In the Front Room
The Front Room is a small gallery space at the front of the cottage available for small-scale projects and shows, as well as residencies.
Current Exhibition
‘Dreams: Through Our Eyes’ Early Start Australia
Exhibition runs: 2 May – 20 May 2025
Opening event: Friday 2 May, 4:30-6:30pm
Early Start Australia (East Victoria Park) supports individuals with developmental delays and variety of disabilities from early years to adulthood. The individuals who attend the clinic have unique profiles of strengths and capacities, each with at least one component of their life that they seek to build capacity in. A goal for our therapists and artists alike is to build a community where capacity is valued through many varied opportunities for community participation.
‘Dreams Through Our Eyes’ is an inspiring and colourful exhibition created by children/teens and adults, sharing their personal dreams and aspirations through their artwork. The pieces reflect the imagination, creativity and unique perspectives of the young artists – a celebration of resilience, hope and the power of imagination. Come witness how dreams know no boundaries!
This exhibit is a powerful reminder that everyone, no matter their abilities, has dreams worth sharing. We invite you to experience the world through their eyes and be inspired by the limitless potential within us all.
Upcoming Exhibitions
‘Local History Awards 2025 Exhibition’ Town of Victoria Park
Exhibition runs: 23 May – 10 June, 2025
Weekend gallery hours: Saturdays 24th, 31st, 7th, 10.00am-4.00pm.
We invite you along to view the Local History Awards 2025 Exhibition. Journey through Victoria Park’s rich history with a showcase of this year’s photographic entries, past submissions and standout moments from previous iterations.
(Pictured: Local History Awards 2023 Exhibition)
‘The Art of Mosaics’ MAANZ WA Branch Exhibition
Exhibition runs: 14 June – 29 June, 2025
Artist talks: Wed 18 June 10.30am & Wed 25 June 10.30am
The Mosaic Association of Australia and New Zealand (MAANZ WA) presents its biennial exhibition.
A wide variety of mosaic art from Western Australian mosaicists will be on display. A ‘must see’ with mosaics featuring work in glass, ceramic, stone, slate, wood and a wide variety of recycled and found objects. The exhibition attracts a number of prizes and as a visitor you can participate by voting for the People’s Choice’ award.
(Pictured: ‘Sentinel in the Forest’ Lynley Jakowyna)
Past Exhibitions
‘Here we were’ Tegan Jenkins artist in residence
Residency runs: 2 April – 21 April 2025
Exhibition runs: 22nd April – 29th April 2025
Opening event: Thursday 24th April, 6.00pm-7.30pm
See yourself and visual art anew. Tegan invites you into the ‘studio’ to co-create large scale artworks. Building on her 2024 program ‘We were here’, this residency explores the visual play between the self and the collective body. The collaborative artworks made during the residency will be on show at VPCA 22-29 April. Contact tegan.lj@gmail.com to book a group session, or pop in and say hello.
Supported by the Town of Victoria Park as part of Arts Season 2025.
(Pictured: Tegan Jenkins’ 2024 ‘We were here’ residency)
‘Aodaliya’ Artists from the WA Oriental Culture and Art Association
Exhibition runs: 21 March– 1 April 2025
Opening event: Friday 21 March 2025, 5.30pm-7.30pm
(Pictured: ‘Marri Forest Watercolour’ (detail), Jane Li)
‘Art about Electronics’ Jpark
Exhibition runs: 8 February – 25 February 2025
Opening event: Saturday 8 February 2025, 1.00pm-3.00pm
A surreal and unique look at electronics through the visual arts including acrylic paint on canvas, silver, copper, brass and porcelain sculptures. The subject has been viewed in many ways, including interpretations of tracks on a printed circuit board and free form sculptures, using found and recycled materials where possible. The artist is an alien and therefore the art must be viewed through different eyes.
(Pictured: The Sex Worker, Jpark)
VPCA Members’ Exhibition 2024
Each year we hold an annual Members’ exhibition to celebrate the creative endeavours of our community, come along to celebrate our local artists and view the collection of work.
A ‘People’s Choice’ Award of assorted art materials will be donated by art suppliers Oxlades of Osborne Park for the most popular work in the exhibition.
