Another successful year for PBEAT

The Pearl Beach Arboretum Environmental Art Trail (PBEAT2025) continues until Sunday, April 27.

Entry is available free during daylight hours with a catalogue available in the brochure boxes on the site.

Visitors can vote for the People’s Choice Award until 5pm on Saturday, April 26, via the QR code in the catalogue.

Visitors are also encouraged to enrol in the adult art workshop with local artist Marijke Greenway on Sunday, April 13, from 9am to 12pm.

Greenway is donating her time to PBEAT2025, which has involved a considerable cost outlay by the Arboretum, despite generous support from Belle Property Central Coast, Creighton’s Funerals, Central Coast Council and others.

A good time to see PBEAT2025 will be on Easter Saturday, April 19, when the Arboretum will host a café and an Art Fair from 10am to 3pm.

Also being held in Pearl Beach that day is the annual Easter Saturday Book Fair and Café at the Pearl Beach Memorial Hall.

The independent judge of the sculpture competition Anne Flanagan, a board member of the Sydney Biennale, announced the winners of the PBEAT2025 competition at a Harmony event in the Arboretum on Sunday, March 16.

First Prize ($3,000) went to Joanne Mott for Drop Inns; highly commended ($1,000) to Andrew Alter for A Stretch of The Imagination; highly commended ($1,000) to Vaneesa Drinkwater for Colour Your World; school prize ($500) to Terrigal High School Stage 5 Visual Arts for Ephemeral Embrace; highly commended under-16 ($250 plus $250 To Umina Beach Public School) to Freya Gillet for Hidden Beauty; highly commended under-16 ($250 plus $250 To Norwest Christian College) to Skye Neate for Drop Bears Are Real; and highly commended under-16 ($250 plus $250 To Pennant Hills High School) to Eve Bodley for Balls In The Air.

“The Pearl Beach Arboretum has become a significant cultural hub on the Central Coast,” Flanagan said.

The Pearl Beach Environmental Art Trail (PBEAT) is a biannual exhibition with a $3,000 prize for environmental art.

Now in its fourth year, PBEAT attracts local, regional and interstate artists.

This year 36 artists entered and installed works in response to the landscape.

PBEAT is set in the remarkable Pearl Beach Arboretum – a powerful space for artists to engage with and respond to and the project is well supported by the community.

The opening for PBEAT 2025 included a culturally rich performance program showcasing local artists.

There is an extensive program including workshops and events through the five-week event.

This year, the inaugural Artist-in-Residence, Fiona Gavino, plus the Local Emerging Artist, Anna Francesca Seymour, have been a highlight.

Gavino is a highly skilled weaver from West Australia and her energetic presence at the Arboretum was palpable.

She made a big impact with her large forms woven during the residency, with the community in a series of workshops and directly with the Mingaletta Aboriginal Centre in Umina.

Seymour spoke with enthusiasm about the opportunity, as an emerging artist, to work with Gavino at the Arboretum.