The CSA national conference Colour Matrix Sydney 2025, to be held on October 31 to November 2, has a diverse program of 27 presentations in sessions on colour science (five), colour education (six), environmental colour design (five), colour naming (two) and colour in art and art materials (nine). Each morning and afternoon session will conclude with a Q&A session to provide an opportunity for our speakers to respond to each other’s presentations and to questions from the in-person and online audience. There are also six hands-on activities relating to colour in art, design, architecture, science, digital technology and nature. Many of our presenters have accepted our invitation to attend all or most of the remainder of the conference free of charge, which we hope will provide plenty of opportunities for informal discussions between these colour specialists from numerous different disciplines and our other attendees.
Registration
One downside of our wealth of presenters is that places for other in-person attendees will be limited. To help address this problem, we're asking in-person attendees to register for the three days separately, and we're also providing the option to register for in-person attendance for one day and online attendance for the remainder of the conference for a small additional fee. While requiring separate registration for the three days may be a little irksome for people who want to attend the whole conference, we hope this arrangement will allow more people to secure a place in the sessions that most interest them. To help our members to avoid missing out on a place, we’re restricting registration to CSA members for seven days from the opening of in-person registration on Monday July 28, after which any remaining places will also be open to non-members.
The registration links are:
Friday Oct 31 (be sure to indicate your 1st and 2nd preferences for the PM activities)
https://coloursociety.org.au/event-6269269
Saturday November 1
https://coloursociety.org.au/event-6269298
Sunday November 2
https://coloursociety.org.au/event-6269299
Online attendance (Friday AM, Saturday and Sunday)
https://coloursociety.org.au/event-6269327
Bookings for the conference dinner on the evening of Saturday November 1 will be taken closer to the event.
Pricing
Non-members (full-price and concessional), please note that if you plan to attend in-person for all three days, the cost ($330/$240) would be about the same as if you join as a member to gain access to early registration, and then pay the discounted members’ rate. You can join at https://coloursociety.org.au/membership
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All prices include access to all recordings
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Non-member full price
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Non-member concession
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Member full price
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Member concession
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In-person attendance per day including light lunch & teas
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110
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80
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75
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60
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One day in-person attendance including light lunch & teas plus full online access
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150
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120
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115
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100
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Full (2.5 days) online access
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110
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80
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75
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60
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Provisional Timetable (subject to change without notice)
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FRIDAY OCT 31
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COLOUR SCIENCE +
SITE VISITS AND ACTIVITIES
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9:00 – 9:20
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Doors open 9:00 am
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9:20 – 9:30
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Welcome and speaker introductions
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9:30 – 10:00
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Jean Pretorius - A Book with a View: Dr Christine Ladd-Franklin’s “Colour and Colour Theories” (1929)
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10:00 – 10:45 (Keynote)
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Paul Martin - Colour in the Eye and Brain
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10:45 – 11:15
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David Briggs - The Apparent Physicality of Colour
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11:15 - 11:35
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MORNING TEA
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11:35 – 12:05
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Erin Goddard - Colour Constancy and Attention
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12:05 – 12:35
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Branka Spehar - Colour–Shape Correspondences: The Role of Complexity
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12:35 – 1:00
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Questions and discussion
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1:00 – 2:00
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LUNCH
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2:00 – 3:00
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Ophthalmology Lab tour, Sydney Eye Hospital (limit = 10) OR Caroline Simpson Library and Research Collection tour (limit 25)
OR Royal Botanic Garden colour scavenger hunt (limit 25)
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3:30 – 4:30
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Painting conservation lab tour, AGNSW (limit 44)
OR Colour schemes along Macquarie Street walking tour (limit 25)
OR Royal Botanic Garden colour scavenger hunt (limit 25)
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SATURDAY NOV 1
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COLOUR EDUCATION +
COLOUR IN ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
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9:00 – 9:20
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Doors open 9:00 am
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9:20 – 9:30
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Speaker introductions
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9:30 -10:00 on Zoom
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Stephen Westland and Maggie Maggio – Universal Principles of Color: The Story Behind the Book
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10:00 – 10:30
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Edward Charbonneau - Color Theory and Literacy: a Reflection on an In-progress Color Course
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10:30 – 11:00
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David Witt – “Colormxr” and Interactive Color Creation: A New Approach to Color Learning through RGB+CMY Color Mixing
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11:00 – 11:20
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MORNING TEA
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11:20 - 11:50
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Paul Green-Armytage - Teaching without Teaching
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11:50 12:00
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Ruth Marrion - Personal Colours and Image Consultations: How Valuable are these to a Client’s Authentic Self-Expression?
