As part of Craft Contemporary 2023 we are presenting: 

Are you Procrastinating? by Carol Yang. 

Using waste produced by the fashion industry, Carol creates wearable and functional sculptures that highlights the procrastinator as the protagonist.

Carol’s work demonstrates the feelings and activities of procrastination visually in a humorous way, while exploring the emotional state of procrastination.

@carol_yang_

Check out our other exhibit Soil Clay, by Vivian Qiu or explore the full Craft Contemporary program guide. 

_{This exhibition is part of Craft Contemporary 2023, an annual festival delivered by Craft Victoria – the largest celebration of craft and design in Victoria. The festival brings together practitioners, educators, industry, and craft lovers to explore material practice as it is today. See, touch, experience and be inspired by 150+ art experiences, including exhibitions, talks, demonstrations, workshops and open studios.}

One of Australia’s most important national occasions, ANZAC Day goes beyond the anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli in 1915. It is the day in which we remember all Australians who served and died in all wars and operational service past and present. Come along and mark the day at one of the RSL services in Manningham.

The Doncaster RSL will hold a Dawn Service followed by a Gunfire Breakfast.

As part of Craft Contemporary 2023 we are presenting: 

Soil Clay, by Vivian Qiu 

The Soil Clay Project is an ongoing exploration of the artist’s jewellery designs through her experience living and studying in China, Australia and Sweden.

Vivian uses her observational insights and collection of natural materials and common objects to mould into wearable artworks. She incorporates soil, fallen leaves and flowers, grass and rice to act as a binding agent for her work.

She establishes a connection between the wearer to place, time, and culture through materials and the ancient symbolism of oracle bone script.

Artworks from Vivian’s residency in Sweden will be on display.

@vivian_qiu_studio

Check out our other exhibit Are you Procrastinating? by Carol Yang or explore the full Craft Contemporary program guide. 

_{This exhibition is part of Craft Contemporary 2023, an annual festival delivered by Craft Victoria – the largest celebration of craft and design in Victoria. The festival brings together practitioners, educators, industry, and craft lovers to explore material practice as it is today. See, touch, experience and be inspired by 150+ art experiences, including exhibitions, talks, demonstrations, workshops and open studios.}

In this stunning new exhibition by visual artist Katrin Koenning, she intimately explores connection and belonging through a deeply personal and immersive constellation of images drawn from the artist’s archive across time and space.

Artist Biography 
b. 1978. Dortmund, Germany. Lives and works in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia.

Pursuing intimacy and interconnection, Koenning's work centers practice as relational encounter, exploring themes such as community, kinship, grief and love. In extended image-dialogues, Katrin uses fragments and slippages to suggest narrative spaces and communities that are allied, fluid and multiplicit. Many of her series render non-human human entanglement.

Her work is regularly exhibited in Australia and internationally including in presentations at the National Gallery of Victoria and the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra; Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne; Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney; the Museum of Australian Photography, Melbourne; Ishara Art Foundation, Dubai; Chobi Mela, Bangladesh; and Paris Photo. Her work is held in numerous institutional and private collections and has been published in The New Yorker, Vogue.com, Zeit Magazine, The Guardian, Esquire Italy, Der Spiegel, Yucca Magazine, California Sunday and many other places.

Katrin Koenning, yanakie (one), 2021, archival pigment print, 40cm x 30cm, Ed. 1/6 +2AP. Image courtesy of the Artist. 

If you’re an artist living or working in Manningham, join us for an online meet and greet to build creative connections in your backyard.

Facilitated by Debby Maziarz, this inaugural community of practice event will look at what dramatic adaptation can mean for your arts practice, with particular regard for opportunities and challenges presented by online tools and modes of working. 

You'll hear from local creatives Adrian Rice, Cath Rutten and Lindy Yeates about their experiences, particularly in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as have the chance to share ideas and discuss your current practice.

Free event.
Limited numbers, registration essential.

Image: Lindy Yeates, installation shot from the Sanctuary Project, 2020-21.

More Information

Manningham Art Gallery

Located at the entrance to MC Square, Manningham Art Gallery presents a diverse range of contemporary art exhibitions and related public programs throughout the year. See all upcoming exhibitions.

​Join us this NAIDOC week for a special screening of the Unfinished Business Documentary at Doncaster Library.

This moving documentary tells the stories of 30 First Nations people living with disabilities. Their deeply personal stories are complex and intertwined with Australia’s political and social history, which has resulted in today’s unacceptably high rates of disability in Australia’s First Nations Communities.

