Exhibitions

Wollongong is one of many global cities on the sea facing rapid environmental and social change. The sea is ever-present in the lives of the people who live on this long coastal strip, bounded by the escarpment and the Pacific Ocean.

The geographic footprint of the City+Sea artwork extends from Otford in the north to Bass Point in the south.

City+Sea invites people to reflect on their relationships with this place. We offer you an unfamiliar perspective of the city from the sea: a continuous video of the coastline filmed
from a fishing boat over three hours and forty minutes, and a corresponding 26 metre long watercolour drawing.

This is a space for people to come together, to slow down, to yarn, to write, to draw, to create, and to share stories of this place.

This research-based exhibition showcases artworks from interdisciplinary team: Dr Kim Williams (artist), Associate Professor Leah Gibbs (human geographer), Dr Lucas Ihlein (artist), Associate Professor Sarah Hamylton (coastal geographer), including artwork contributions by Hayden Griffith and Aunty Barbara Nicholson. 

This project was supported by a UOW ReVITAlise (RITA) Research Grant. The exhibition received additional support from ACCESS (Australian Centre for Culture, Environment, Society and Space) and ARC Linkage project ‘Better Oceans, Better Futures’ (LP200300895).

Location: UOW Gallery, ground floor of building 29, Jillian Broadbent Building, western side of the Wollongong campus.

Dates: 20 June - 11 September, 2024

Times: 10.00 am – 4.00 pm, Mondays to Wednesdays

Admission: Free and open to the public

Official Exhibition Opening: Thursday, 20 June, 5 pm. All welcome. 

Still from Bald Hill to Shellharbour: view of the Illawarra from the sea, 2024
Kim Williams, Leah Gibbs, Hayden Griffith, Lucas Ihlein, Sarah Hamylton

Discover the rich tapestry of artistic expression at the University of Wollongong (UOW) through "Highlights from the UOW Art Collection." This captivating exhibition presents a curated selection of works that showcase the calibre, strength, and diversity found within the UOW Art Collection.

Diverse Artworks

Explore a range of artistic styles, mediums, and themes that reflect the dynamic nature of the UOW Art Collection.

Calibre and Strength

Immerse yourself in the world of art as the exhibition highlights the exceptional calibre and strength of the featured works.

Curatorial Excellence

Experience a thoughtfully curated selection that demonstrates the artistic prowess and cultural significance of the UOW Art Collection.

Visiting the UOW Gallery, you can expect to feel inspired and engaged as you immerse yourself in the diverse and thought-provoking exhibitions. The gallery's dynamic programming and commitment to strategic impact create an atmosphere of creativity and innovation. You may feel a sense of connection to the university community, as the gallery fosters collaboration across disciplines and involves alumni, students, and the wider community.

Late 2023 - March 2024

Guy Warren, Escarpment, Illawarra
synthetic polymer paint on linen

A UOW Art Collection and Hazelhurst Art Centre partnership exhibition

UOW and Hazelhurst Arts Centre worked in partnership to present an exhibition featuring 100 artworks from the university’s art collection. The exhibition was held in the Main Gallery at Hazelhurst in Gymea. The artworks were selected from the collection by Hazelhurst’s curators. The exhibition included works by artists such as Ben Quilty, Lloyd Rees, Elizabeth Cummings, James Gleeson, Lindy Lee, Tracy Moffatt and Emily Kame Kngwarreye.

This exhibition also coincided with Vital Signs: Recent graduates from the University of Wollongong, an exhibition of artworks by graduating visual arts students from The School of Arts, English and Media. 

Dates: 22 April to 18 June, 2023
Location: Hazelhurst Arts Centre, 782 Kingsway, Gymea. NSW. 2227. 

Guy Warren, Escarpment, Illawarra
synthetic polymer paint on linen

The 2022 Visual Arts Graduate Exhibition presents graduating works by UOW Bachelor of Creative Arts (Visual Arts); (Visual Arts and Design); and Bachelor of Arts (Photography) students. This exhibition brings together a rich eclectic mix of artworks that showcases a diversity of talent emerging from three years of practice-based studies and research investigation.

Dates: 26 November to 9 December 2022

Artist attribution: William O'Toole, Burnouts, 2022 | oil on synthetic turf, 185 x 135 cm

Opening during National Science Week, this diverse exhibition includes work by artists and scientists who have visited Antarctica, either under the auspices of national level scientific and artist residency programs or via the former Illawarra based Theme Polar Arts program.  It includes work by artists such as Brogan Bunt,  Janet Laurence, Ashley Frost, Bettina Kaiser, Liz Jeneid, Rob Howe, Trudi Voorwinden and Mary Rosengren as well as work by Antarctic scientists Mel Waterman, Georgia Watson and Alison Haynes.  Also included in the exhibition is the work produced by local Illawarra children participating in the Early Start Antarctic early learning workshops.  This work will gradually grow as the exhibition proceeds.

Antarctic Early Learning workshops and a series of seminars accompany this exhibition and will take place in the Early Start building across from the UOW Gallery. For details of rooms and times please visit the Antarctic Futures website.

Dates: 15 August to 19 October 2022

Digital ink jet print artwork: Brogan Bunt, Antarctica, 2022

August

24 August 2022
Using Drones to Explore Antarctica – Professor Barbara Bollard, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand

31 August 2022
Antarctic Film Night: short films produced by artists and scientists in the Antarctic Futures team.

September

7 September 2022
Among Antarctica’s Ancient Moss Forests: Observing 25 years of change – Distinguished Professor Sharon Robinson, University of Wollongong, Australia

14 September 2022
A Leadership Journey Down South – Dr Rachelle Balez, Homeward Bound participant 2018, University of Wollongong, Australia

19 September 2022 (note 12:30pm start)
Crazy Big Ideas: The Value of Science Fiction for Conceiving Antarctic Futures – Dr Lucas Ihlein (UOW), Dr Hilary Strang (University of Chicago) and David Spratt (Research Coordinator for the Breakthrough National Centre for Climate Restoration).
For those attending this seminar in person, there will be a tour of the Antarctic Futures exhibition available in the UOW Gallery at 11:45 am prior to the seminar.

