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CALL OUT | ANCHER POINTS 2025: EMERGING ARTIST PROGRAM
Penrith Regional Gallery is excited to announce that we are now accepting applications for the ANCHER POINTS 2025: Emerging Artist Program, to be held from Monday, 23 June – Friday, 27 June 2025.
Penrith Regional Gallery proudly presents the second iteration of Ancher Points. This multi-part program, inspired by the creative legacy of Gerald and Margo Lewers, offers emerging artists from Greater Western Sydney the tools and skills needed to transition into professional practice.
The first part of the program is a unique intensive held over five days at Ancher House at Penrith Regional Gallery, engaging participants with the business of being an artist through guided interactive activities, peer-to-peer learning with leading industry professionals, while providing dynamic opportunities for artists to connect across Greater Western Sydney.
The second part of Ancher Points provides industry experience that builds on the fundamentals learned in the intensive and acts as a springboard by providing real-life opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge. Participants in the Ancher Points program will be eligible to apply for a series of exhibiting opportunities that see their ideas brought to life.
HOW TO APPLY
This unique professional development opportunity is limited to 12 participants, with 2 positions allocated for First Nations artists. A stipend of $200 will be provided.
To be eligible to apply:
• Artists must be 18+ years old.
• Greater Western Sydney based (lives, works, or can demonstrate a strong connection to Greater Western Sydney).
• Be an emerging artist (someone in the early stages of their professional art career, typically within the first 5-10 years of practice).
• Availability to attend the intensive program from Monday, 23 June to Friday, 27 June 2025
To apply, simply fill out an online application form (https://form.jotform.com/251171386462861) and submit it by 11:59 PM AEST, Monday, 2 June, 2025.
For any enquiries, please email Leahlani Johnson, at leahlani.johnson@penrith.city
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Image: Ancher House Side Emu Plains May 1965, Penrith Gallery Archive #ancherpoints
Local emerging artist Emma Griffiths’ exhibition ‘Untitled (42)’ continues in our Loungeroom Gallery for one more week, coming to a close on Sunday 11 May 2025.
Emma Griffiths is an emerging photographer and artist who works with black and white film, infrared and digital photography. Based out of and studying/working in Western Sydney since high school, they use their limited resources to create unique and interesting monochrome and colour photographs. Interested in the environment around her, she captures most of her work as a way to communicate how she sees and experiences the world.
‘Untitled (42)’ is open daily from 10am-4pm.
@ember.in.rain
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Emma Griffiths, ‘Untitled (42)’ installation view, Penrith Regional Gallery, Home of The Lewers Bequest, 2025. Photography: Silversalt photography.
A huge congratulations to Billy Bain, whose work ‘From the Area’ has been selected as a finalist in the @artgalleryofnsw 2025 Wynne Prize - as well as being a first-time finalist in the 2025 Archibald Prize with his painting of Rona Panangka Rubuntja, a Western Aranda artist from Central Australia.
‘From the Area’ was commissioned for Penrith Regional Gallery’s 2024 Summer Exhibition, ‘Spot the Difference,’ which looked to the story of the ‘Big Black Cat’ to interrogate its myth origins, symbolism, and relevance in a contemporary context.
“Perched as guardians of their domain, with golden canines flashing, are six black panthers crafted by Billy Bain, a three-time Wynne Prize finalist who is in this year’s Archibald Prize. He uses these big cats as conduits to channel his feelings about his displacement from the traditional lands of his ancestors, the Boorooberongal people. One panther, notably adorned with a golden mask bearing the artist’s likeness, reinforces Bain’s connection to the mysterious Lithgow black panther – a creature whose existence has never been confirmed, despite claims of sightings over decades. Bain aligns himself with the elusive panther – strong, capable of blending into the shadows, yet undeniably present.
Bain critically interrogates Australian identity by engaging with colonial narratives and subtly undermining them. In this case, he humorously alludes to the Penrith region as being defined by its association with the local football team, the Penrith Panthers, whose success is a source of regional pride. From the area simultaneously champions Indigenous resistance by referencing the American Black Panther Party, a political organisation that influenced Bla(c)k Power consciousness among Australian Indigenous peoples.”
Congratulations Billy !
