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Arts Project Australia
This is a promotional banner for the Ruth Howard: Woven Mantle exhibition.
Ruth Howard Untitled (detail), 2023

Woven Mantle

Benalla Art Gallery and Arts Project Australia proudly present Woven Myrtle — a Summer cabinet exhibition by APA artist Ruth Howard.

Ruth Howard is a multi-disciplinary artist working in painting and ceramics on an intimate scale. In her minimalist paintings, a single object floats on a flat plane, emphasising the interplay between shape and negative space. Her ceramic sculptures explore organic form and the transformative nature of glaze, often depicting abstracted creatures and natural elements that appear newly formed from the earth or sea. By layering and stacking clay, Howard creates vertical structures that feel organic and elemental. Their textured surfaces drip with glaze, accentuating each curve and indentation to create tactile works that invite both touch and quiet reflection.

Ruth Howard has worked in the Arts Project studio since 1998 and held her first solo show at Arts Project Australia in 2015. She has been included in numerous group exhibitions including Spring 1883, The Establishment, Sydney; Turning the Page, Gallery 101, Ontario; Hybrid Making – new work from Australia, Canada and Scotland, Project Ability Gallery, Scotland; and Face-Up, Idiom Studio, Wellington

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair accessible

Benalla Art Gallery has full wheelchair access via a ramp entrance at the front of the building.  The café deck and floor can also be accessed via a ramp.

Disabled toilets and infant facilities are also available within the building.

Getting here

This is a promotional banner for the APA Annual Gala. It features details from a Paul Quick painting which features abstract faces and text.
Paul Quick Untitled (detail), 2024

Annual Gala 2025

Arts Project Australia’s Annual Gala is our end-of-year celebration, honouring the achievements and diverse practices of every artist in our studio. This much-anticipated event is the only exhibition each year to showcase the full breadth of talent across our program with up to 200 works on display spanning painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, ceramics and textiles.

All artworks are available for purchase and can be taken home on the day. When the bell rings at 3pm, sales begin, first-come, first-served with buyers removing works directly from the gallery walls and plinths.

Join us on Saturday 13 December at our Collingwood Yards gallery for an afternoon of art, community and celebration. Preview 2:30 – 3pm. Sales commence when the bell rings at 3pm, sharp!

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair accessible

The Arts Project Australia gallery has accessible toilets in the Perry Street Building. They are in the northern end of the building. On the upper ground level, they are located off the northern side of the service corridor. On L1 and L2 they are located behind blue manual double doors.

Entry 30A Perry Street is wheelchair accessible and offers direct access to the Courtyard, Perry Street Building upper ground and Johnston Street Building upper ground.

Lift access is available to visit other buildings and levels.

If you have any additional questions or need further accommodations, please contact us on (03) 9482 4484 or at [email protected]

 

Getting Here

View the exhibition from home

A detail of a back and white print by Aidan Sefo.
Aidan Sefo Untitled (detail), 2022

Whispers in the Walls

There’s something in the stillness. A flicker at the corner of the eye. A presence just beyond the threshold, or perhaps only a creak in the floorboards, a murmur you can’t quite place.

Whispers in the Walls gathers artists whose work traverses the eerie, the surreal, and the quietly unsettling. Shadows stretch, forms blur, and liminal figures emerge—ghostly, grotesque, and at times absurd. Not always threatening, not entirely benign.

This is a space where beauty meets decay, and the unknown is felt more than seen. Whispers in the Walls invites you to linger in the in-between: the twilight zone between reality and dream, presence and absence, where things feel a little off, a little haunted, and never quite what they seem.

Curated by Aidan Sefo and Carolyn Hawkins.

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair accessible

The Northcote Project Space is located in Arts Project Australia’s studio foyer.

The studio is a two-story wheelchair accessible building.

The second story is accessible via lift or stairs.

Wheelchair accessible and gender-neutral toilets available on site.

The Northcote Project Space and studio can be a noisy place. Those with audio sensory sensitivities are recommended to bring ear protection.

Service animals and guide dogs welcome.

Social pets are unable to be inside the studio.

Getting Here

An abstract drawing using the pepsi max colours against a black background. This is a promotional banner for the Stop Work exhibition.
Martin Forster Pepsi Max (detail) 2018

Stop Work

Stop Work contains artworks that act as proposals to remake the purpose, shape, and meaning of work in our collective experience.

In the last five years, our globalised society has experienced multiple transformations that have complicated our ways of exchanging labour for money. The COVID-19 pandemic rendered many in-person jobs untenable, prompting a wave of improvised adaptations to prop up business as usual. The rug-pull has continued into the era of artificial intelligence and robot labour, driving both economic and existential dread. With the concept of a ‘steady job’ now obsolete, it’s nearly impossible to predict what employment will look like in even two years’ time. This offers artists the perfect vantage point to ask: what was work?