Digital Photograph: Alison Haynes, Ice (King George Island), 2020

October

12 October 2022
Antarctic Futures Q&A Session – a panel of experts on Antarctic climate, living things, travel and policy answering your questions about the past, present and future of Antarctica.

Please note: two of the seminars will be available both on campus and via Zoom. These two are ‘Using Drones to Explore Antarctica’ (24 August) and ‘Crazy Big Ideas’ (19 September). Please email Georgia Watson for a zoom invitation.

The Antarctic Futures team have partnered with the Early Start Discovery Space‘s team of educators to bring Antarctica to young families, in particular during National Science Week (13-21 August 2022) and Book Week (20-26 August 2022). See the Early Start events page for information about the exciting Antarctic experiences lined up over the coming weeks.

Through hands-on learning activities, storytelling, science shows, interactive play, the Antarctic Research Vessel and more, children and their parents will discover many aspects why Antarctica is an incredible place. Artifacts, photos and films from scientists who have visited and worked in Antarctica are also on display. Keep updated via their website and social media channels for special Q&A sessions and workshop dates.

The Early Start workshops involve creative making activities, devoting a fortnight to each of the following themes:

What is Antarctica?
Getting to Antarctica: what does the trip actually involve? What is living there like?
Antarctic life: explores issues of climate change and the instability of Antarctic environmental systems.
Antarctic Futures: creative efforts to imagine Antarctic futures.

These interactive activities and workshops are free after entry and will run at the Early Start Discovery Space early learning centre, which is just across the road from the UOW Gallery (here’s how to get to Early Start).

The academic genesis of this exhibition stems from a multidisciplinary group of academics at the University of Wollongong involved in the Eco-Antarctica research project. This group included marine and terrestrial ecologists, data scientists, environmental toxicologists, climate scientists and modellers, experts in Antarctic and environmental law and policy, a historian and an artist. At the heart of the group were the circle of researchers associated with Professor Sharon Robinson’s Antarctic moss ecology research.

Associate Professor Bunt provides the bridge to the other trajectory of Illawarra based Antarctic association – local artist Ashley Frost’s Theme Polar Arts program. For close to two decades (2003-2018) Theme ran an artist residency program that placed local and international artists aboard Arctic and Antarctic tourism ships from 2003-2018.  It was also contracted to produce innovative multi-media logs of these voyages. Bunt had developed the initial multimedia system and been on a number of voyages as a multimedia producer. He was keen to highlight this unique Illawarra venture and the body of artistic work that it had produced.

These two trajectories have coalesced in Antarctic Futures.

The UOW Gallery exhibition is an eclectic mix of Theme Polar Arts program work by local artists Liz Jeneid, Rob Howe, Bettina Kaiser, Trudi Voorwinden and Ashley Frost, as well as work by artists Bunt, Janet Laurence and Mary Rosengren and scientists in the UOW Antarctic moss research team. In a similar fashion, the seminar series incorporates both scientific and humanities based critical perspectives, and the workshops aim to engage both creative and conceptual aspects of environmental understanding.

Digital photograph: Alison Haynes, Campsite (King George Island), 2020

Antarctic Futures is delivered as a partnership between the Global Challenges ECO Antarctica team, Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future team, UOW Early Start and the UOW Art Collection and Gallery team. It has received funding from the UOW Centre for Sustainable Ecosystem Solutions and through the Australian Government’s Inspiring Australia grants program for National Science Week. It has been made possible by the community of artists who have engaged with this project and who have generously contributed artwork to this exhibition and by the curation work undertaken by UOW Honorary Professor Brogan Bunt.  

Towards Deep Time: CABAH Art Series is an exhibition of two new works by contemporary Australian artists UK Frederick and collaborative duo Sonia Leber and David Chesworth. Frederick’s Unseeded (2022) and Leber and Chesworth’s Where Lakes Once Had Water (2020) are the artists’ response to their collaborations with scientists from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH).

The artwork and the scientific research have been supported by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council Centres of Excellence scheme.

Dates: 16 May to 13 July 2022

The artist Guy Warren AM (b.1921) this year celebrates his 100^th birthday and the University of Wollongong is honouring him with an exhibition drawn from the UOW Art Collection entitled “Hills and Wings: A Celebration of Guy Warren and his work”. It includes works by Guy Warren alongside a small selection of artworks that he acquired for UOW while he was Director of the Art Collection between 1992 and 2005. 

The exhibition offers the chance to see works that have never been exhibited before as well as some of Guy’s rare and early prints from the 1950s and 60s. Other artists whose works can be seen in the exhibition include: Emily Kame Kngwarreye, James Gleeson, Elisabeth Cummings, Susan Marawarr, Colin Lanceley and Ben Brown. 

The exhibition is open Monday to Wednesday, 10.00am to 3.00pm in the UOW Gallery located in the new Jillian Broadbent Building at the western end of the UOW Main campus. The exhibition is on between Monday, May 3 and Wednesday, July 28, 2021. 

This exhibition was made possible with the support of the McKinnon Walker Trust.

Dates: Monday, 3 May 2021 - Wednesday, 28 July 2021 

Photograph of Guy Warren in his studio courtesy of Riste Andrievski