@billy_bain
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1-2: Billy Bain, ‘From the Area,’ (2024) installation views in ‘Spot the Difference,’ Penrith Regional Gallery, Home of The Lewers Bequest, 2024. Photography: Silversalt photography
3: Billy Bain, artist portrait. Photography: Eddy Summers
There is only one week left to see ‘Maggie & The OWLS: Light in Space,’ our lacemaking exhibition that is on display in Lewers House Gallery until Sunday 11 May 2025.
The title of this exhibition, ‘Light in Space,’ is drawn from a quote by artist Margo Lewers, one of the original inhabitants of the home and site that is now Penrith Regional Gallery. The full quote reads: ‘light through colour; light through the garden; light in space.’ Though emulative of Margo’s own artistic practice, this phrase holds special pertinence to the practice of lacemaking. In lace, images are delineated in thread, and it is the light passing through the gaps that brings the patterns to the surface. Shining a light on - or through - lace punctuates the image, and it’s this that reveals the intricately woven connections that make lace what it is.
‘Light in Space’ invites us to see lacemaking with renewed clarity - bringing an overlooked practice into new light to examine the stories it tells, the histories that have shaped it, and the possibilities it holds for the future.
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Helen Mewett, ‘Czech lace collar,’ 2018. Bobbin lace, braid linen. Image courtesy of the artist.
The Halfway Line is a survey exhibition that traces the expansive and incisive career of First Nations artist Blak Douglas. From his early interest in graphic art and design, through to his award winning portraiture, Douglas has maintained a passionate interest in foregrounding the histories and lived experiences of Aboriginal Australians. For Douglas, art is a powerful, striking means to affect real and symbolic change.
Blak Douglas’ mid-career survey exhibition ‘The Halfway Line’ continues in our Main Gallery until 20 July 2025.
@blakdouglas
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Adam Hill, ‘The Southern Toss’ 2006, Permacrylik on canvas, 161 x 187cm, in ‘The Halfway Line,’ installation view, Penrith Regional Gallery, Home of The Lewers Bequest, 2025. From the Liverpool City Council Collection, Acquired via Mil-Pra AECG Aboriginal Art Award and Exhibition, 2003. Winner: Maria Lock Acquisitive Award. Courtesy of Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre.
Lacemakers were, and often still are, mostly women. Created in homes, convents, and other closed settings, lace was seen as having a purely decorative function. The rise of machine-made textiles in the nineteenth century made exponents of this delicate, dextrous craft a rarity.
The OWLS (Outer West Lacemakers) embody and continue this remarkable legacy of women’s creativity, safeguarding the vast and varied techniques of lacemaking to shine a light on - or through - the forgotten histories of this practice. What remains is an unwavering celebration of the hidden work of women, and the longevity of lacemaking as not just a craft, but an art in its own right. This exhibition highlights the endurance of this practice through the dedication of contemporary practitioners, whose research, passion and commitment sustains lacemaking and connects the practice with others around the world.
‘Maggie & The OWLS: Light in Space’ is exhibiting until Sunday 11 May, open daily from 10am-4pm.
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Mary Stevens, ‘Shrug,’ 2020, installation view in ‘Maggie & The OWLS: Light in Space,’ Penrith Regional Gallery, Home of The Lewers Bequest, 2025. Hairpin lace, crochet: wool. Photography: Silversalt Photography.
CELEBRATE MOTHERS DAY WITH BEAUTIFULLY CURATED HOMEWARES.
This Mother’s Day, surprise the amazing women in your life with beautiful homewares from The Penrith Regional Gallery store. Our current collection features nature-inspired décor, elegant tableware, and cosy accessories — everything she needs to create a warm, inviting space filled with love.
From handcrafted mugs and charming vases to decorative pieces that brighten up any room, each item is designed to bring beauty and functionality into the home. These special pieces make the perfect gifts for the mom who loves to create a cosy, stylish home.
Perfect for mums who love to surround themselves with beauty and comfort.
Thoughtful gifts that add a personal touch to any space.
Support local makers while giving a gift that’s both meaningful and practical.
Visit us today to find the perfect homeware gift for Mother’s Day!
