for 2025 is the popular Blackwood River Film Festival, showing films by Australian and overseas filmmakers on the first (Nannup), second (Bridgetown), and third (Balingup) weekends of the trail.

Attendees can catch two feature films and nine new short films as well as rescreenings of the 2022, 2023, and 2024 short film compilations. Screenings take place at 3pm, 5pm, and 7pm at the Nannup Town Hall on Saturday, April 5, and Sunday, April 6; at the Repertory Theatre Bridgetown on Saturday, April 12, and Sunday, April 13; and a new venue for 2025, the Balingup Town Hall on Saturday, April 19, and Sunday, April 20.

The Blackwood River Arts Trail offers a unique reason for a weekend or midweek getaway and an opportunity to come and meet local artists and makers in the heart of the South West.

The Blackwood River Arts Trail and The Blackwood River Film Festival run from Saturday, April 5 to Sunday, April 20, 2025. For more information, head to blackwoodriverartstrail.com