The artists in this exhibition offer singular perspectives on the imploding norms of labour. They reflect on what work once was, what it is now, and what it might become – drawn from lived experiences that challenge conventional understandings of productivity. Artworks explore sabotage and monkey-wrenching, inefficiency and de-optimisation, and imagination as a defiant force against exploitation.

Featuring Michael Candy, Nicholas Capaldo, Samraing Chea, David Fitzpatrick, Martin Forster, Lychandra Gieseman, Pascale Giorgi, Cameron Gresswell, Christian Hansen, Rakhi James, Adrian Lazzaro, and Cathy Staughton.

Curated by Loren Kronemyer.

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair accessible

The Arts Project Australia gallery has accessible toilets in the Perry Street Building. They are in the northern end of the building. On the upper ground level, they are located off the northern side of the service corridor. On L1 and L2 they are located behind blue manual double doors.

Entry 30A Perry Street is wheelchair accessible and offers direct access to the Courtyard, Perry Street Building upper ground and Johnston Street Building upper ground.

Lift access is available to visit other buildings and levels.

If you have any additional questions or need further accommodations, please contact us on (03) 9482 4484 or at [email protected]

 

Getting Here

View the exhibition from home

This is a web banner promoting the Limitless exhibition
Bronwyn Hack, Dingle Dangle (Heart) (detail) 2025

Embodied: Limitless 2025 Commission Series

Limitless is a landmark exhibition series that invites APA artists to undertake ambitious commissions on a significant scale. Launched with two inaugural bodies of work, the series establishes a framework for immersive, long-form creative development, building momentum toward new possibilities and opportunities. It affirms APA’s commitment to seeing neurodivergent artists and artists with intellectual disabilities central to the national and international arts landscape – visible, valued, and flourishing in their practice.

The initiative builds upon APA’s longstanding foundation – one that has consistently supported experimentation and artistic growth. It foregrounds risk-taking, collaboration, and innovation, and fosters both individual and collective development. In doing so, it offers artists the opportunity to expand their practice and explore new directions in their work.

As the first exhibition in the Limitless series, Embodied signals a focus on artistic rigour and experimental, process-driven practice. Featuring major new commissions by Mark Smith and Bronwyn Hack, the exhibition frames the body as both subject and metaphor, inviting expansive and deeply personal interpretations.

Curated by Jo Salt.

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair accessible

The Arts Project Australia gallery has accessible toilets in the Perry Street Building. They are in the northern end of the building. On the upper ground level, they are located off the northern side of the service corridor. On L1 and L2 they are located behind blue manual double doors.

Entry 30A Perry Street is wheelchair accessible and offers direct access to the Courtyard, Perry Street Building upper ground and Johnston Street Building upper ground.

Lift access is available to visit other buildings and levels.

If you have any additional questions or need further accommodations, please contact us on (03) 9482 4484 or at [email protected]

 

Getting Here

View the exhibition from home

This is a promotional banner for the Biophilic Tendency exhibition at Mailbox Art Space.
Sam Forster, Untitled (detail), 2021

Biophilic Tendency

The artists hands are clearly visible in the ceramic pinch pots, plaques and sculptures which culminate in Biophilic Tendency. The pieces are at first glance abstracted, yet on closer inspection are united by their mimicry of natural and organic forms, including geological aggregates, coral organisms, seed pods, their resulting flora, and the landscapes in which these reside. Distilled into hand-built forms, each piece is rendered instinctively in clay then marked with intricate surface pattern. Richly layered glaze has been applied with intuitive and vivid use of colour, creating motifs that warp and shift into rhythmic decoration. Biophilic Tendency celebrates the innate human inclination to seek connections with nature and other living systems.

Ally DiMattina, Sal Felsinger, Sam Forster and Dave Mendelsohn are studio artists at Arts Project Australia (APA), an internationally leading visual arts organisation that champions neurodivergent artists and artists with intellectual disability. Through their studio program, exhibition opportunities, and professional development pathways, they empower Arts Project artists to develop their practice and meaningful careers in the contemporary art world.

Presented by Mailbox Art Space and Arts Project Australia this exhibition will open on Sunday 10 August from 4pm at Mailbox Art Space. All are welcome.

Curated by Shell Odgers.

Accessibility

Please note Mailbox Art Space is located in the foyer of a heritage listed building and is accessed via 8 stairs. Bathrooms are available in the Grand Hyatt across the road (entry via Russel Street). For more information please contact Mailbox Art Space at [email protected]

 

Getting Here

A promotional banner for the Cameron Gresswell Sound and Image exhibition.
Cameron Gresswell Manchester United. England Soccer Team (detail) 2023

Cameron Gresswell: Sound and Image

Celebrating the life and work of APA artist Cameron Gresswell, this commemorative exhibition honours his bold, music-infused visual language – a body of work defined by expressive colour, rhythmic composition, and a deep personal connection to sound and collecting.