This is the first year we are also hosting a children’s art category in the Front Room, with 10 artists from our Creative Kids & Drawing for Children (8-15 yr olds) showing their work. This category is supported by a personal donation from Mayor Karen Vernon with three cash awards being presented.
‘YODyssey – The art of living well with Young Onset Dementia’
Exhibition runs: Friday 8 November – 26 November 2024
Opening event: Friday 8 November, 4.00pm-6.00pm
Closing event: Tuesday 26 November, 4.00pm-6.00pm
An exhibition showcasing artwork by people experiencing Young Onset Dementia (<65 years of age when diagnosed). The event is designed to raise community awareness of Young Onset Dementia and to highlight diagnosis is “a bend in the road, not the end of the road”.
The art will be accompanied by posters, pamphlets, videos and workshops to educate the community about Young Onset Dementia while celebrating the quality of their artwork.
2024 features artists Keith Bleach, Frank Swaan, Jenny Marsh and Saeed Foroughian.
The inaugural Robert Anson Perpetual Award will be presented at the closing event.
(Pictured: Part of tryptic ‘Sense of Place’ (detail), Frank Swaan)
‘Demonstration of Time Travel’ Matteo Sullivan
Exhibition runs: 18 October – 5 November 2024
Opening event: Saturday 19 October, 2.30pm–5.30pm
Matteo Sullivan presents a conceptual artwork defining the dream of many scientists and others: to travel in time. To reach that dream, the most important element needed is an idea, an idea that may never come. Here the idea is travelling in time with art.
‘Art Jam WA’ Rocky, Tyrone, Gary Tron Tonnessen, Ash Odgers
Exhibition runs: 4 October – 15 October 2024
We are delighted to be working with Art Jam WA as a new collaboration showcasing artists from the group as part of this year’s Mental Health Week. Art Jam’s contributing artists include Ash Odgers, Gary ‘Tron’ Tonnessen, Tyrone ‘Centaur of Creation’ and Rocky.
(Pictured (detail): Rocky)
‘New Old Bold’ Create Connect Artists
Exhibition runs: 6 September – 24 September 2024
Opening event: Friday 6 September, 5.30pm-7.30pm
Victoria Park Centre for the Arts’ Create Connect art program has supported and promoted the work of artists working with acute disabilities since 1994. The Centre runs three visual art sessions and one music group each week over four terms.
‘New Old Bold’ includes a rich variety of work from our visual artists with a public opening event. The Front Room will feature two artists from the groups.
(Pictured: ‘New Old Bold’ Michael Frith)
‘My Littles 365 Project’ Lea Taylor
Exhibition runs: 26 August – 3 September 2024
Closing event: Tuesday 3 September, 11.00am-12.00pm
The ‘Littles 365 Project’ is a project by artist Lea Taylor, who has woven a basket a day for 365 days, culminating in this exhibition. All of the 365 woven baskets are either sold by pledge from the My Littles 365 Facebook page or available for purchase during the exhibition, with 100% of the proceeds supporting Zonta House Refuge Association.
‘Victoria Park Community Portrait Prize’ Victoria Park Community Centre
Exhibition runs: 2 August – 22 August 2024
This exhibition held by the Victoria Park Community Centre is being extended by popular demand and we will be hosting the portraits from this community art prize in the Front Room.
This was the first Vic Park Community Portrait Prize, open to all ages, stages and styles, with the only requirement being that both artist and subject must be connected to the Vic Park area in some way. Beginners were highly encouraged to give it a go and a series of portraiture workshops led by the expert alumni of the prestigious Lester Prize was held in the lead-up to the exhibition.
Generously supported by Town of Victoria Park and The Lester Prize.
‘Keep the Fire Burning! Blak, Loud and Proud’
Exhibition runs: 16 July – 23 July 2024
Victoria Park Centre for the Arts with Bush Blossom Gallery in Kalgoorlie-Boulder present a very special exhibition for our 2024 NAIDOC program ‘Keep the Fire Burning! Blak Loud and Proud’.
Monika Dvorak, Curator of Bush Blossom Gallery Kalgoorlie-Boulder has been working with many First Nations artists from the surrounding communities of the Western Australian Goldfields.
