Art Gallery of Ballarat

01/06/2026

We'd love to see Ballarat win Victoria's 2026 Top Tourism Town - if you would too, vote below! 👇

We won bronze in 2024 and silver in 2025 – can we take home the gold this year?!

Ballarat is in the running to be named Victoria's 2026 Top Tourism Town and we need your help to nab the crown!

Vote for Ballarat at https://bit.ly/4wXE5Ns for your chance to win a luxurious Melbourne escape for two.

And make sure you also vote for our Pyrenees neighbour Avoca, which is chasing the title of Top Tiny Tourism Town.

Voting closes Friday 26 June at 5pm.

29/05/2026

New on the Art Screen - Hannah Brontë: ‘POWA WAVE’

For Pride Month, Art Gallery of Ballarat presents the work of Hannah Brontë. Shot on the beaches of Kombumerri/Yugambeh country, Coolangatta, 'POWA WAVE' captures the natural beauty of an ocean sunrise as experienced by two Q***r lovers.

For the artist, ‘being a woman in the surf, let alone a Q***r woman, takes a sport so freeing and transcendent and makes it a radical act of defiance.’

Image: Hannah Brontë 'POWA WAVE' [film still] 2022, HD video with sound, 5 min 29 sec. Models: Aubrey and Macca. Videography: Fastback Studios. Image courtesy the artist.

25/05/2026

Opening this Saturday 30 May at Backspace Gallery - Kate Gorman: ‘Sirens’ 🚨

‘Siren’ is a word found in Homer’s Odyssey to name the mythical female deities who lured seafarers into danger with their beguiling songs. Today, sirens are an alert for urgent danger.

Ballarat artist Kate Gorman draws on both meanings to express the impact of tourism, suburban growth and ‘progress’ on Victoria’s coastal landscape. While the lure of beautiful beaches draws increasing human settlement, this popularity is set to destroy the ‘untouched’ natural beauty people are drawn to.

Gorman’s delicate, half-human figures are designed to charm and lure the viewer into the artist’s underlying sense of environmental peril.

This week Backspace is closed for the installation of Sirens. We’ll re-open on Saturday.

Image: Kate Gorman ‘Messenger series’ 2022, bronze with gold leaf and hair, dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist.

22/05/2026

We’re delighted to have recently acquired May Vale’s ‘Tasmanian waratah’ for the Collection. This acquisition reinforces our commitment to highlighting work made by women artists who have been overlooked. This work also adds to our collection of Ballarat artists and botanical artworks.

May Vale was born in Ballarat in 1862. Unlike many Australian female artists of her time, she attended art school in England and Paris as well as Melbourne. Vale was an ardent fighter for the recognition of the professional standing of women artists.

She was one of the first women to be elected to the Council of the Victorian Artists Society in 1900.

Image: May Vale ‘Tasmanian waratah’ circa 1920. oil on board. Art Gallery of Ballarat Collection. Purchased with funds from the Hilton White Estate, 2025.

20/05/2026

✨ It's National Volunteer Week ✨

This week (and every week) we're proud to celebrate our volunteer Gallery Guides who are passionate, committed and welcoming.

Here are some of the wonderful people who contribute significantly to each visitor's experience - they're looking forward to guiding during World Press Photo at the Mining Exchange this August.

Pictured:
Meg, Lynne and Fiona
Gordon and Dinah

National Volunteer Week runs from 18 - 24 May.

15/05/2026

Entries are now open for the Clunes Ceramic Award 2026.

This bi-annual exhibition showcases outstanding ceramic practice in partnership with the Art Gallery of Ballarat and Castlemaine Art Museum. It is also supported by the Hugh D. T Williamson Foundation.

Every second iteration, the Art Gallery of Ballarat accepts the winning work into the permanent Collection. In 2017, we received the luscious 'Pearl jugs' by Macedon artist Vanessa Lucas (pictured). This year will see another work enter the Gallery's Collection.