Gresswell worked primarily with acrylic and pastel on paper. His compositions often featured meandering lyrics, band names, and album titles, anchored by two brightly coloured vinyl records – a recurring motif in his work. These visual elements transformed his personal vinyl archive into a dynamic field of text, form, and colour. His spontaneous style captured the pulse and energy of music, creating a unique visual rhythm that reflected his dual passions for sound and image.

Gresswell is remembered within the APA community as a brilliant colourist and an avid music collector. His work reflects a profound sense of personal meaning, turning the act of collecting music into a rich visual practice. Held in private collections, his legacy lives on through the vibrancy and clarity of his artistic voice.

Cameron Gresswell’s contribution to the studio continues to resonate through the bold, expressive energy of his work and the deep creative presence he brought to the APA studio.

Please note this show is at the Northcote Project Space, located in Arts Project Australia’s studio in Northcote.

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair accessible

The Northcote Project Space is located in Arts Project Australia’s studio foyer.

The studio is a two-story wheelchair accessible building.

The second story is accessible via lift or stairs.

Wheelchair accessible and gender-neutral toilets available on site.

The Northcote Project Space and studio can be a noisy place. Those with audio sensory sensitivities are recommended to bring ear protection.

Service animals and guide dogs welcome.

Social pets are unable to be inside the studio.

Getting Here

A Different View
Paul Hodges, Italian Sea (detail), 2012

Landscape: A Different View

Landscape: A Different View invites you to explore the world through a range of artistic perspectives that reimagine our relationship with place. This group exhibition brings together a diverse collection of works by Arts Project Australia artists that blend the energy of urban life with the calm of rural settings, challenging traditional ideas of landscape. 

Each artist offers a unique lens, transforming familiar environments into compelling narratives. From structured cityscapes to organic natural forms, the works reflect the fluid, ever-changing nature of the world around us. 

Celebrating difference in vision, style, and experience, the exhibition reveals that landscapes are not fixed—they are shaped by how we see and feel them. 

 Together, these works form a shared vision: one that encourages us to look beyond the surface, embrace multiple viewpoints, and discover beauty in all environments. 

Curated by Paul Hodges, Suzanne Brown and James McDonald.

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair accessible

The Arts Project Australia gallery has accessible toilets in the Perry Street Building. They are in the northern end of the building. On the upper ground level, they are located off the northern side of the service corridor. On L1 and L2 they are located behind blue manual double doors.

Entry 30A Perry Street is wheelchair accessible and offers direct access to the Courtyard, Perry Street Building upper ground and Johnston Street Building upper ground.

Lift access is available to visit other buildings and levels.

If you have any additional questions or need further accommodations, please contact us on (03) 9482 4484 or at [email protected]

 

Getting Here

View the exhibition from home

A drawing of white daisies surrounded by abstract green foliage
George Aristovoulou Lemon Myrtle, 2016

Lemon Myrtle

Benalla Art Gallery and Arts Project Australia proudly present Lemon Myrtle – a Winter Gallery Shop exhibition by George Aristovoulou.

George Aristovoulou is an emerging artist who works with pencil, ink and gouache on paper. His style exemplifies figurative abstraction, where he carefully segments the picture plane, creating broad linear strips that incorporate figurative elements. His colours seamlessly blend together, lending a dream-like quality to the imagery he carefully constructs.

Aristovoulou has worked at Arts Project Australia since 2011. He has exhibited in numerous group exhibitions and presented his first solo Fervent Response, virtually in 2020. His work is held in private collections throughout Australia.

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair accessible

Benalla Art Gallery has full wheelchair access via a ramp entrance at the front of the building.  The café deck and floor can also be accessed via a ramp.

Disabled toilets and infant facilities are also available within the building.

Getting here

Jordan Dymke Untitled 2023
Jordan Dymke Untitled 2023

Figures from Life

Figures from Life brings together a collection of works created during Arts Project Australia’s in-house life drawing sessions. These sessions, offered without formal instruction, invite artists to engage freely with the human form – guided not by rules or tradition, but by instinct, imagination and personal vision.

The exhibition showcases the diversity of expression that arises when artists are empowered to follow their own paths. From Jenny Ngo’s expressive Fursona series, which blends identity and fantasy, to Peter Ben’s strikingly distorted figures that challenge conventional anatomy, each work offers a unique interpretation of what it means to see – and to represent – the human body.

Featuring works by Amani Tia, Chris Mason, Georgia Szmerling, Hugo Sierakowski, Jenny Ngo, Jordan Dymke, Josef Power, Lisa Reid, Mark Smith, Matthew Gove, Miles Howard-Wilks, Oscar Donati, Paul Hodges, Peter Ben, Rakhi James, Rebecca Scibilia, Samantha Ashdown, and Valerio Ciccone.

