“… I do not know what it will turn into. That will depend upon the people who come and on changing conditions. I can foresee many possible developments. It might become a training school for teachers of arts and crafts. It might become an industrial concern. It might become a colony of artists and craftsmen, potters and printers… or of course, it may just go phut!” ... Winifred West, 1941 ... Well it seems for all intensions purposes "phut" Sturt has gone ... at least the purposeful PLACEmaking for makers where contestable ideas are tested and new understandings are sought. STURT was a 'purposeful musingplace' in all its machinations until it was "paused".
Winifred West operated on the premise that as humans beings we are incapable of miracle making but we are all capable creating the circumstances whereby they can happen. Alternatively, humans are quite capable of stifling those opportunities and all too often we do. That is how things go 'phut'!!
JUNE 16 2026
Sadly, the NEW STURT does not have a purposeful constitution with its 'purpose being' simply to EXIST. Again, sadly this is a syndrome that has become THEnorm in the corporate world and where operations manifest this it has much to do with the avoidance of governance being transparently accountable.
This is no surprise given that the NEW STURT constitution was OUTsourced and thus it is NOT the outcome of deliberation within the STURT COMMUNITY OF OWNERSHIP AND INTEREST (COI) … https://whatmightwinifredwestthink.blogspot.com/.../commu...
It is a somewhat extraordinary circumstance for an operation to seek the FREINDLYsupport of a community that has not been realistically and meaningfully engaged with when it was being constituted. Yes, some of the COI were surveyed and Winifred West Company members put in train the process that included a dedicated Sturt Review Committee.Nevertheless, in the end the ’NEW STURT' essentially exists under the egis of Winifred West Schools governance – AKA Frensham Schools.
STURT as an 'institution' evolved as a PLACE where MAKING MATTERED.
STURT, fundamentally, was "paused" because its governance deemed that 'money mattered more' and thus the MAKING was stopped. FISCALmatters cannot be ignored but 'purposefulness' need/should not be impinged upon this because once 'PURPOSE' becomes ambiguous it evaporates, it is lost. Henry Ford knew that a business that only existed to make a profit was a poor business.
It seems that little to no attention has been given the STURTcollection or the cultural and intellectual property invested in it. The silence here is palpable and concerning. Commitment is not what you say … Commitment is what you do. So when there is no clarity in an operation's purpose, the difference between an opportunity and a distraction are blurred.
Winifred West, the quintessential PLACEmaker, envisaged STURT as a place where making mattered – and purposefully so. She also set about creating the circumstances whereby miraculous things might happen and a community of supporters purposefully gathered around STURT towards the achievement of miraculous things through ‘making'. She was cognisant of the fact that miraculous things could be either nurtured or stifled.
It turns out that in pausing STURT, governance stifled the entity and operation and its purposefulness has likewise been suppressed.
Sadly, I CANNOT be friendly towards an operation that quite deliberately lacks purposefulness, that gives FISCALmatters precedence, and that no longer aspires to make making matter within a CULTURALlandsacape within which it belongs.
People belong to places, places never really belong to the people that inhabit and exploit them. The question hanging here is 'What Might Winifred Think’ ?! ... https://whatmightwinifredwestthink.blogspot.com/
...................
Having been denied 'membership' and with Colin Levy being denied twice as well, this missive out of the blue leaves me incredulous and disappointed. Having spent a life aiming to MAKE MAKING MATTER and over the past two or so years watching on as to discover Winifred West Schools transmogrify into FRENSHAM SCHOOL, well it has been bewildering to say the least. .... On April 20 I said VALE to Sturt when I was told that "STURT was closed and that there was nobody available to speak to. Then I noted that a wondrous idea that has passed.... Given all that has passed and with the newSTURT having 'no purpose' except to exist, and to be invited 'personally' to pay $50 pa to be 'friendly' towards an corporatised entity that seems not to know what its purpose is or why exists beyond being 'profitable', that's an insult to one's intelligence .... Henry Ford said that any business that existed only to make a 'profit' was a poor business. SO, the patronising disingenuousness embedded in my invitation 'to be a friend' of an operation that clearly has lost its moral compass, and so, so sadly so, well then the embedded insult is palpable. ..... Winifred West shared a life changing idea with me not long after arriving at STURT. She pointed out that human beings could not perform miracles BUT they were able to create the circumstances whereby they might happen OR alternatively they could stifle their chances. She was a miraculous PLACEmaker and on the evidence to hand the circumstances for miracles at STURT currently, well they are being stifled – and sadly so.... Chris Deeprose, Ian Frew, Greg Healey, John Edye, Noeline Brown, Noel Frankham, Carl Bjorklund, Brian Parkes, Grace Cochrane, Julie Ewington, Pat Hoffie, Kevin Murray, Mary Hackett, Mary Machen, Lola Greeno, Toru Mori, Alice Whish, Valerie Odewahn, Mark Bishop, Joe Eisenberg, Helmut Lueckenhausen, Paul Brennan, Cedar Prest,et al
.................................
RECEIVED & NOTED
A further response in due course
Regards,
Ray Norman
Polemicist, Cultural Producer, Cultural Geographer, Researcher
zingHOUSEunlimited
The lifestyle design enterprise and research network
PH: *** *** 376
eMAIL: raynorman7250@gmail.com
Delamere Cres Trevallyn TAS 7250
WEBsites: http://www.raynorman7250.blogspot.com
“A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.” Thomas Paine
“The standard you walk past is the standard you accept” David Morrison
………………………………………………………...
From: contact@sturtgalleryandstudios.com.au <contact@sturtgalleryandstudios.com.au>
Date: Friday, 12 June 2026 at 3:38 pm
To: Ray Norman <raynorman7250@gmail.com>
Subject: Friends of Sturt
Dear Ray,
We hope this email finds you well.
While we did not receive a formal subscription request from you to join
the new Sturt community, we know from your emails that you were
interested in joining. As you know, it has taken some time to relaunch
Sturt in its independent form, and with our new Board we are still in
the establishment phase. While the structure of membership has evolved
since we first announced the new entity last year, we are pleased to
formally relaunch Friends of Sturt as a recognised supporter community,
ratified within Sturt’s constitution.
We would like to invite you to become a Friend of Sturt. You can find
out more and sign up using this link:
We are also very aware of your extraordinary contribution to Sturt,
having established Sturt Metal in 1969, and led the studio until 1985.
Your training and mentorship of so many silversmiths and jewellers is an
incredible legacy.
Kind regards,
Sturt Gallery and Studios
Cnr Range Road & Waverly Parade
Mittagong NSW 2575
ABN: 77 692 376 426
See less
No comments:
Post a Comment