Many small affordable paintings have been produced for sale to provide artists with an independent income and a cultural avenue to keep telling the stories that are often told around a campfire.
Supported by local business Monadelphous Group.
(Pictured: ‘Travelling to the Waterhole’ (detail) by Rob Wilson)
‘Fikacam’ Josh Wells
Exhibition runs: 14 June – 2 July 2024
Opening event: Friday 14 June, 5.30pm-7.30pm
Visiting far off places as a tourist often compels us to observe and photograph our surroundings. Yet we regularly take our home surroundings for granted. By working in collaboration with Fika the Cavoodle, FIKACAM asks us to look at our world through the perpetually curious eyes of a dog.
This playful exhibition of works by Josh Wells and Fika is heavily influenced by reading Susan Sontag’s critical essay In Plato’s Cave while on a holiday and, as a professional photographer and tourist, enacting many of the behaviours Sontag criticises. The body of work questions notions of perspective, authenticity and reality in Photography, as well as recontextualising our local East Victoria Park.
‘We were here’ Tegan Jenkins
Exhibition runs: 23 May – 11 June 2024
What is Community Art? What’s the role of an Arts Worker? How can we teach individuals and groups meaningful art practices? How do we inspire people who don’t identify as creative, to make things? Why is this important? Why does making art matter?
Tegan Jenkins, a Perth based multi-disciplinary artist and community arts worker will be undertaking a 3 week residency, involving community participation, to explore the creative exchange between artists and aspiring artists alike. Using instructional performance and guided art-making, Tegan aims to get to the heart of this ongoing, internal conversation, and bring it into the physical realm, into the light, to see if it’s as beautiful and chaotic as it feels.
‘We were here’ is a space to fill, by the end of the residency, we will have been here, and something will have taken place, something will be left behind…
Tegan is inviting the community to get involved – please contact Tegan if you would like to book in a session and participate in this project (tegan.lj@gmail.com).
(Pictured: Tegan Jenkins)
‘My World’ Early Start Australia East Victoria Park
Exhibition runs: 3 May – 21 May 2024
Early Start Australia (East Victoria Park) supports individuals with developmental delays or disorders from early years to adulthood. The individuals who attend the clinic have unique profiles of strengths and capacities, each with at least one component of their life that they seek to build capacity in. A goal for the therapists and artists alike is to build a community where capacity is valued through many varied opportunities for community participation.
The theme of the exhibition presented by Early Start Australia this year is ‘MY WORLD’. This exhibition is an invitation to you to stop, reflect and share the unique perspectives and lens through which the artists see the world and their place within it. As you walk around the gallery, you will see dynamic artwork from individuals and groups, using their artistic talent to you show you their world.
‘Compact’
Exhibition runs: 8 April – 16 April 2024
Compact, curated by Megan Baker is an exhibition celebrating contemporary local sculptures across a variety of mediums, all unified in their scale of nothing being bigger than 60cm x 60cm x 60cm.
Showcasing work by 10 artists: Ben David, Brighde Silver O’Hara, Effie Windberg, Jessica Mcleod, Michael Miocevich, Nazerul Ben-Dzulkefli, Rizzy, Sam Huxtable, Sarah Eve and Sky Edwards.
Showing as part of Town of Victoria Park’s 2024 Arts Season.
(Pictured: ‘We Shapeshift 72 Times A Day (Codesswitching Deity)’ by Nazerul Ben-Dzulkefli)
‘Journeys’ Perth Italy Painters
Exhibition runs: 15 March – 2 April 2024
Perth Italy Painters (PIPs) is a dedicated group of artists, brought together in 2019 through a shared love of art and travel. In that year, these budding artists toured Italy with renowned Watercolour artist Sue Hibbert. The group meets most weeks to sketch and paint in the outdoors. A solid bond, individual styles and thirst for adventure keep the group exploring life’s Journey.
The exhibiting artists are Lindsay Foster, Yve Gaunt, Pauline Ibbs, Ellisha Majid, Ingrid Rickersey, Robbie Roper, Felicity Simpson and Doris Strahan.