Curated by Oscar Donati and Ben Walsh.

Please note this show is at the Northcote Project Space, located in Arts Project Australia’s studio in Northcote, not the Collingwood Yards Gallery.

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair accessible

The Northcote Project Space is located in Arts Project Australia’s studio foyer.

The studio is a two-story wheelchair accessible building.

The second story is accessible via lift or stairs.

Wheelchair accessible and gender-neutral toilets available on site.

The Northcote Project Space and studio can be a noisy place. Those with audio sensory sensitivities are recommended to bring ear protection.

Service animals and guide dogs welcome.

Social pets are unable to be inside the studio.

Getting Here

The Fall Of Icarus
Michael Camakaris Sometimes It Feels Too Overwhelming to Ponder Ones Mortality #2 2023 (detail)

The Fall of Icarus

The Fall of Icarus is an ambitious new solo exhibition by Michael Camakaris, exploring the cycles of power, collapse, and consequence. Drawing from cultural references such as Greek mythology, the poetry of Sylvia Plath, and Danny Boyle’s sci-fi thriller film Sunshine, this immersive, multi-disciplinary installation dissects the perils of excess and pride in the contemporary moment.

At its core is the myth of Icarus—a timeless warning against unchecked arrogance. In his reimagining, Camakaris transforms this allegory into a meditation on the rise and fall of empires, past and present. Through sound, light, video, and sculptural installation, The Fall of Icarus exposes the fragility of economic, environmental, and political systems, revealing the patterns of excess and decline that shape our world today.

Curated by Liz Nowell.

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair accessible

Please note this exhibition features the following:

Low lighting: Please note this exhibition uses low lighting, which may be challenging for visitors with low vision.

Sound components: The exhibition includes sound-based elements that may affect those with audio sensitivities. It is recommended to wear headphones if you wish to control the audio levels. Earmuffs are available for visitors should you require them.

Video components: This exhibition features projected video and LED lighting elements that may cause discomfort for individuals with visual sensitivities.

Visitor monitoring: To help ensure your safety and assist with any accessibility needs, there is a camera in the space. Please rest assured that you are not being recorded—this camera simply alerts gallery staff when visitors are present.

The Arts Project Australia gallery has accessible toilets in the Perry Street Building. They are in the northern end of the building. On the upper ground level, they are located off the northern side of the service corridor. On L1 and L2 they are located behind blue manual double doors.

Entry 30A Perry Street is wheelchair accessible and offers direct access to the Courtyard, Perry Street Building upper ground and Johnston Street Building upper ground.

Lift access is available to visit other buildings and levels.

If you have any additional questions or need further accommodations, please contact us on (03) 9482 4484 or at [email protected]

 

Getting Here

View the exhibition from home

Chris Mason Untitled 2024
Chris Mason Untitled 2024

In My Prime

Sullivan+Strumpf present In My Prime, featuring Arts Project Australia artists Julian Martin and Chris Mason. This exhibition features a curated selection of artworks from artists at an exciting moment in their careers. Chosen for their unique perspectives and diverse practices, the exhibition presents a range of mediums, styles, and subject matter – reflecting the dynamism of contemporary art.

While these artists may not yet be at the pinnacle of their careers, they are undeniably in a prime position—ready to be discovered, explored and celebrated. The title itself is a playful nod to the courage and vulnerability required to participate in the arts, and a reflection on the evolving nature of artistic careers. It’s a celebration of potential, progress, and the thrill of what’s to come.

Our intention is not just to showcase new works but to build meaningful relationships within Melbourne’s creative community — connecting artists, collectors, and enthusiasts alike. It’s about sparking new conversations, embracing potential, taking risks, and celebrating the journey.

In My Prime features work from Jess Cochrane, Emma Creasey, Nick Currie, Angus Gardiner, Naoise Halloran-Mackay, Julian Martin (APA), Chris Mason (APA) and Stefan Mau.

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair accessible

For wheelchair access, Sullivan+Strumpf provide a ramp and a roller door leading into the gallery space. The bathroom is fully accessible, equipped with handrails.

For additional information on accessibility please contact Sullivan+Strumpf on Phone: +61 3 7046 6489 or Email: [email protected]

Getting Here

Organs
Bronwyn Hack Heart 2022

Organs

Arts Project Australia is pleased to share Organs, a solo show of artworks by Bronwyn Hack presented by Daine Singer, Melbourne.

Bronwyn Hack is a Naarm/ Melbourne-based artist, who has worked with Arts Project Australia since 2011. Hack’s practice is multi-faceted, spanning sculpture, painting, printmaking and ceramics. Throughout her career, Hack has consistently explored two main themes involving animals, as well as the body and bones. In Organs, Hack has elaborated on her representation of body parts in both sculpture and painting. Through textiles, Hack creates soft sculpture representations of body organs, preferencing the heart. The organs combine a highly unusual approach to self-portraiture, with a decorative celebration of what is normally unseen. She elaborately embellishes each work with brightly coloured threads, faux fur, beads, and sequins, adding a playful, tactile quality to the works.