Their stories are also featured in the Unfinished Business exhibition, which is showing at Manningham Art Gallery until Saturday 29 July.

Following the screening, there will be a Q&A with Uncle John Baxter: Latja Latja/Narungga man, Board Member Reconciliation Victoria and First Peoples Disability Network, Aboriginal Partnership Coordinator - Brotherhood of St Laurence/NDIS, participant and creative collaborator of Unfinished Business. 

Attendees will also have the chance to view the exhibition at their own pace.

The Unfinished Business Documentary is a creative collaboration between brothers, Liam and Dieter Knierim, Belinda Mason Knierim OAM, and participants.

This is a free and accessible event. Bookings not required. Refreshments will be provided.

Warning: First Nations peoples should be aware that this exhibition contains images, voices, or names of deceased persons.

In this workshop, primary school-aged children are invited to join the staff from Awareaway to create fish from re-purposed plastic waste. The fish will then be displayed as part of the 'School of Plastic Fish' exhibition at the Box Hill Community Art Centre. 

Participation in the workshops is free but places are limited.

The exhibition runs from 23 May until 29 May 2022 at the Box Hill Community Art Centre.

'School of Plastic Fish' is an exhibition responding to the alarming study that predicts by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans.

The fish depict an eerie yet beautiful ocean-scape where they are displayed, reminding us of a possible future and encouraging us to embrace positive behaviour change to reimagine a better and more sustainable future.

Awareaway is a social and environmental enterprise, co-founded by Sophie Dahm and Alex Child, dedicated to sustainable and creative design by re-purposing and up-cycling plastic waste.

Barbara Hepworth was one of the leading British artists of her generation and the first woman sculptor to achieve international recognition.

Barbara Hepworth: In Equilibrium brings her remarkable achievements to Australian audiences for the first time.

Forty works from prestigious international and national collections, including sculptures in stone, wood, bronze and other metals and a select group of paintings will be on display.

Developed in consultation with the Hepworth Estate, the exhibition has been designed by award-winning architecture firm Studio Bright.

Entry to Heide is free for Manningham residents.

Image by Clytie Meredith.

Enjoy one of the best walks in Warrandyte State Park. Spectacular views of the river and out towards the dividing range, visit the Blue-tongue Bend Chapel and then traverse the shaly escarpment to the old Stane Brae farm. Enjoy morning tea at the best beach in Wonga Park before returning past a 400+ year old Red Box tree near the old dairy.

• Difficult (some steep, slippery and narrow tracks) approx 6km 3.5hrs
• Please wear appropriate clothing for walking
• BYO morning tea / snacks / water
• Location will be given upon registration

One of Australia’s most important national occasions, ANZAC Day goes beyond the anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli in 1915. It is the day in which we remember all Australians who served and died in all wars and operational service past and present. Come along and mark the day at one of the RSL services in Manningham.

• 8.15 am: March

  Prior to the ANZAC service a march will commence at the Templestowe Hotel car park.

• 8.30 am: Service

  Templestowe RSL will hold an ANZAC service followed by a Gunfire Breakfast at the clubhouse at the conclusion of the service.

Join us for an exclusive after-hours event at Manningham Art Gallery to celebrate our two latest exhibitions. 

Painted Country

Featuring the works of five First Nations Artists – Nellie Ngampa Coulthard, Brenda Napaltjarri, Clara Napurrula, Rene Sundown and Adrian Jurra Tjungurrayi. Drawing upon their rich artistic, cultural, and ancestral knowledge, each artist paints unique depictions of Country, refracted through memory and lived experience. With special thanks to the Artists; Iwantja Arts, South Australia; Papunya Tula Artists, Northern Territory; and Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, who partnered with Manningham Art Gallery to curate this major exhibition.

Beyond the Table: The Dinner Party Reimagined 

An interactive reimagining of a traditional dinner party by Manningham artists Isobel Goodman and Jade Piltz, with a nod to 1970s nostalgia and celebrating one of the key gathering spaces in our homes, the humble dining table. The installation is a part of Melbourne Design Week, Australia's premier design festival featuring events across Melbourne and regional Victoria.

Drop in between 5.00pm and 8.00pm, with Manningham Mayor, Cr Deirdre Diamante, formally opening the evening at 5.30pm. Enjoy delicious snacks and refreshments. No bookings required. This is a free public event. 