(Pictured: The Duyfken by Pauline Ibbs)
‘Our Feathered Friends’ John Warwick
Exhibition runs: 2 February – 20 February 2024
Local artist John Warwick is known for his landscape paintings depicting scenes from his heritage in Europe and Australia. In his previous series Birds of a Feather, the artist focused on the beauty and complexity of birds.
We are delighted for John’s work to return to our Kent Street Gallery where his love of the beauty found in creation is expressed from a personal dedication.
(Pictured: ‘Golden Eagle’ (detail) by John Warwick)
‘Blooming’ Jacqueline Coates, Jo Trezona, Diane Kingman, Patty Pearce
Exhibition runs: 22 January – 27 January 2024
Opening Event: Sunday 21 January, 2.00pm – 6.00pm
In ‘Blooming,’ a captivating group exhibition, four diverse artists converge to celebrate the timeless beauty of florals while offering a unique window into their multifaceted talents.
United under the theme of blooms and nature, and having trained with art mentor and painting teacher Jacqueline Coates at various stages of their journeys developing their own styles, each artist paints their own vivid interpretation, weaving together an exquisite tapestry of colours, textures and emotions.
Beyond this shared passion for blooms, they reveal a second, individual body of work, each a testament to their distinctive styles and creative voices.
‘Blooming’ not only captures the essence of nature’s delicate and intricate wonders but also showcases the artists’ artistic versatility, ensuring a vibrant and captivating journey through their collective and individual expressions.
(Pictured: Champagne Peony, Jacqueline Coates)
VPCA Members’ Exhibition 2023
Exhibition runs: 24 November – 6 December 2023
The Victoria Park Centre for the Arts (VPCA) Members’ Exhibition 2023 is open to current VPCA members.
For 2023, VPCA are introducing a ‘Peoples Choice’ Award for the most popular work in the exhibition.
(Pictured: Artworks from the Members’ Exhibition 2021)
‘Drawing Cosmic Mantra’ Jango Pramartha, Paul Trinidad, Made Wianta
Exhibition runs: 10 November – 22 November 2023
Opening Event: Friday 10 November, 5.30 – 7.30pm
View Virtual Tour>
View the Exhibition Catalogue>
An international collaborative exhibition between prominent Indonesian and Western Australian artists creating personal dialogues of connection and difference through the process of drawing.
Drawing Cosmic Mantra pays homage to the vitality shared in the artists’ working encounters. It explores the spirit of the times towards a greater future understanding between Western Australia and Indonesia through their practice.
Curated by Yudha Bantono and Paul Trinidad.
(Pictured: ‘Barong Face’ by Made Wianta)
‘Going slow’ Ellie Biggs
Exhibition runs: 20 October – 8 November 2023
Gallery open weekends: Sunday 22 Oct 11.00am – 1.00pm, Saturday 4 Nov 10.00am – 12.00pm
Ellie Biggs reflects on slow travel/tourism and slow living, considering sustainable practice, appreciation for nature and culture. The exhibition embodies life and overground journeys both in Australia and overseas through a collection of acrylic and watercolour paintings.
Pictured: ‘Darwin dripstone’ (detail) by Ellie Biggs
‘Inspire’ Como Secondary College
Exhibition runs: 29 September – 18 October 2023
This community-focused exhibition showcases the creative educative practice of Years 7-12 Como Secondary College students during 2023. The College’s Create@Como program provides opportunities to develop talents and explore feelings, thoughts and ideas through creative writing and the creative arts. The exhibition will feature Visual Arts, Media and Photography.
VPCA has fostered this collaboration as a commitment to working with and strengthening connections within our local community.
‘La Perle de l’Extrême Orient’ Tí Nhong
Exhibition runs: 15 September – 27 September 2023
Artist in attendance: Friday 22 September, Saturday 23 September & Sunday 24 September, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Using an expanded painting practice which combines spatial painting with traditional Vietnamese polyptych art and lacquerware painting, ‘La Perle de l’Extrême de Orient’ (Pearl of the Far East) showcases Vietnam’s diverse, breathtaking natural scenery through the eye of a city dweller.
This body of work is also Tí Nhong’s (Little Dragon) debut exhibition and first-ever landscape series.