Bronwyn Hack has held two solo exhibitions at APA in 2016 and 2020. Hack was an Artist in Residence at the Australian Tapestry Workshop in 2018 and her work has been exhibited there in 2019 and 2024. Other recent group exhibitions include at Tarrawarra Museum of Art, Melbourne Art Fair, Bendigo Art Gallery, Arts Project Australia, Linden New Art, The Substation, Australian Tapestry Workshop, Horsham Regional Gallery, Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery, Bathurst Regional Gallery, Logan Art Gallery, Deakin University Art Gallery, ANU School of Art & Design Gallery, Benalla Art Gallery, Bunjil Place Gallery, West Space and Craft Victoria.

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair accessible

The gallery spaces are wheelchair accessible except for the bathroom. Daine Singer advises that the closest wheelchair accessible bathroom is at Barkly Square. For additional information please contact Daine Singer at [email protected]

Getting Here

Samraing Chea, Pods Over the Water (detail), 2023. Colour pencil on paper, 19 x 28 cm.
Samraing Chea Pods Over the Water (detail), 2023.

Metropolis

The future city—a speculative urban metropolis shaped by science and technology—was a widely explored theme during the twentieth century. However, very few of these megacities ever came to fruition, and even fewer of those realised models were successful. Although certain elements of the metropolis have actualised and continue into the current day. Looking back upon the concept of the future city, there are numerous disconnects between what was proposed and what came to be.

The works in Metropolis respond to the fantasy modernist city as a multifaceted site upon which various narratives and emotions have been projected, while also exploring the relationship of those models to the present.

Featuring
Michael Camakaris
Samraing Chea
Diena Georgetti, courtesy of  the artist and Neon Parc, Melbourne
Jordan Halsall
Matthew Harris, courtesy of the artist and FUTURES, Melbourne
Lei Lei Kung
Sammi-Jo Matta
Steven Perrette
Gavin Porter
Cathy Staughton
Darren Sylvester, courtesy of the artist and Neon Parc, Melbourne
Mia Boe, courtesy of the artist Sutton Gallery, Melbourne
Terry Williams

Curated by Amelia Winata.

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair accessible

The Arts Project Australia gallery has accessible toilets in the Perry Street Building. They are located in the northern end of the building. On the upper ground level they are located off the northern side of the service corridor. On L1 and L2 they are located behind blue manual double doors.

Entry 30A Perry Street is wheelchair accessible and offers direct access to the Courtyard, Perry Street Building upper ground and Johnston Street Building upper ground.

Lift access is available to visit other buildings and levels.

Getting Here

View the exhibition from home

 

Miles Howard-Wilkså
Miles Howard-Wilks Untitled, 2020

Magpie and Mates

Benalla Art Gallery and Arts Project Australia proudly present Magpie and Mates – an Autumn Gallery Shop exhibition by Miles Howard-Wilks.

Miles Howard-Wilks is a mid-career artist who specialises in painting, ceramics, photography, digital art and zines. His work features dynamic and surreal landscapes and seascapes with recurring motifs of iconic Australian animals, landmarks and transport.

Howard-Wilks has worked at Arts Project since 2000 and has presented three solo exhibitions. He has exhibited in national and international group exhibitions and has work in the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Museum of Contemporary Art and City of Melbourne collection, as well as private collections worldwide.

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair accessible

Benalla Art Gallery has full wheelchair access via a ramp entrance at the front of the building.  The café deck and floor can also be accessed via a ramp.

Disabled toilets and infant facilities are also available within the building.

Getting here

So Fresh - Sam Forster
Left - right: Sam Forster Untitled 2021, Sam Forster Untitled 2021, Sam Forster Untitled 2022

So Fresh

So Fresh is an exhibition celebrating the dynamic and diverse voices of new and emerging artists from the Arts Project Australia studio. Featuring a range of recent works, this exhibition highlights the unique perspectives and creative energy flourishing within the studio community.

So Fresh showcases the vibrant talent and innovative practices shaping the next generation of Arts Project Australia.

Featuring: Heide Beard, Max Cheevers, Tycho Dahlstrom, Jakob Demirel, Alessandra DiMattina, Sam Forster, Barbara Gibbs, Matthew Lam, David Mendelson, Mark Patterson, Darcy Scott, Molika Silk and Jade Tomsic.

Please note this show is at the Northcote Project Space, located in Arts Project Australia’s studio in Northcote, not the Collingwood Yards Gallery.

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair accessible

The Northcote Project Space is located in Arts Project Australia’s studio foyer.

The studio is a two-story wheelchair accessible building.

The second story is accessible via lift or stairs.

Wheelchair accessible and gender-neutral toilets available on site.

