The 18th Castaways Sculpture Awards opened on the Rockingham Foreshore and run until Sunday, 1 November 2026. Artworks made from recycled and repurposed materials are displayed along Mangles Bay. The exhibition includes the main display, a maquette and small sculpture exhibition, and a schools exhibition, all showcasing Western Australian artists. Fremantle Ports supports the event, which has a prize pool of $27,250. The free family event includes Tactile Tours and Artist Talks. The information tent is open from 9am to 5pm daily.
Noosa District State High School has won three of its four entries recognition in Queensland's senior visual art awards. Tahnee Swan received an Excellence Award for her work The Guardian of My People, earning a place in a state exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art. Only 34 student artworks from across Queensland were selected for that exhibition. Romy Mandak and Angeline Yuen-French also received Commendation Awards.
Hornsby artist Roslyn Kean will show her woodblock prints at Wallarobba Arts and Cultural Centre in Hornsby. The exhibition runs from 20 November to 6 December 2026, Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm, and entry is free. Kean, who won the 2025 Hornsby Art Prize Local Artist Award, draws on the Japanese idea of ma, a pause in space or time. The show also includes Rock at the Roadside, a collaborative mokuhanga project pairing woodblock techniques with tanka poems. Hornsby Shire Mayor Warren Waddell encouraged residents to attend.
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Former Riverine Grazier journalist Lucy Hayes has published her debut novel, The Country Wedding. The story is set in Hay, Booligal and the surrounding Riverina during a severe drought. It follows artist Tess Matheson, whose past resurfaces on the eve of her first solo exhibition, the same day her ex-boyfriend returns home to marry. The novel uses five character viewpoints. Hayes began writing it during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her professional writing career started at The Grazier 30 years ago. The book is available via Amazon.
A new exhibition in Melbourne explores how migrant families stay connected across borders through everyday digital messages and photographs. Titled 聞鳥憶君, it runs from 7 to 21 November 2026 at GAMA Studio in Brunswick and features debut works by seven artists with lived experience of migration. Curator Chait D'Cruz drew on her father's journey from Calcutta to Melbourne. The exhibition covers humour, pride and daily life, not only trauma. A programme of events includes an opening night, a discussion on cultural curation and music, jewellery sales and a closing performance by Joyce Liu.
Works by well-known local artist Robyn Killen are on display at Tilligerry Art Gallery in Lemon Tree Passage until Sunday, December 6. Her oil paintings mainly show the Bylong Valley, where she lived before moving to Nelson Bay with her family. Killen began painting more seriously in 2007 and attended landscape workshops in Katoomba under Australian traditional landscape oil painter John Wilson. Her paintings are sought after by art lovers locally and interstate. The gallery is open from 10am to 4pm on Tuesday to Friday, and 11am to 3pm on Saturday and Sunday.
Nedlands quilter Susan Sheath, who spent years as an engineer in the oil and gas industry, is presenting her first solo exhibition, Pieces, at Tresillian Arts Centre. Her bold, contemporary works are designed to be framed and hung like paintings rather than used as bedspreads. Sheath, who has quilted for 50 years, said her passion was reignited after retiring, and she has studied under American quilter Nancy Crow. She wants audiences to view quilting as fine art, and every piece in the show is for sale. The exhibition runs from October 23 to November 13.
Hundreds of locals have attended the community-led Illawarra Nature Festival at Port Kembla's Servo, celebrating the region's natural environment through expert talks, workshops, music and art. The launch included a multi-sensory exhibition on Illawarra lowland grassy woodlands, combining visual art, log rubbings, projected video and soundscapes. Artists say the work aims to show how the woodland has been fragmented and to encourage people to help reconnect the remaining pockets. Program coordinator Alison Mellor said the turnout had been really special.
Contemporary art and craft by more than 50 Australian artists will fill the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney from October 24 to November 1. The free exhibition marks 25 years of Artisans in the Gardens and features sculptures, ceramics, textiles, jewellery and glass. Original works are for sale, with proceeds supporting the artists and the Botanic Gardens of Sydney. The event has raised more than $1 million for the Gardens since 2017. Free guided tours run on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and the exhibition is open daily from 10am to 4pm.