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12:00 – 12:30
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Emrah Baki Ulas - On How Little We Know About Light and Colour
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12:30 – 1:00
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Questions and Discussion
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1:00 – 2:00
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LUNCH
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2:00 – 2:30
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Julian Rennie and Alessandro Premier - Colour Conservation Study of William Gummer's Country Homestead
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2:30 – 3:00
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Samantha Donnelly and Sonia van der Haar - Trauma-Informed Colour Design: The Impact of Colour In Women’s Shelter Environments
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3:00 – 3:10
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Rebecca Boehme - Indelible Illumination - The Evolving Power of Colour in Stained Glass
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3:10 – 3:30
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AFTERNOON TEA
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3:30 – 4:00
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Rebecca Cadorin - Coloured Lighting in Collaborative Workspaces - Enhancing Mood, Focus and Wellbeing
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4:00 – 4:30 on Zoom
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Pia López-Izquierdo and Dolores Terriza - “ET IN ARCADIA EGO”: Designing Healing Environments Through Art
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4:30 – 4:55
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Questions and discussion
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Parallel session
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Nick Harkness’ new colour exercises
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SUNDAY NOV 2
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COLOUR NAMING +
COLOUR IN ART AND ART MATERIALS
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9:00 – 9:20
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Doors open at 9:00 am
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9:20 – 9:30
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Speaker Introductions
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9:30 – 10:00 on Zoom
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Verena M. Schindler - Kawésqar Colour Names and Associations
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10:00 – 10:30
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Madeleine Snook - Conceptual vs Texture-Dependent Colour Terms in British English, Korean, and Scottish Gaelic
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10:30 – 11:00
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Diana Young - Colours in Australian Indigenous Contemporary Art
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11:00 – 11:10 on Zoom
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Verena M. Schindler - Diamant II – A Sculpture by Sanford Wurmfeld
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11:10 - 11:30
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MORNING TEA
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11:30 – 12:00
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Michelle Hiscock - Thomas Bardwell and Colour in 18th Century Portrait Painting
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12:00 – 12:30
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Natalie O'Connor - The Elaboratory of Colour
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12:30 – 1:00
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Questions and Discussion
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1:00 – 2:00
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LUNCH
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2:00 – 2:30
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Vladi Rosolova - Light, Colour, and Colour Constancy in Painted Art
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2:30 – 3:00
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Tim Miller - Painting and the Sensation of Seeing Colour
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3:00 – 3:10
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Leone Burridge and David Briggs - Exploring Monocular Rivalry in Painting
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3:10 – 3:30
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AFTERNOON TEA
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3:30 – 4:00
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Steven Patterson - Beyond the Palette: Sustainability Challenges and Solutions in Artists’ Materials
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4:00 – 4:30 on Zoom
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Enikö Majoros - Artistpigments.org - From Database to Multidisciplinary Exploration of Color
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4:30 – 4:55
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Questions and Discussion
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About the conference
Our conference venue is the Royal Australian History Society's History House at 133 Macquarie Street, Sydney, directly across the road from The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. The conference will be hybrid with provision for both in-person and online presentations and attendance.
We ask our members and friends to please spread word of our conference by sharing this link or our Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn posts. A pdf poster can be downloaded.
About the conference theme
The theme Colour Matrix acknowledges the importance of cross disciplinary approaches to colour in this era of ever-narrowing specialization. Participants are invited to consider how their own work involving colour may be of interest and of importance in other disciplines, or to critically contrast and perhaps reconcile different specialized approaches to colour within their own discipline. We encourage participation from designers, artists and other colour practitioners whose work references scientific or philosophical understanding of colour, from colour educators whose teaching programs span the art-science divide, and from scientific, historical and other researchers who believe that their insights about colour have relevance beyond their specialized areas of interest.
Enquiries: csa.nsw.chair@gmail.com
