The Water Understands

13 December 2024 – 16 February 2025 

The Water Understands takes Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem Water as a starting point. In the poem, Emerson imbues the element of water with subjective human experiences – understanding, heartbreak, wit, the ability to destroy, and alternatively the ability to enjoy pleasure. It is the understanding, or the water’s metaphorical ability to imbue us with knowledge, which is at the core of this exhibition – knowledge of the past, cultural knowledge, traditional knowledge, poetic knowledge, political knowledge, and aesthetic knowledge – knowledge systems which inform the artists and artworks in this exhibition.

The artists selected for The Water Understands work within a broad range of cultural narratives, and using different media, allowing for an exhibition that thoroughly interrogates the metaphorical qualities of water from multiple perspectives.

This exhibition is supported by Sydney Festival 2025, and is a MAG&M CEAD Collective for Environmental Art & Design initiative.

Participating artists:  

Leah Bullen, Michael Cook, Tamara Dean, Keg De Souza, Shaun Gladwell, Phillip George, Gregory Hodge, Miguel Angelo Libarnes, Anna Madeleine Raupach, Douglas Schofield, Angela Tiatia

Water: Collection Stories

13 December 2024 – 16 February 2025 

In this exhibition, ceramics, paintings, prints and photographs from MAG&M’s varied Collection coalesce to focus our attention on water.

A collection-response to The Water Understands exhibition in the adjacent galleries, Water shares stories related to our aquatic world: sea-level rise, plastics pollution, urban development, human migration, weather events, global warming, and the wonder of the natural environment.

Audiences are invited to consider the ways in which artworks have the power to stimulate conversations, raise questions, and inspire discussions about this vital resource upon which all life on earth depends.

Artists include Herbert Badham, Julie Bartholomew, Peter Battaglene, Geraldine Berkemeier, Michael Callaghan, Barbara Campbell-Allen, Margaret Coen, Grace Cossington Smith, Pam Debenham, Peter Dittmar, Simone Fraser, Honor Freeman, Harold Greenhill, Euan Macleod, Reg Mombassa, Tom Roberts, Shorty Jangala Robertson, Wendy Sharpe, Garry Shead, Mitsuo Shoji, Penny Smith, and Anne Zahalka.

Out Front 2025: HSC Visual Arts from Sydney’s Northern Beaches

21 Feb 2025 - 6 Apr 2025

A curated selection of artworks by HSC Visual Arts students from the 21 secondary schools across Sydney’s Northern Beaches supports the creativity of local emerging arts talent.

The exhibition features a broad range of expressive artforms that explore the contemporary themes that are of importance to young people today. The exhibition also includes a mentorship program focused on supporting their transition to emerging professional creative practices.

This exhibition has been a part of MAG&M’s program since 1995, demonstrating our ongoing commitment to connecting with secondary schools across the region and to supporting visual arts education.

Presented in partnership with the Theo Batten Trust and MAG&M Society, the program has provided Youth Art Awards to aspiring artists for 31 years. The Theo Batten Youth Art Award is offered to students pursuing studies in the visual arts or a related area (such as architecture, design, art education, music, performing arts, filmmaking, digital media etc) commencing in the year 2025. Theo Batten (1918-2003) was a well-respected local artist and journalist who studied at the National Art School and won a Walkley Award in 1972. He was a member of the Manly Art Gallery & Museum Society and a member of the former Peninsula Art Society, and wanted to leave behind an opportunity for young creative people to continue their studies in the visual arts.
 

Residue + Response

21 February – 6 April 2025

Residue + Response: 5th Tamworth Textile Triennial is a celebration of 50 years of the National Textile Collection promoting and sustaining the unique cultural heritage associated with both the history and technology of contemporary textile practice.

Curated by Dr Carol McGregor, Residue + Response features 25 artworks from across Australia which explore the theme of the connection between our histories and futures.

“Since the Tamworth National Fibre Textile Collection began in 1973, artists have interwoven and shared their lived experiences and negotiated stories through the materiality of textile practice. The 5th Tamworth Textile Triennial builds on this tradition with a future focus on the intangible essence of what it means to be human in the fabric of today’s society. It is an opportunity to celebrate Australian textiles practice, and for artists to create and explore the relationality and residues of change through a multiplicity of materials, methods and meanings.”

Residue + Response: 5th Tamworth Textile Triennial has been made possible through funding from the NSW Government, and the Australian Government’s Visions of Australia and Regional Arts Fund programs.

The exhibiting artists are;
Amy Hammond, Anne Graham, Blake Griffiths, Casselle Mountford, Dana Harris, Daphne Banyawarra, Fiona Gavino, Hannah Quinlivan, Joan Ross, Jumaadi, Kait James, Kate Harding, Kate Just, Kyra Mancktelow, Leanne Zilka + Jenny Underwood, Liz Williamson, Lucy Irvine, Maggie Hensel-Brown, Makeda Duong, Mandy Quadrio + Jan Oliver, Norton Fredericks, Paula do Prado + Tamara Burlando, Rachael Wellisch, Sophie Honess, Sybil Orr
 

TEN-FOLD: 
A Decade of Emerging Art Incubator Artists

11 April - 1 June 2025

Over the past decade, Art Incubator has supported innovative art practices and assisted in launching the careers of some of Sydney’s top emerging artists. The program awards grants to emerging Australian artists for the development of new work that is presented as a solo exhibition in an established commercial gallery, alongside mentorship in professional practice.

To celebrate a decade of Art Incubator’s innovative philanthropic art-support model, and showcase the extraordinary quality of contemporary emerging practices that have come through the program, this exhibition presents a survey of the works made by the 22 grant recipients between 2014 and 2024.  A solo exhibition by the 2025 grant recipient, Samantha Jade, also features in the exhibition.

MAG&M’s Cove Gallery will transform into a studio for two grant recipients to take up residency throughout the exhibition, enabling visitors to gain unique insights into their art-making processes and provide a platform for audience-artist dialogue.

Participating artists include:
Nicole Zhang, Remy Faint, Megan Hales, Monica Rani Rudhar, Joshua Charadia, Orson Heidrich, Tom Keukenmeester, Shan Turner-Carroll, Victoria Hempstead, Nadia Odlum, Will French, Philjames, William Cooke, Seth Diego Birchall, Emma Finneran, Alice Couttoupes, Jack Lanagan-Dunbar, Eunjoo Jang, Kirtika Kain, Kate Mitchell, Matthew Bromhead, Mason Kimber. 
 

Samantha Jade: Terrestrial Tapestries

11 April - 1 June 2025

Terrestrial Tapestries is an exhibition by Samantha Jade, recipient of the 2025 Art Incubator Grant. This body of work explores the interconnected and ever-changing nature of existence, drawing parallels between cosmic events, photographic processes, and the role of chance in life.

Central to Jade’s practice is transmutation—the perpetual change that shapes the universe. Her photographs highlight the transformative journey of silver, an element born from ancient star explosions, and essential to darkroom photography. Rather than capturing fixed moments, her works embrace evolution, with photographic materials continuously remade. Environmental factors influence the outcomes, resulting in images shaped by chance, mirroring life’s unpredictability.

Jade redefines photography as a medium that is not static but world-responsive, engaging deeply with materiality, time, and perception. By embracing transformation and chance, Terrestrial Tapestries positions photography as an evolving process, reflecting the dynamic fabric of existence.