Heide Market
Up to 120 makers trading in a sculpture park on the Yarra, on the property where Sidney Nolan painted the Ned Kelly series.
About this market
The Heide Makers' Market puts up to 120 makers into the sculpture park at Heide Museum of Modern Art on the second Saturday of the month, 10am to 3pm. It is a collaboration between Heide and the Rose St. Artists' Market in Fitzroy, which is how a museum ends up running a market with a genuine maker vetting culture behind it rather than a gate takings operation.
Art and design on sixteen acres
The stall list runs to an eclectic mix of art, design and handcrafted goods, made by the people selling them, alongside food. The number is the striking part: up to 120 different makers each month, which is a large market by any measure and an unusually large one for a museum grounds. Setting it in the sculpture park rather than a car park changes the experience completely, since the works stay put through the week and the stalls thread between them, giving the market a backdrop it does not have to construct. Heide sits on sixteen acres of parkland along the Yarra at Bulleen, about fifteen kilometres north east of the city.
Market at a glance
The market pauses over the winter months, so the calendar is worth a check between roughly June and August rather than assuming a fixed second Saturday all year. The rest of the museum, the galleries and the gardens, is right there and makes the market half a day rather than an hour.
This was a dairy farm before it was anything else. The art patrons John and Sunday Reed bought the property in 1934 and named it Heide, after nearby Heidelberg. They renovated the 1870 weatherboard cottage in a French provincial style and painted it pink; it is now known as Heide I. The Reeds opened the house to the artists of their circle, among them Albert Tucker, Joy Hester, John Perceval, Charles Blackman and Danila Vassilieff. Sidney Nolan lived at Heide on and off for close to a decade and painted his Ned Kelly series in the farmhouse dining room in 1946 and 1947. The Reeds opened Heide to the public in 1981.
Getting there and planning the day
Second Saturday, 10am to 3pm, with a winter break. Free parking on site is limited and fills, so Banksia Park next door and the surrounding streets are the fallback, and arriving before eleven saves a walk. Bring a card, since makers markets run heavily on tap. A five hour window means there is no need to rush, and the museum, the kitchen garden and the sculpture park are all worth folding in. This is Wurundjeri country.
Frequently Asked Questions
- When is the Heide Market on?
- The second Saturday of the month, 10am to 3pm, in the sculpture park at Heide Museum of Modern Art, 7 Templestowe Road, Bulleen. It does not run through the winter months.
- Who runs it?
- It is a collaboration between two Melbourne institutions: Heide Museum of Modern Art and the Rose St. Artists' Market in Fitzroy.
- Where do I park?
- Limited free parking is available on site and in the adjoining Banksia Park, with more in the surrounding streets a short walk away.