The New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM)

The New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM) is a living museum of national significance located in Armidale in the heart of the New England North West region of NSW.

NERAM is a leading cultural and arts tourism destination in regional Australia, and home to one of the nation’s most significant art collections outside the capital cities, holding a collection of more than 5000 works of historical, modern and contemporary art. NERAM presents a dynamic program of exhibitions, educational and public events.

NERAM opened its doors in 1983 as a purpose-built art gallery for the Howard Hinton Collection of some 1,300 artworks donated to the Armidale Teachers’ College by Howard Hinton ESQ, OBE between 1929 and 1948. The museum is home to six gallery spaces, the Museum of Printing, The Packsaddle Artist Studio and Residence, the NERAM shop and NERAM café.

NERAM is the custodian of three important collections of Australian art: the Howard Hinton Collection, the Chandler Coventry Collection and the NERAM Collection. Together they offer a comprehensive overview of Australian art history unmatched in regional Australia. These collections include significant works by Australian and international artists such as Streeton, Roberts, Gruner, Preston, Whiteley, Gleeson, Tuckson and Christo, to name just a few.

MEMBERSHIP

The Friends of NERAM Inc. is the key fundraising group supporting NERAM and your membership actively assists the operations of the Museum to provide a range of arts and cultural activities across our region. The Friends of NERAM financially support major exhibitions and programs at the Museum.

Join in and participate in a wide range of enjoyable social activities including NERAM open gardens, Christmas and member dinners, tours, regular exhibition openings and special events.

Becoming a Friend provides vital support for NERAM and connects you with an active community of people passionate about art.

THE COVENTRY COLLECTION

The Chandler Coventry Collection was described by the former Director of the Australian National Gallery, James Mollison, as “one of the most important private collections of contemporary Australian art”.

Chandler Coventry (1924-1999) was born into an established grazing family in New England. As a gallery director in Sydney, he was considered a key innovator who helped shape the Sydney art scene in the 1970s and 80s, supporting a new vanguard of Australian artists while also having an international outlook.

He established his own collection of contemporary Australian art that recognised innovation and exciting artists of the time, with a focus on expressionist and abstractionist painters. Coventry’s proclivity for the new and lack of loyalty to any one style or movement is evident in the remarkable diversity of the collection, which includes works by Ralph Balson, Peter Booth, Gunter Christmann, Janet Dawson, Elaine Haxton, Leah MacKinnon, Michael Taylor, Dick Watkins, Brett Whiteley, Christo, Jeanne-Claude and Charlotte Moorman and was donated to NERAM in the late 1970s.