To find out more about these exhibitions, visit Painted Country and Melbourne Design Week - Beyond the Table: The Dinner Party Reimagined or for information on the event email gallery@manningham.vic.gov.au or call (03) 9840 9367.

Image Credit: Nellie Ngampa Coulthard, Tjuntala Ngurangka - Country with Wattle (Acacia Murrayana), 2024, Synthetic polymer paint on linen, 122 x 198 cm. Image courtsey of The Artist, Iwantja Arts and Alcaston Gallery.

Beyond the Table: The Dinner Party Reimagined  is a reimagining of a traditional dinner party, with a nod to 1970s nostalgia and celebrating one of the key gathering spaces in our homes, the humble dining table.

The installation is on display at Manningham Art Gallery as part of Melbourne Design Week, Australia's premier design festival featuring events across Melbourne and regional Victoria.

Emerging Manningham artist Isobel Goodman responds to and selects works from Manningham Council’s ‘Potters Cottage Collection,’ a grouping of vessels created by the Potters Cottage co-operative. The co-operative was founded in Warrandyte in 1958 to advocate for and sell handmade functional Australian pottery.

Goodman hand builds her signature papier mâché and plaster sculptures – organic and abstracted forms to reference a dinner party table setting – vases, cutlery, plates, and candlesticks that play off and create a contemporary juxtaposition against the Potters Cottage vessels from the 1970s. 

Surrounding the central dining table presentation is a display of paintings from local Manningham artist Jade Piltz. These works depict bright, layered and abstract domestic objects that encapsulate the exhibition’s celebration of communal gathering and ritual. 

During Melbourne Design Week (15-25 May) visitors can take home a flower to celebrate this exhibition. 

Artist Bios: 
Isobel Goodman was recently awarded a Bachelor of Fine Art from the University of Melbourne. Her practice focuses on sculptural exploration and the body’s navigation of space and environment through the perspective of APD (Auditory Processing Disorder). She invites audiences to examine their relationship between the physical self and how we navigate the world around us.

Jade Piltz is a Warrandyte painter and ceramist. She is fascinated by our innate search for belonging, our desire for meaning and relationships to change and transition. Using mark making, she explores the ways our interactions with surrounding spaces and objects, narrate and inform our lives.

This Exhibition was supported by Gabriela Mello, owner and director of Warrandyte Pottery, through artist mentorship and technical and conceptual support and curated by Lucy Beattie Hughes, Manningham Council’s Creative Industries Officer.

Jade Piltz, Alone, Together (detail), 2024,  acrylic on canvas, 168 x 122cm. Image courtesy of the artist. Photo by: Emily Brookfield.
 

 
Melbourne Design Week is Australia’s largest and leading annual design festival and takes place from 15 to 25 May 2025.

The 2025 program spans 11 days of 350+ events, exhibitions, talks, and installations throughout metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria.

Melbourne Design Week is a vital platform for emerging and established creative practitioners, offering the Australian design community and audiences the opportunity to engage with a diverse program of talks, tours, exhibitions, installations, and workshops. Melbourne Design Week is an initiative of the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria and is curated and delivered by the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV).

Visit designweek.melbourne to view the full program.


 

Between the Details: Video Art from the ACMI Collection presents Bayi Gardiya - Singing Desert by Dr Christian Thompson AO

In this 360-degree video experience, Christian Thompson invites audiences to walk through the landscape of his childhood. Here they will witness a simple yet profound aesthetic gesture of the artist singing in his traditional Bidjara language, a recognised lost language. 

“If I sing even one word of our language, which is considered an extinct or lost language, then it can’t be described as such, because it is being presented as a living language within the art context” - Christian Thompson

See the full program at Between the Details: Video Art from the ACMI Collection. 

For further information contact Manningham Art Gallery, gallery@manningham.vic.gov.au or call 9840 9367. 

Photo caption: Bayi Gardiya (Singing Desert), 2019 (video still). Photo credit: Christian Thompson 

An ACMI touring exhibition
The works in this exhibition are commissioned by ACMI, Artbank, Bundanon Trust, Carriageworks, City of Melbourne, Melbourne Art Foundation, Professor Cav. Simon Mordant AO and Catriona Mordant AM, John Allsopp (Web Directions) and assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts.

Head to Heide Museum of Modern Art for Molto Italiano! 

Heide’s two-day community festival celebrating Italian culture and showcasing the exhibition Molto Bello: Icons of Modern Italian Design. Activating the whole of the Heide site, this festival offers something for everyone. 

