Penrith Regional Gallery

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.

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The OWLS (Outer West Lacemakers), ‘Ollie the Owl,’ 2025. Photography: Silversalt photography

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.

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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.

In Maggie Hensel-Brown’s ‘Zoom,’ the painstakingly meticulous medium of lace is poignantly employed to tell an intimate story of contemporary life; one we might find all-too familiar in our post-COVID world.

Often depicting contemplative moments of fragility, disarray, boredom and solitude, Hensel-Brown’s meticulous lace panels elevate and immortalise moments that are quiet and fleeting. Here, quotidian experiences too often lost to the label of ‘mundanity’ become something reverent, ethereal, and sublime.

‘Maggie & The OWLS: Light in Space,’ exhibits for three more weeks in Penrith Regional Gallery’s Lewers House, open daily from 10am-4pm until 11 May 2025.

@maggiehenselbrown
@kingstreetgallery
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Maggie Hensel-Brown, ‘Zoom,’ 2023. Needle lace, silk thread, glass beads, 19 x 14cm (frame). Courtesy of a private collection. Photography: Silversalt photography.

For over thirty years, Blak Douglas has used his public persona and platforms to raise and address social and political realities, especially for Aboriginal Australians. In many ways, his dedication was manifest and recognised when ‘Moby Dickens,’ his portrait of Wiradjuri artist Karla Dickens in the wake - or the midst - of the disastrous Lismore floods of early 2022, was named winner of the 101st Archibald Prize.

‘The Halfway Line’ takes this milestone as an opportunity to reflect and reconsider from the artists perspective, the significance of his career and the enduring impact that Douglas has had on generations of Australian artists.

Blak Douglas: ‘The Halfway Line,’ continues in our main gallery, open daily from 10am-4pm until 20 July 2025.

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Blak Douglas, ‘Moby Dickens,’ 2022, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 300 x 200cm, installation view in ‘The Halfway Line,’ Penrith Regional Gallery, Home of The Lewers Bequest, 2025. Photography: Silversalt photography.

Adam Hill (now known by the moniker Blak Douglas) painted ‘Three Sisters’ using remnants of house paints that he found in the corner of a factory unit in Jamisontown, Penrith. ‘Three Sisters’ was later shown in his first solo exhibition, ‘Growing up on Dharug Country,’ held in Jamisontown’s industrial estate.

In many ways, the first ‘half’ of Blak Douglas’ life as an artist has centred around Western Sydney, having been born in Blacktown, studying at the University of Western Sydney, and realising his first solo exhibition in the town he was raised. ‘The Halfway Line,’ currently exhibiting at Penrith Regional Gallery, marks a return to this place.

Blak Douglas: The Halfway Line continues in our main gallery, open daily from 10am-4pm until 20 July 2025.

The Gallery will be closed this Good Friday, 18 April, and will reopen Saturday 19 April.

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Adam Hill, ‘Three Sisters,’ 1998, synthetic polymer paint on MDF board, 170 x 230cm. Courtesy the artist.

Please note: Penrith Regional Gallery and Cafe at Lewers will be closed on Friday, 18 April for the public holiday.
We look forward to welcoming you back from Saturday, 19 April.