Ceramicists who'd like to enter can do so until 9 August 2026. The winning works will be on show at Esmond Gallery in Clunes from 4 October - 1 November.

To learn more visit clunesceramicaward.org.au

Vanessa Lucas 'Pearl jugs' 2017 glazed porcelain. Art Gallery of Ballarat Collection. Gift of the Clunes Ceramic Award, 2017; © Copyright Vanessa Lucas.

13/05/2026

📸 COMING SOON: WORLD PRESS PHOTO 📸

The Art Gallery of Ballarat will bring the World Press Photo exhibition to Victoria for the first time in a decade this August. It's the first time the global photojournalism exhibition has come to Ballarat.

Each year, the contest highlights the outstanding work of photojournalists and documentary photographers from across the globe. The exhibition offers broad perspectives and intimate insider views on conflicts, crisis, resistance, resilience and tradition.

World Press Photo will be held at the Ballarat Mining Exchange from 8 August to 20 September 2026.

The World Press Photo Foundation is supported by the following corporate sponsors: the Dutch Postcode Lottery and FUJIFILM.

The Art Gallery of Ballarat thanks local media partner Gawk Outdoor and wine partner Black & Ginger Wines.

Featured images:

1. 'Farīsāt: Gunpowder’s Daughters' © Chantal Pinzi, Panos Pictures: Ghita Jhiate manages her unruly stallion. Long forbidden by her father to participate in Tbourida, she finally realised her dream of riding alongside pioneer Zahia Aboulait in 2025. Sidi Rahal, Morocco, 6 August 2025.

2. 'A Daughter’s Grief in Kashmir' © Yasir Iqbal, Outlook India Magazine: Sanam Bashir (21) collapses with grief at her mother’s funeral. Nargis Begum (45) died from shrapnel wounds after a mortar shell struck while the two were fleeing their home. Uri, Jammu and Kashmir, India, 9 May 2025.

3. 'Emma the Social Robot' © Paula Hornickel: Waltraud talks with Emma, a social robot that recognises faces and remembers past conversations. Though skeptical at first, Waltraud says she felt connected to Emma over time. Albershausen, Germany, 3 July 2025

05/05/2026

Looking for a gift as unique as the maternal figure in your life?

At the Gallery Shop, there is something to suit every body, budget and style this Mother's Day – like Trawlwoolway artist Bronwyn David’s hand-painted leather earrings.

We're open 10 am – 5 pm daily, or online, always. 🎁

04/05/2026

In recent days, many people have wandered past our windows on their way to Ballarat Craft and Design Week. If you're in Lydiard Street, be sure to take a peek at some of the latest Collection works on display.

Head to Ballarat Craft and Design Week at the Mining Exchange this coming Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Visit Creative City Ballarat to explore the full program.

Featured artwork: Glenn Barkley 'Morris of the ferns with parrot' 2023 glazed earthenware. Art Gallery of Ballarat Collection. Commissioned with funds from Robin and Andrew Ferry through the Art Gallery of Ballarat Foundation, 2023 © Copyright courtesy of the artist and Sullivan+Strumpf

📸: Astrid Mulder Photography

29/04/2026

Winners: Medium Project of the Year at the 2026 Victorian Museums and Galleries Awards! 🏆

We're absolutely thrilled to have won the Medium Project of the Year (Gallery) for Medieval to Metal: The Art and Evolution of the Guitar.

The judges said: "This is an incredible project, evidencing strategic and innovative approaches to exhibition programming. Well-constructed and successfully deployed, Medieval to Metal used interactive and multisensory elements effectively, achieving strong economic returns, significant media coverage, and a broad audience reach that is well aligned to Ballarat's local culture, community, and music identity."

We were up against respected institutions including Heide Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Australian Photography and the State Library Victoria - we congratulate all of the nominees, and our co-winner, the Museum of Australian Photography.

It takes an incredible team and many partners to put on a great exhibition. We thank everyone who played a role. Rock on! 🎸