The Northcote Project Space and studio can be a noisy place. Those with audio sensory sensitivities are recommended to bring ear protection.

Service animals and guide dogs welcome.

Social pets are unable to be inside the studio.

Getting Here

Devoted To You

Devoted To You

Devoted to You celebrates the musical icons that have captured the imaginations of artists at Arts Project Australia.

Music has always been a vital part of the studio, with artists driving the studio’s playlist with special requests and well-loved tunes spanning all genres and decades. From record obsessives to dedicated superfans, impersonators and everything in between, Devoted To You explores the devout and passionate world of music fandom in all its feverish glory.

Featuring APA artists Adrian Lazzaro, Alan Constable, Amani Tia, Andrew Nicholaides, Anthony Romagnano, Bronwyn Hack, Cameron Gresswell, Cathy Staughton, Christian Semertzidis, Danny Lyons, Dionne Canzano, James Dawes, Lee Dight, Lisa Reid, Martin Forster, Nick Capaldo, Paul Quick, Peter Ben, Rakhi James, Ruth Howard, Sammi-Jo Matta, Steven Ajzenberg, Steven Perette, Timothy Noble, Tycho Dahlstrom, Valerio Ciccone and William Murray. 

Curated by James Dawes, Carolyn Hawkins and Danielle Hakim.

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair accessible

The Arts Project Australia gallery has accessible toilets in the Perry Street Building. They are located in the northern end of the building. On the upper ground level they are located off the northern side of the service corridor. On L1 and L2 they are located behind blue manual double doors.

Entry 30A Perry Street is wheelchair accessible and offers direct access to the Courtyard, Perry Street Building upper ground and Johnston Street Building upper ground.

Lift access is available to visit other buildings and levels.

Getting Here

View the exhibition from home

Japan Photo Book, Rebecca Scibilia, The Substation

Japan Photo Book is a series of five works by Arts Project Australia artist Rebecca Scibilia drawing on memories of her time in Japan.

Scibilia employs a variety of media in her practise, focusing primarily on felt-tip and paint pens. Finding inspiration in personal experiences and popular culture, she conveys personal or collective memories through abstract forms, often weaving visual references, motifs and text into the imagery. In Japan Photo Book, each piece captures a moment in time, inspired by photographs taken throughout the trip. Characterised by assured patternmaking, the works are at once reflective and electric.

Scibilia has been an artist at the Arts Project Australia studio since 1999. Founded in 1974, Arts Project Australia is a gallery and supported studio that represents artists with intellectual disabilities, promotes their work, and advocates for their inclusion in contemporary art practice. For 50 years, APA has been recognised and celebrated for the quality of the work produced by the artists in the studio, which is exhibited in the APA gallery and around the world and represented in multiple public and private collections.

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair accessible

For step-free access, follow the footpath from The Substation along Market St to Newport train station, approximately 340 metres.

Getting Here

Annual Gala promotional banner

2024 Annual Gala Celebration

In this special 50th anniversary Gala Exhibition, the achievements of APA studio and online artists are celebrated, highlighting their unique contributions to contemporary art. Over 200 artworks, including paintings, photography, drawings, printmaking, ceramics, and textiles, will be on display and available for purchase. Collectors have the opportunity to purchase artwork at the opening event and take it home the same night.

This year the event will span across Collingwood Yards, with an additional exhibit onsite showcasing APA’s video archive, and a series of portraits of APA artists by Penelope Hunt. APA’s new 50th anniversary publication and merchandise will also be available.

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair accessible

The Arts Project Australia gallery has accessible toilets in the Perry Street Building. They are located in the northern end of the building. On the upper ground level they are located off the northern side of the service corridor. On L1 and L2 they are located behind blue manual double doors.

Entry 30A Perry Street is wheelchair accessible and offers direct access to the Courtyard, Perry Street Building upper ground and Johnston Street Building upper ground.

Lift access is available to visit other buildings and levels.

Getting Here

Visit the Annual Gala from home

Fulli Andrinopoulos

Benalla Art Gallery and Arts Project Australia proudly present Ethereal Portals — a Summer Gallery Shop exhibition by Fulli Andrinopoulos.

Fulli Andrinopoulos is an established artist whose work is characterised by soft, floating circular forms and saturated colours that exude an intensity through the build-up of dense layers of rich pigment.

Her small-scale paintings are tactile and ethereal, embodying an emotive quality akin to that of artist Mark Rothko. Recent textile works on ink-soaked fabric feature dense applications of coloured thread. Her collections – often presented en masse in grids or floating across a wall – are intimate, with a sense of transcendence and the unknown.

Andrinopoulos has worked at Arts Project since 1991. Public collections include Monash University Museum of Art. Her work is also held in national and international private and corporate collections.

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair accessible

Benalla Art Gallery has full wheelchair access via a ramp entrance at the front of the building.  The café deck and floor can also be accessed via a ramp.

