Art at Trades Hall

Throughout it's long and colourful history Trades Hall has been a great advocate of the arts. This commitment followed the tradition of the Working Mens Colleges in England as espoused by Ruskin, Rossetti and Burne-Jones. In 1867 the Painters and Decorators Union established the Artisans School School of Design in the small, wooden building that was the original Trades Hall. These classes continued in the new building from 1874 under the tutelage of Louis Buvelot and William Bugg amongst others. The alumni included TomRoberts and Fredrick McCubbin, the fathers of modern Australian landscape painting. The enduring relationship between the arts and unionism continues to this day embracing painting, ceramics, graphic arts, writing, poetry, artist exchanges and grants, theatre, music and publishing.