Molto Italiano! will have activities for all ages, from lawn bocce to art making, pop-up exhibition talks in Italian and English, an ‘Art Bambini’ program for the little ones with Heide’s art therapist, and an Italian-themed ‘Design Roadshow’ where visitors can bring an Italian design object from home for expert assessment. Authentic Italian food and drink will be on offer throughout, including pizza, pasta, gelato, spritz, and more from specialised food trucks as well as Heide Kitchen. Italian bands will add atmosphere, along with traditional Italian songs from the Veneto Club choir. 

Celebrate all things Italian this summer with Heide!

This groundbreaking exhibition calls attention to the pressing issue of Indigenous incarceration in Australia and the crisis of deaths in custody. 

Guest-curated by Kent Morris (Barkindji), it presents works by leading First Nations artists including Vernon Ah Kee, Gordon Bennett, Destiny Deacon, Jimmy Pike, and Judy Watson. Their powerful responses are shown alongside the remarkable creative achievements of former and current prison inmates, many of whom have connected with their culture and Country through The Torch program, such as Thelma Beeton, Stacey Edwards, Robby Wirramanda and Sean Miller.

The exhibition is showing until 20 July 2025 in the Heide Main Galleries.

Visit the Heide website for opening hours and information about how to plan your visit.

Image credit: Trevor Nickolls, Brush with the Lore, 2010, Art Gallery of South Australia, acquisition through Tarnanthi: Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art, supported by BHP 2018.

Textile_Temporalities is an exhibition and series of workshops that explores and reflects on the temporal nature of craft practices, human connectedness, and sites of intimacy. Led by artist Shannon Slee, whose practice investigates the role of discarded clothing to connect with personal and social histories, our small gallery will be showcasing a range of recent works from the artist and a special participatory artwork made in collaboration with older people in Manningham, developed over a series of interactive workshops. Visitors to the gallery will also have the opportunity to get involved through a textile inspired activity. 

Artist Biography 
Shannon Slee is a visual artist living and working in Narrm. Her practice engages with the handmade to consider intimate moments of connection within the flexible aesthetic of textiles. She explores practices of reusing, sewing, spinning, and weaving, with a particular interest in how craft modalities distort time, invite tactile engagement, and evoke memory. Through her work, she investigates rhythms of making, and the narrative and emotions embedded in material processes.

In 2024 she was awarded a Masters of Contemporary Art from the University of Melbourne. She has recently exhibited at the Public Records Office, Melbourne; Five Walls Project Space, Melbourne; Linden Project Space, Melbourne; fortyfive downstairs, Melbourne; Australian Tapestry Workshop, Melbourne and George Paton Gallery at the University of Melbourne. 

Image: Shannon Slee, Textile Assemblage for Carolyn (back), (detail), 2023, Preston op-shop dress, artists’ family sewing box scraps, blanket, thread. 170 x 200cm. Image by Simon Strong.

We are thrilled to extend a warm invitation to you for a special occasion – the 50th Anniversary Celebration BBQ of the Doncaster Aeromodellers Club!

Come and join us for a day filled with nostalgia, camaraderie, and  delicious BBQ treats!

As we commemorate 50 years of soaring through the skies, let's gather to reminisce about cherished memories, celebrate milestones, and look forward to the exciting future of our beloved club.

Whether you're a current member, a past enthusiast, or someone interested in aeromodelling, this event promises to be an enjoyable gathering for all. 

Bring along your aircraft including vintage models for display!

For catering purposes, please register your attendance by Thursday 23 May via email at events@dac.org.au.

Join JamFactory ICON artist Angela Valamanesh for an engaging walk through her exhibition About being here. Learn more about the life view that informs her artistic exploration of the interconnectedness of human, animal and plant life.

Inspired by the symbiosis between science and poetry, Angela Valamanesh’s artworks elicit intrigue and a strong sense of personal investigation as she manipulates seemingly familiar anatomical, botanical, and parasitic forms in beguiling and unusual ways.

Held as part of the exhibition JamFactory ICON Angela Valamanesh: About being here, on now at Manningham Art Gallery until Saturday 17 September 2022.

Other public programs

Ceramics Workshop with Holly Phillipson

Available sessions:

• Friday 2 September, 10.30am to 1.30pm
• Saturday 3 September, 3.00pm to 6.00pm

Tickets: $40 general admission, $30 concession

Find out more and register online.