The Artists Studio at the Coal Loader supports artists and creatives with a community-focused and socially-engaged interest in sustainability and the environment to develop their practice over a 12-month, fully subsidised residency.
Residents are supported to host open studios, workshops, talks and other events that invite residents and visitors alike to make, reflect, learn and connect.
In 2026, eco-arts collective The Tree Veneration is in-residence, with a different collective member in residence every six weeks.
About The Tree Veneration Society
The Tree Veneration Society is a registered charity and transdisciplinary, contemporary eco-arts collective based in Sydney, dedicated to trees, their ecosystems, and human interactions with them.
They aim to inspire their audience to respect the natural world and commit to protecting it. They do this by offering sensorial experiences with nature through intergenerational workshops, combining environmental education with art, and multidisciplinary exhibitions and events.
Their collective commitment ensures they are a catalyst for change. They draw on the power of nature and art to transcend culture and language barriers, to pull diverse communities together and facilitate inclusivity. They create space for reflection, conversation, and action.
https://treevenerationsociety.com/
Current Artist-in-Residence: Vanessa Wright
Themes of climate justice, the natural world, and human inspiration form the foundation of Vanessa Wrights’s artistic practice. Through immersive landscape paintings, she offers moments of stillness—inviting viewers to escape everyday life and journey to places often inspired by her personal experiences.
Forests under threat frequently appear in her work, painted as both beautiful subjects and acts of environmental advocacy. By incorporating foraged materials and sculptural elements, she creates layered, tactile compositions that provoke curiosity. Her painting technique bridges classical methods with a contemporary edge, pushing the boundaries of surface and three-dimensional form.
Vanessa’s portraiture is often set against bold graphic backdrops and explores identity, emotion, and narrative through a highly visual lens. Vanessa’s work has been selected for the 2024 Greenway Art Prize, the Portia Geach Memorial Award, the 2025 Vincent Prize, and the Fisher’s Ghost Art Award.
Upcoming workshops and open studios:
For the latest updates on upcoming workshops, Open Studios, and opportunities to engage with our resident artists, follow us on Instagram at @artsandculturenthsyd. It’s the best place to hear about what’s coming up and how you can get involved.
Find out more about our other studio artists and collectivies:
Creative studios artists and collectives
