Creative encounters at Vaucluse House
A Q&A with the 2025–26 artists-in-residence
The inaugural Vaucluse House Creative and Cultural Residency provided space for four artists who were working across different mediums to explore the site’s layered histories, architecture, gardens and broader cultural landscape. The artists enjoyed a year’s access to studio spaces in the former caretaker’s cottage on the estate.
We asked the residents to reflect on how dedicated time and space on the Vaucluse House estate shaped their research, supported their creative practice and opened new ways of engaging with this significant historic place.
The four residents were textile artist Henrietta Cheshire, sound artist and researcher Philip Samartzis, visual artist Diana Baker Smith and writer Lucie Stevens. You can read more about the artists and their practice in the announcement introducing the successful residents.
It’s been a wonderful new experience for me to have a space fully dedicated to my practice and my project, in a peaceful and beautiful setting.
Q How did having access to a dedicated workspace support your practice?
Henrietta: This has been the greatest benefit of the residency. Having a dedicated studio space, rather than working from home, has given me uninterrupted time to immerse myself in my practice. It has also allowed me to develop my creative ideas at a more considered pace while strengthening my research skills and deepening my confidence as an artist.
Philip: Having a dedicated workspace over an extended period allowed the work to unfold through repeated visits, reflection and revision. The continuity of returning each week proved just as important as access to Vaucluse House itself.
Diana: Having a dedicated workspace provided a critical anchor for my residency. From this base, the gardens and surrounding environment became an extension of the studio itself. Dialogue with the estate’s gardeners evolved into a core component of my creative process, allowing site-specific knowledge to directly inform the development of the work.
Lucie: I’ve only ever worked from home before, so it’s been a wonderful new experience for me to have a space fully dedicated to my practice and my project, in a peaceful and beautiful setting.
I think it is impossible not to respond to the environment at Vaucluse House. For those of us who live in the city, the scale of the open space, the gardens and the quiet have been profoundly inspiring.
Q What was the value of working alongside other artists-in-residence at Vaucluse House?
Henrietta: Whilst I had limited contact with the other residents, mainly because our studio days did not often overlap, it was wonderful to be part of a community of creatives and to have colleagues with whom I could share ideas. It was also a pleasure to build connections with the staff at Vaucluse House, particularly members of the horticultural team, whose knowledge and generosity enriched my experience of the site.
Philip: Working alongside artists from different disciplines offered a rare opportunity to see how others approached their research and practice. While each project remains distinct, the conversations that emerged over time encouraged reflection and often led me to reconsider my own methods and assumptions.
Diana: Working alongside the other residents was highly rewarding. It was instructive to observe the diverse ways they negotiated the site and its histories, particularly in noting what drew their attention, how they approached material research, and how their distinct practices allowed their projects to evolve over time.
Lucie: It’s inspiring to learn about other creative practices and to hear about the projects and interests of my fellow residents. Our projects are all quite different, so it’s great to have the chance to learn more about the site and its history through the work the other residents are pursuing.
Working over many months revealed details, relationships and patterns that would have remained unnoticed during a shorter residency.
Q How did your practice evolve or develop during the residency?
Henrietta: My practice has always focused on historical stories, particularly those centred on women’s work. During the residency, however, I found myself moving in a new and quite unexpected direction, towards the natural and built environment. This evolution has been a very welcome development. I think it is impossible not to respond to the environment at Vaucluse House. For those of us who live in the city, the scale of the open space, the gardens and the quiet have been profoundly inspiring.
Philip: The residency resulted in a substantial new body of photographic and sound-based work that could only have emerged through sustained engagement with the site. Working over many months revealed details, relationships and patterns that would have remained unnoticed during a shorter residency.
Diana: The residency provided the time and space to experiment with Super 8 film and analogue photography without a predetermined outcome. It also allowed me to develop site-responsive methods through archival research, walking, observation, and dialogue with the gardening and museum staff.
Lucie: When I started researching the women of the Wentworth family at the beginning of my residency, I had no idea of what I’d discover or how it might inform a new work. Six months in, I have a clear premise for a children’s novel with characters I’m excited to write.
Q How did the history, architecture and landscape of Vaucluse House influence or inform your work?
Henrietta: Oh gosh, where to start? The extensive grounds and the visual beauty of the house have had a profound impact on my work. I have also been deeply affected by the atmosphere of the place – watching visitors and schoolchildren explore the gardens, tearoom and house has given me a strong sense of how Vaucluse House continues to be a living, shared space and has brought me much joy.
I spent much of my first three months immersed in researching the history of the house and the Wentworth family, and from that research developed my major work The Settle Chair. It is a project I would never have embarked upon had I only been visiting the site from time to time.
Philip: The longer I worked at Vaucluse House, the less interested I became in documenting what was visible. Instead, the work shifted towards the layered histories, material processes and environmental changes that continue to shape the site.
Diana: The history, architecture and landscape of Vaucluse House, situated on Birrabirragal and Gadigal Country, informed a new body of work spanning analogue film, photography and digital video. I was drawn to the story (which may or may not be true) of the Irish convict Henry Browne Hayes importing over 100 tonnes of Irish soil to the estate to repel snakes, revealing how myth, belief and colonial anxieties became materially inscribed in the landscape.
Lucie: During my research process, I came across the story that’s formed the basis of a new children’s novel. I’ve commenced work on this new manuscript and am excited to see how it evolves.
Q What would you say to other artists considering applying for the Vaucluse House Creative and Cultural Residency?
Henrietta: Research your travel options: Vaucluse House is quite remote, and long or difficult commutes will detract from your experience. Otherwise, go into the residency with an open mind and be prepared to be delighted by the opportunities that the space will present you with, which may be very unexpected.
Philip: Time is the greatest strength of the residency. If your work develops through sustained research rather than immediate outcomes, the opportunity to return to the same place over many months fundamentally changes the kinds of questions you are able to ask.
Working there over an extended period allowed the site’s complex historical, ecological and material dynamics to gradually come into focus.
Diana: The gardeners often describe the estate as having its own microclimate, a term that seems to capture its distinct temporal and spatial logic. Working there over an extended period allowed the site’s complex historical, ecological and material dynamics to gradually come into focus.
Lucie: Having a dedicated creative space through the residency is a great way to commit to consistently making art across a 12-month period. It’s also been great to get to know my fellow residents and to be part of the MHNSW community.
Learn more
Creative and cultural residency – Vaucluse House
Take inspiration from a beautiful harbourside setting on Birrabirragal and Gadigal Country and enjoy the use of a non-residential studio at the former caretaker’s cottage at Vaucluse House for 12 months
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Growing the living collection – camellias at Vaucluse House
At Vaucluse House, Museums of History NSW cares for a highly significant collection of historical camellias, including several rare cultivars dating back to the mid-19th century
Conservation in action: South paddock rear access stairs and pathway project
For over a century, the pathway and stairs connecting Olola Avenue to the south paddock have provided an access route into the Vaucluse House grounds
Conservation in action: Vaucluse House outbuilding conservation works
Dating from around 1840, these outbuildings are in the service yard, the historical core of household service activities at Vaucluse House
Conservation in action: Wentworth Mausoleum conservation works
Completed in 1874, the Wentworth Mausoleum is a rare and significant example of private Victorian funerary architecture in Australia