Disabled toilets and infant facilities are also available within the building.

Getting here

Intimate Imaginaries: NETS Victoria Tour

A soft-sculpture made by APA artist Terry Williams depicting a grey boom box.

Intimate Imaginaries: NETS Victoria Tour

Intimate Imaginaries is a group exhibition that showcases the work of 13 artists whose practices have developed within APA’s vibrant studio over the past five decades.

The word “imaginaries” is often used to describe acts of make-believe and pure invention, but it can also refer to the everyday ways people see, shape and make sense of themselves and the world around them. This broader meaning is reflected in the approach of APA, where artists are supported to follow and develop their own creative instincts rather than being formally taught. In this way, each artist creates work that conveys their own unique and deeply personal outlook.

Featuring Fulli Andrinopoulos, Samraing Chea, Alan Constable, Wendy Dawson, Bronwyn Hack, Julian Martin, Chris O’Brien, Anthony Romagnano, Lisa Reid, Mark Smith, Cathy Staughton, Georgia Szmerling and Terry Williams.

The artworks featured in Intimate Imaginaries express a wide range of perspectives and emotions. Some artists focus on everyday situations, relationships and experiences, while others use abstract forms, bold colours and expressive textures to communicate feelings and inner states. While the works include a wide range of artforms—painting, drawing, ceramics, soft sculpture and video­­—they all share a distinct handmade quality that provides a direct sense of connection to the artist and their creative process.

Intimate Imaginaries is a TarraWarra Museum of Art exhibition, in partnership with Arts Project Australia, touring with NETS Victoria. Curated by Anthony Fitzpatrick.

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government’s Visions of Australia program and by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.

National Exhibitions Touring Support (NETS) Victoria is supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria, by the Australian Government through Creative Australia its principal arts investment and advisory body, and through the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian, State and Territory Governments. NETS Victoria also receives significant in-kind support from the National Gallery of Victoria.

Venues

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair accessible

For full details on Pinnacles Gallery accessibility please visit the website.

A soft-sculpture made by APA artist Terry Williams depicting a grey boom box.

TarraWarra Museum of Art presents Intimate Imaginaries.

This presentation is the first major exhibition surveying the work of APA artists in an Australian museum, highlighting 13 vital contemporary practices that have emerged from this self-described ‘boisterous hive of creativity’ over the past five decades.

The term ‘imaginaries’ is commonly used to describe realms of pure invention or flights of fancy, but it can also refer to more everyday creative activity: how we perceive, shape and make sense of ourselves and the world around us. This open-ended conception is one that accords with the ethos of APA where ‘art is not taught, but rather the innate creative direction of each artist is nurtured to elicit works of personal meaning and style’. In this spirit, Intimate Imaginaries brings together bodies of work by a range of artists who each express a compelling, richly inventive and deeply felt worldview.

By turns ingenious, irreverent, poignant and joyful, many featured works convey the artist’s personal perspectives on everyday environments, interactions and phenomena. From the autobiographical to the observational, the works of artists such as Lisa Reid, Anthony Romagnano, Cathy Staughton and Terry Williams, reveal the multiple ways in which we can be intimately and imaginatively entangled with each other and with places and things in the world. Other artists, such as Fulli Andrinopoulos, Wendy Dawson and Julian Martin employ abstract shapes, vivid colour and highly tactile forms of mark-making to evoke emotive, intangible and interior states of being. While the exhibiting artists utilise a range of media and processes in their works—including painting, drawing, ceramics, soft sculpture and video—they all share a distinctive handmade aesthetic.

Bringing together early and recent works alongside several new commissions, Intimate Imaginaries includes: Samraing Chea’s highly detailed drawings that depict humorous observations and wry social commentary on daily life; Alan Constable’s hand-modelled, wet-finish colour glazed ceramic cameras; Bronwyn Hack’s carefully crafted fabric models of human anatomy; Julian Martin’s refined abstract pastel compositions distilled from found imagery; Chris O’Brien’s sculptures, videos and zines which convey mischievous personal narratives on suburban life; Lisa Reid’s meticulous and lovingly-rendered ceramics and works on paper evoking familial memories; Cathy Staughton’s colourful paintings of Luna Park that interweave autobiography and fantastical dream imagery; and Terry Williams’s hand-stitched, improvisational renditions of everyday objects.

Curated by Anthony Fitzpatrick, Intimate Imaginaries is presented by TarraWarra Museum of Art in partnership with Arts Project Australia.

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair accessible

Visitors requiring wheelchair or mobility walker access are advised to call ahead so that the they can provide further information about access to the Museum. TarraWarra Museum of Art welcomes guests of all abilities and is committed to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for visitors with specific access requirements.

The Museum and gallery spaces are fully accessible, and wheelchair-accessible car parks and toilet facilities are available on site.  Self-propelled wheelchairs are available for complimentary hire by contacting the Museum on 03 5957 3100 or [email protected].   