Pictured: ‘Land of the Ascending Dragon’ by Tí Nhong
‘Baring All’ Configurists
Exhibition runs: 1 September – 13 September 2023
Opening Event: Friday 1 September, 5:30pm – 7:30pm
Gallery opens weekends: 10:00am – 4:00pm
At the core of our group is a love and appreciation of life drawing. As an artistic practice, life drawing challenges each of us every week to observe and capture the intrinsic beauty of the human form in “real life”. This exhibition is a transition out into the wider community giving other people the opportunity to view and appreciate that beauty in ways that they may not have considered nor had access to before – observers to our observed work.
Pictured: (Detail of) ‘Entwined’ by Michelle Grimwade
‘Paper Royale’ Create Connect Artists
Exhibition runs: 18 August – 30 August 2023
The annual exhibition of works from Victoria Park Centre for the Arts’ long-standing visual art workshop program for artists working with acute disabilities.
‘Paper Royale’ presents many a creation on paper. There is a broad range of works that give an insight into the art created in these workshops. Facilitated by Rosie Vinicombe and Peter Carlino.
Pictured (from left to right): (Detail of) ‘Charcoal Drawing’ by Delores Purdy; (Detail of) ‘Stick Figure’ by Michael Barker
‘Inside/Outside’ Helen Majewski
Exhibition runs: 4 August – 16 August 2023
Opening Event: Friday 4 August, 5:30pm – 7:30pm
Inside/Outside looks with curiosity at the world around us—at the stuff we keep, the stuff we throw away, and the stuff we are surrounded by. These paintings and drawings—still lifes and urban landscapes—remind us to pay attention to the forms and accidental compositions of familiar objects and mundane scenes. The still life paintings, with their intrusions of rubbish and recyclables like plastic bags, hint at the tradition of memento mori, reminding us of our mortality. Inside/Outside invites the viewer to pause and notice the strange beauty of our everyday world.
Pictured: ‘Carson Street Car Park’ by Helen Majewski
‘All About the River’ Muses on Swan
Exhibition runs: 14 July – 2 August 2023
Local community art group Muses on Swan meets regularly at Victoria Park Centre for the Arts. Their exhibition will showcase work from the group who explore art techniques and personal responses to landscape.
Pictured: (Detail of) ‘Along the Shores of the Swan’ by Libby Margetts
‘For Our Elders’ NAIDOC 2023
Exhibition runs: 30 June – 12 July 2023
Opening Event: Friday 30 June, 5:30pm – 7:30pm
View Virtual Tour >
View Online Catalogue >
We are honoured and excited to be working with local Wadandi/Minang/Koreng Bibbulmun artist Lea Taylor again. Lea will be sharing weaving works created with students from Clontarf Aboriginal College.
Monika Dvorak’s Bush Blossom Gallery, Kalgoorlie, are showcasing works from the Dimer family, who they have represented for three generations. The work of young artist/designer Jenae Evans from Laverton Community is represented courtesy of the work of Sabine Bird, coordinator of the Laverton Cycling Project.
The exhibition is supported by local business Monadelphous Group, who are headquartered in Victoria Park, The Cycling Development Foundation, Great Boulder Resources, Shire of Laverton and Gold Roads.
Pictured: (Detail of) ‘Waterhole Stories’ by Beige Dimer
‘Wednesday Dreams of Colour’ Oil Painting Group
Exhibition runs: 16 June – 27 June 2023
Opening Event: Friday 23 June, 5:30pm – 7:30pm
The Oil Painting Group meet at Victoria Park Centre for the Arts every Wednesday morning. We are delighted to showcase the work of this long-running collective of painters. The group’s main focus is oil painting. Other painting mediums such as acrylics and watercolours are encouraged to enrich skills and experiences.
The group provides artistic support in sharing painting approaches and welcomes new artists of any level. This exhibition is a celebration of their shared creative journey and our thriving art community. The work features a multitude of subjects, in varied styles and techniques.