Store Hours: 9:30am – 3:30 pm Monday - Sunday
INTRODUCTION TO JEWELLERY MAKING | SATURDAY 18 MAY 2025, 10AM - 3PM
Learn a new skill at our upcoming workshop, or give the gift of creativity this Mother’s Day.
Tracy Kelly will be facilitating the Introduction to Jewellery-making Workshop at the Penrith Regional Gallery studios on 18 May. A professional jeweller with 30 years of experience, Tracy specialises in crafting unique, high-quality designs that tell a story. Perfect for beginners, this workshop will cover fundamental jewellery-making techniques using a mix of new and upcycled materials, along with precious or semi-precious metals, to create stunning, wearable sterling silver pieces.
To book, head to the link here or in our bio: https://www.penrithregionalgallery.com.au/events/introduction-to-jewellery-making/
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@JewellerTracy
Photography: Tracy Kelly
Thanks to all the young artists who joined us for our school holiday program. We love what you have created!
If you are looking for more opportunities to make art when school returns, why not join our term workshops led by artist educators.
Art Odyssey for 9-12 years restarts on Wednesday 7 May
Art Adventure for 5-8 years restarts on Saturday 10 May
Tots Club for 1.5-3 years restarts on Tuesday 6 May
Where’s Ollie the Owl? If you’re visiting Penrith Regional Gallery with the family this long weekend, keep an eye out for a series of small, crochet owls hidden throughout our Heritage Garden.
As part of our current exhibition ‘Maggie & The OWLS: Light in Space,’ the OWLS (Outer West Lacemakers) have hidden ten ‘Ollie the Owls’ in the gardens behind Lewers House Gallery. Activity sheets are available from our reception and our main gallery - these will give you a clue as to where the owls are hidden. If you find all ten, return your activity sheet to our Main Gallery or Reception to receive a special owl stamp!
Maggie & The OWLS: Light in Space is exhibiting until 11 May 2025, open daily from 10am-4pm.
@owlsnsw
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The OWLS (Outer West Lacemakers), ‘Ollie the Owl,’ 2025. Photography: Silversalt photography
Today, we celebrated Margo Lewers’ artistic legacy on what would have been her 117th birthday, within the beautiful spaces she helped create at Penrith Regional Gallery!
In the morning, participants in the School Holidays Workshop for ages 5–12 learned how to combine materials inspired by Margo’s artwork—using collage, mosaics, and painting to create their own artistic party hats!
In the afternoon, visitors on the Focus on Margo public program were taken behind the scenes for a tour with Joanna Gilmour, Curator, Collections. The tour explored Margo Lewers’ vivid and distinctive output in painting, sculpture, collage, and mosaics, and highlighted her legacy as a pioneering figure of Australian modernism and abstraction.
Thank you to everyone who joined us!
In 2015, Maggie Hensel-Brown attended the annual general conference of the Australian Lace Guild, where she first learned the needle lace technique. Since then, she has focused entirely on needle lace, ‘the kind of lace that is made out of nothing: all you have is a needle and thread.’
This work, ‘Radiance,’ was made as part of a community project led by Hensel-Brown, who in 2023 and 2024 hosted a series of sewing circles - in person and online - to introduce the fundamentals of needle lace to new makers. Over 400 participants made a small needle lace motif, later contributing their piece to a large-scale tapestry designed and assembled by Hensel-Brown.
We’re excited to be hosting a workshop in needle lace, facilitated by Maggie Hensel-Brown, across the 3rd and 4th of May 2025. This introductory two-day course will allow participants to explore the foundational principles of needle lace, learning its techniques and intricacies to create a tiny, contemporary twist on a centuries-old tradition. This workshop is now booked out - but you can join the waitlist by emailing us at gallery@penrith.city with your contact details (including mobile number).
‘Radiance’ is on display as part of our current exhibition ‘Maggie & The OWLS: Light in Space,’ exhibiting for 3 more weeks in our Lewers House Gallery. The galleries are open daily from 10am-4pm.
@maggiehenselbrown
@kingstreetgallery
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Maggie Hensel-Brown with project contributors, ‘Radiance,’ 2023. Needle lace: cotton, silk and metallic threads, glass beads. Courtesy the artist. Photography: Silversalt photography.