Wollongong Art Gallery's GO BAG exhibition closes on Saturday, 31 October, with a final curator's tour and a keroncong performance by Kartika Suharto-Martin. The show explores migration, belonging and resilience through works by eight artists. The gallery closes on 1 November for about 12 months while its air-conditioning and leaky roof are repaired. Its collection will go into storage, and the gallery is expected to reopen in November 2027, ahead of its 50th birthday in 2028.
Artworks featuring big tops, clowns, trapeze artists and a dog fired from a cannon are on show at the Coffs Harbour Creative Arts Group's new exhibition, The Circus. Club president Sue Roberts opened the exhibition on Sunday 11 October at the Coffs Showground Art Gallery and Studios. Maxine Kohlhagen won the People's Choice award from the previous member exhibition for her coloured-pencil work, The Watchful One. A solo exhibition of work by long-time member Ken Pay opens on Saturday 21 November. The Circus runs until November 18, and the gallery is open Monday to Saturday from 10.00am to 2.00pm.
Two friends, Philippa Lysaght and Omi McCurdie, have installed dozens of concrete hearts at Marks Park in Bondi as part of this year's Sculpture by the Sea. Each heart represents a woman killed by a former or current partner this year, and the number was increased from 52 to reflect a particularly bad year for violence against women. The phrases etched into the hearts reflect language that excuses, minimises or ignores violence. The hearts will go on sale, with proceeds going to Women's Community Shelters. The exhibition marks 30 years since its founding in 1977.
Torres Strait Island artist Toby Cedar has opened an exhibition of masks, headdresses and sculptures at The Gallery in Coffs Harbour. The works draw on his family, culture and the sea, and use traditional materials such as bamboo, coconut shell, feathers and pearl shell. Cedar, who has performed for King Charles and Queen Camilla, will give an artist talk on November 4. The exhibition runs until November 26 at The Saltwater Freshwater Gallery.
Uniting's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre in Kings Cross marks 25 years with a free art exhibition at Paddington Town Hall from 16 to 19 October. The show features 133 artworks by 63 clients, who are among Sydney's most marginalised people. Organisers say it aims to bridge the gap between the wider community and people with stories to tell. Artworks will be sold through an online silent auction until 28 October, with proceeds going directly to the artists. The centre has supervised over 1.36 million injections since 2001 and recorded no overdose deaths among the 12,338 overdoses it has managed.
Artworks priced from $99 to $12,000 will be shown at the 2026 Packsaddle Exhibition at NERAM in Armidale. All money raised goes directly to the gallery. Volunteers select works from Sydney galleries and individual artists and printmakers. Packsaddle coordinator Moira Lloyd says the exhibition offers art for every budget and gives emerging artists a professional showcase. Over the past 40 years, Packsaddle has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the gallery and helped fund more than 50 acquisitions for its permanent collection.
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Parliament House has opened People, Place, Portraits, a free art exhibition exploring the people and communities that have shaped Australia through portraiture and storytelling. Curated by Big hART, an arts and social change organisation, it draws on 35 years of the group's work across the country. Portraits by established Australian artists sit alongside works by emerging young digital artists. The exhibition is open to the public at no cost in the Presiding Officers' Exhibition Area and will remain on display until 11 July 2027.
Swan local artist Ryan Michael is showing an exhibition called Inequality at Manning Primary School. The show features oil portraits of Indian subjects and draws on Michael's experience as an Indian-Australian. The works ask who looks out for people facing financial and social difficulties. Federal MP Zaneta Mascarenhas highlighted the exhibition and encouraged the community to visit during the school holidays. The exhibition was scheduled to run until 11 October.
The Buttlejorrk Artists group, one of the Macedon Ranges' longest-running creative collectives, is marking 50 years of exhibiting and artistic fellowship. An anniversary exhibition runs at The Old Auction House in Kyneton from 12 November to 24 December. It features works by 12 members and invited guest artists, spanning traditional and contemporary styles. The group was formed in 1976 by potters and now includes painters, sculptors, jewellers and other makers. A meet-the-artists morning tea is held on 14 November from 11am. Admission is free and works are available for purchase.
Artists with disability are showing works inspired by the Illawarra region at the annual Outsider Art Exhibition. The works, made by people from a Greenacres program, feature local nature and sports stars. Greenacres art therapist Victoria Velozo said the theme let artists explore what the region means to them. The exhibition runs at Project Contemporary Artspace in Wollongong until 18 October, and all artworks are available for purchase, with proceeds going to the artists and community.