Pictured: Oil Painting Group in Victoria Park Centre for the Arts’ Studio
‘People and Places’ Town of Victoria Park Art Collection
Exhibition runs: 27 May – 14 June 2023
View exhibition brochure online
Victoria Park Centre for the Arts is honoured to be invited to host this review of works from the Town of Victoria Park’s Art Collection. The Town has collected artworks since 1995 to promote the rich cultural identity of Victoria Park.
Pictured: ‘Local Talents’ by Mutsuko Bonnardeaux
‘Shared Journey’ Early Start Australia
Exhibition runs: 5 May – 24 May 2023
Early Start Australia’s (ESA), East Vic Park Clinic is a therapy service for individuals from early ages through to adult years. The focus of ESA’s individual and group therapy services is to bulid capacity to support a good life. Our service has shared the art of participants in an annual exhibition at the Kent Street Gallery for the past ten years (formerly KZ Speech).
Art can be a form of exploration, expression, identity and ability. This year, ‘Shared Journey’ will bring together many pieces of artwork for your enjoyment, by individuals of all ages and abilities.
‘Transformation’ Pam Nichols
Exhibition runs: 14 April – 3 May 2023
Opening Event: Friday 14 April, 5:30pm – 7:30pm
Local artist, Pam Nichols presents ‘Transformation.’
Pam’s work is experimental, exploratory and process-focused across 2D and 3D forms. Her work is in collections in the USA. In this exhibition and residency Pam will be developing the work throughout the exhibition period. You are invited to join Pam in transforming trash into art. All materials will be provided.
‘Back Home’ Richie Jasper
Exhibition runs: 24 March – 12 April 2023
This body of work reflects on Richie’s childhood memories of “back home on the farm”.
Richie finds his style somewhere between the real and the unreal, a folk art feel mixed with memory driven imaginations. A tractor working the field shares the canvas with surreal creatures of the sky and underworld, allowing the viewer to find their own meaning amongst the colourful chaos.
Richie’s paintings are created with layers of acrylic paint, charcoal, chalk pastels, oil pastels and posca pen. Often each layer of paint conveys a different layer of memory associated with the scene, communicating the repetitive nature of farming seen differently through the seasons but also as one grows older and nostalgia takes hold.
This exhibition follows a massive loss of works in a studio fire, so there is a sense of grief and letting go embedded in these new works.
Pictured: ‘Animal up the Bush’ by Richie Jasper
‘Janet’ [Lin-da] noun
YODysses 2023—The Art of Living Well with Young Onset Dementia
Exhibition runs: 3 March – 22 March 2023
An exhibition of creativity, self-discovery and identity, while navigating the journey of Young Onset Dementia.
Linda Gordon (Feature artist)
Linda grew up in York, England and lived above the family’s art shop which may have been the birth of her creative and artistic talents. Upon immigrating to Australia, Linda threw her creativity into fashion and costume design. After 20 years of experience working in the Perth fashion industry and mid-way through her Diploma of Live Production and Technical Services (Costume), Linda was diagnosed with young onset dementia. Although her ability to design and create fashion faded, her creativity did not. She returned to painting and other forms of visual arts as it provided a valuable resource to express her emotions that she was otherwise struggling to release.
With the support of her family, Linda presents this exhibition to raise awareness of young onset dementia and to illustrate that it is still possible to live a full life after a diagnosis of dementia.
Keith Bleach (Supporting artist)
Keith [Artist/Turner] has always had a passion for anything made with wood. As a youngster at school, he learned many basic woodworking techniques which he was then able to use in adulthood with building and repairs around the home in his free time.
In his early fifties he took up woodturning but didn’t have the time to perfect his skills while also running his own very successful business. Retirement came early when symptoms of dementia at 62 began to severely impact his work. He enjoys his time working in his well-equipped home workshop, producing an abundance of varied wooden articles.
While some of his skills are not what they used to be as the symptoms of dementia take hold, he frequently becomes frustrated as things don’t turn out as well as he would wish. However with the help and support from a small group of dedicated friends and family, he continues to turn out some pretty amazing pieces.
He is a popular demonstrator at his local woodturning club, and is passionate sharing his skills with anyone who asks.
Supported by YODyssey, Young Dementia Network WA and Mind The Change Inc
Pictured: (Detail of) ‘Yes’ by Linda Gordon