Getting Here

Christian Hansen Traveling Hot Toddie 2024 11 x 20 x 6 cm CHC24-0002

Arts Project Australia 2024 Miegunyah Creative Fellowship

Symbiosis is the culmination of the 2024 Miegunyah Creative Fellowship with Arts Project Australia. Artist group, The Northcote Penguins, were invited to investigate and respond to decorative arts, furniture and personal items in the Grimwade Collection, which was bequeathed to the University of Melbourne by Sir Russell and Mab Grimwade in 1949.

Visiting the Collection in storage, the artists selected one or more objects that sparked their interest and, through their personal practice and Art Project Australia’s Professional Practice Program, each researched and developed their own creative outcomes.

Mark Smith collaborated with glass blower Ruth Allen to reimagine Grimwade glassware, while Christian Hansen’s bronze sculpture was inspired by a small porcelain ‘fairing’. Jordan Dymke’s self-portrait utilises mirrors from the Grimwade house Miegunyah, and Amani Tia was inspired by photographs taken by Russell Grimwade. Objects from the Collection are incorporated into an infomercial by Aidan Sefo and in collages and digital prints by Monica Lazzari and Sam Ashdown. Michael Camakaris drew inspiration from a ‘puzzle jug’ to produce a group of humorous and satirical ceramic vessels. These imaginative responses are displayed alongside the art and objects that inspired them.

Curated by Alisa Bunbury (Museums and Collections), Coordinated by Carly Richardson (Museums and Collections) and Tom Pendergast (Arts Project Australia).

 

Hear from exhibiting artists on their process and preparation for symbiosis.

Filming: Maree Prokos and Bernard Winter
Editing: Maree Prokos
Music: James Paul
(Museums and Collections, University of Melbourne)

Read more

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair accessible

Buxton Contemporary is fully wheelchair accessible.

Download the Ground Level Access Map and Level One Access Map for detailed information about access throughout the building.

Social scripts, large format wall labels and sensory maps are available to download on current exhibition pages.

Access is an open conversation. Buxton Contemporary welcome all feedback about their available resources at [email protected] or on 03 9035 9339.

Getting Here

Visit the exhibition from home

A Promotional banner for the BOLD exhibition at Arts Project Australia. Bold is written in capital block letters. The background is blue.

For many neurodivergent artists, merely partaking in the contemporary art world is a bold and courageous act.

Held to coincide with APA’s 50th anniversary celebrations, BOLD highlights artists who are unapologetically themselves, and whose instinctive practices manifest in powerful and confident work. Subjects are distilled to their very essence, resulting in pure unadorned form.

Mirroring the fun, colour and joyful nature of the APA studio, BOLD features work by APA artists Adrian Lazzaro, Anna Dehm, Anthony Romagnano, Ian Gold, Jacob Cartelli, John Bates, Julian Martin, Michael Trasancos, Patrick Francis and Ruth Howard.

Bold is curated by Shell Odgers.

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair accessible

The Arts Project Australia gallery has accessible toilets in the Perry Street Building. They are located in the northern end of the building. On the upper ground level they are located off the northern side of the service corridor. On L1 and L2 they are located behind blue manual double doors.

Entry 30A Perry Street is wheelchair accessible and offers direct access to the Courtyard, Perry Street Building upper ground and Johnston Street Building upper ground.

Lift access is available to visit other buildings and levels.

Getting Here

View the exhibition from home

A web banner promoting the 50 Birds exhibition

50 Birds celebrates the joint 50th anniversary of two iconic organisations: Arts Project Australia and Arts Access Victoria.

Commemorating a combined total of 100 years of advocacy in the arts, this exhibition brings together 14 artists from APA and AAV who are inspired by the beauty and brilliance of birds.

Exploring a variety of mediums including ceramics, sculpture, painting, drawing, embroidery and textiles, 50 Birds features APA artists Rosie O’Brien, Miles Howard- Wilks, Simon Paredes, Robert Brown, Anne Lynch, Barbara Gibbs, Dorothy Berry and Alan Constable alongside Arts Access Victoria’s artists Lisa Pownall, Kristy Sweeney, Heather White, Leeann Preddy, Diana Kagadis and Fiona Taylor.

Curated by Rosie O’Brien and Pegs Marlow.

Accessibility

  • Wheelchair accessible

The Arts Project Australia gallery has accessible toilets in the Perry Street Building. They are located in the northern end of the building. On the upper ground level they are located off the northern side of the service corridor. On L1 and L2 they are located behind blue manual double doors.

Entry 30A Perry Street is wheelchair accessible and offers direct access to the Courtyard, Perry Street Building upper ground and Johnston Street Building upper ground.

Lift access is available to visit other buildings and levels.

Getting Here

View the exhibition from home