A new Leeton organisation is putting the "art" in Art Deco.
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Dorothy Roddy and Ayla Young have joined forces to form Art Deco Arts, a partnership that provides events that inspire art, expressiveness, fun and networking by bringing creatives and well-known art tutors together in Leeton and the Riverina.
One of the first events to be hosted by Art Deco Arts will be an urban sketching workshop as part of the Leeton SunRice Festival on Easter Sunday.
Art retreats will also be a huge component of the organisation, which will aim to bring together artists from all over to the Yanco Agricultural Institute for three days at a time.
Sprinkled in between will be mini events and workshops such as the urban sketching initiative.
"We're hoping through events like urban sketching we can connect the community and visitors to not just our art deco heritage, but Leeton itself," Ms Roddy said.
"This year we will have the urban sketching at the SunRice Festival and also the Australian Art Deco Festival in Leeton.
"Basically, the idea of urban sketching is you gather outside of something or inside somewhere and you actually draw from life.
"You're getting out in the fresh air, meeting up with friends and community members.
"We're really excited to bring Art Deco Arts to life through our events. We can't wait to see where it goes and what comes from it."
The first urban sketching event will be held on March 31, which is Easter Sunday at the Hydro Hotel from 9am to 11am.
Participants will set up on the front lawn with their chairs, picnic rug and drawing supplies.
They will then choose an aspect of the building to focus on, with Ms Roddy and Ms Young to provide guidance and advice along the way to help get the process started and going.
"The beauty of it all is you can be as minimal as you want, if you want to use just a scrap of paper and pencil, that's completely fine," Ms Roddy said.
"It will be a networking thing, a friendship thing. There's no expectation about what it will look like at the end.
"It's all about having fun."
Ms Roddy has a book full of urban sketches of some of Leeton's most iconic Art Deco buildings.
She encouraged everyone to look up when walking or driving around town and pay attention to the Art Deco stylings that are smattered all around town on buildings, homes and many other objects.
More information about this event or others that Art Deco Arts will be hosting throughout the year, visit artdecoarts.com.au.
