Penrith Regional Gallery, Home of The Lewers Bequest

25/08/2026

Join us from 8am this Friday 28 August for Galleries Up Early—our free morning program that runs on the last Friday of every month.

At 8:15am, bring focus to your day with a Vinyasa class led by instructors from Nin Yoga; follow up with coffee and seasonal meals in the relaxing garden setting of Cafe at Lewers; and at 10am, for the first time, join us for a guided, curator-led tour highlighting the work of Margo and Gerald Lewers, taking in the galleries and gardens as well as back-of-house areas usually off limits to visitors.

Galleries Up Early
8:00am: Gallery and Cafe doors open
8:15am: Vinyasa Yoga class led by Nin Yoga — bookings essential
10:00am: Artful Living guided tour — bookings essential

All our programs are free, spaces limited. Head to our website to book and find out more.

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1, 3, 4: Photography by Maja Baska
2: Image courtesy of Lewers: Penrith Regional Gallery & Nin Yoga
5: Margo Lewers in Loungeroom with Friends. Lewers: Penrith Regional Gallery Collection.

18/08/2026

In Leanne Tobin's 'The Deal' (2008), a handshake is exchanged between land developers and council. They are sealing a deal to cut down the scar trees at the end of Leacocks Lane in Casula, without consulting the Traditional Custodians of the land—the Dharug people.

Tobin writes, "the shadow of the Ancestors look on, seemingly powerless, as the trees are isolated in preparation of their destruction, with the relentless urban sprawl pushing up against Dharug cultural places within the Greater Sydney, as has been the way since the First Arrival of the invaders. This artwork speaks to the widespread cultural vandalism and destruction of important Dharug sites that has been ongoing and continues to affect the Greater Sydney region."

'The Deal' is on display in 'Leanne Tobin — Ngalawan: We Live. We Remain.'
Until 1 November 2026
Open daily 10am-4pm

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Leanne Tobin, 'The Deal,' 2008, acrylic on canvas, 183 x 91cm. Courtesy of a private lender. Photography: Maja Baska.

17/08/2026

17/08/2026

A few weeks ago, senior Dharug artist Leanne Tobin joined us at Penrith City Council's NAIDOC Week celebrations to facilitate a weaving workshop.

Together with our local community, we wove the title of Tobin's current exhibition at Lewers — Ngalawan (We Live. We Remain.) — into wire mesh using native grasses, creating an activation on the front fence of Lewers: Penrith Regional Gallery that will shift in form and colour as the grass dries.

Visit Leanne Tobin's first major solo exhibition, 'Ngalawan: We Live. We Remain.', at Lewers; open daily from 10am–4pm until 1 November 2026.

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Image 1: Maja Baska

14/08/2026

Just three blocks from Lewers: Penrith Regional Gallery is the family home of senior Dharug artist, Leanne Tobin—the home where Tobin spent her adolescent years, and the home her mother still lives in today.

Now, just down the road here at Lewers Gallery, almost forty years of Leanne Tobin's artistic practice is on display.

'Ngalawan: We Live. We Remain.' is Tobin's first major solo exhibition, traversing public art, murals, landscape painting, animation, sculpture, historical and personal portraiture, all with the common goal of telling local stories, evoking an environmental conscience, and encouraging respect towards the land and its original custodians who have cared for this Country for thousands of years.

Come see for yourself—we're open daily from 10am-4pm, and are completely free to attend. 'Ngalawan: We Live. We Remain.' continues until 1 November 2026.

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Leanne Tobin, 'Ngalawan: We Live. We Remain.' installation views at Lewers: Penrith Regional Gallery, 2026. Photography: Maja Baska.

12/08/2026

Currently on show across both our Main Gallery & Lewers House Gallery is 'Ngalawan: We Live. We Remain.'—the first major solo exhibition of senior Dharug artist Leanne Tobin.

In Lewers House, a focus on historical and personal portraiture. Here we see two newly commissioned portraits of Tobin's late Aunt Lorna (on the right) and her Nan, Flo (on the left). 'Nan (Flo) Holder of Secrets,' depicts Tobin's grandmother Kathleen Florence Burke, who made a choice to protect her family of 6.

"She kept the secret of her Aboriginal ancestry from her children." Tobin writes. "In the portrait, documents and events circle around and behind her as she looks out, smiling benignly. The secret Nan kept was also held safe by extended relatives that lived around her; others who openly acknowledged their ancestry. Because of the threat of removal or government intervention, no one talked about it and the silence was maintained, providing safety as they learned to ‘hide among the enemy.’ It was a way to keep families safe and intact."

Ngalawan: We Live. We Remain.' is open daily from 10am-4pm, exhibiting until 1 November 2026. Entry is free.

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Leanne Tobin, 'Ngalawan: We Live. We Remain.' installation views, Lewers: Penrith Regional Gallery, 2026. Photography: Maja Baska.

05/08/2026

This Saturday, join us for 'Out West: Artists & Possibilities': a panel talk that brings artists and cultural leaders together to discuss the opportunities, challenges, and future of creative practice in Western Sydney.

Presented as an open session of our 2026 Ancher Points program, this talk features Alex Wisser (Artistic Director, CEMENTA), Liam Benson (visual artist; co-founder, We Are Studios), Richard Trang (visual artist) and Joanna Gilmour (Acting Director), centring creative possibilities, regional perspectives, and the evolving cultural landscape in Sydney's west.

Spaces are limited—head to our website to reserve your seat.

Out West: Artists & Possibilities
Saturday 8 August, 1:30-2:30pm
Free — RSVPs essential.

05/08/2026

Coming up this Saturday 8 August: a conversation between senior Dharug artist Leanne Tobin—whose exhibition 'Ngalawan: We Live. We Remain.' is currently showing at Lewers—and Toby Chapman, Chief Executive & Artistic Director.

Together, they'll discuss the lead-up to this significant project, milestone works from across Tobin's career, and how her ongoing engagement with Country, memory, and enduring Dharug presence emerges through a myriad of artistic approaches—from painting, portraiture and sculpture through to murals and major public artworks.

Presented as an open session of our 2026 Ancher Points program, this is an opportunity to hear not only about the ideas and lived experiences shaping Tobin's work, but also to see how almost forty years of practice comes together in 'Ngalawan: We Live. We Remain.'

Spaces are limited—head to our website to reserve your seat.

In Conversation: Leanne Tobin & Toby Chapman
Saturday 8 August, 11am–12pm
Free — RSVPs essential.

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Photography: Eddy Summers

04/08/2026

This Saturday at Lewers: the second 'Listening to Lewers' drawing workshop with artist Sirinya Stuebe.

Open to all skill levels, this free workshop invites participants to create an abstract, visual record of the Gallery's soundscape, prompted by a series of deep listening exercises led by Sirinya. A calming activity run at a relaxed pace, 'Listening to Lewers' is an invitation to tune in to the environment around you — when did you last allow yourself 30 minutes of uninterrupted, non-judgemental drawing time?

Sirinya is the recipient of our 2026 Mural Project. Elements of participants' drawings will contribute to her mural design, to be installed at the Gallery later this year for participants to see.

Saturday 8 August, 10am–1pm
Materials provided, or bring your own preferred mediums.
Free — RSVPs essential; head to our website to book your place.

For those also attending Leanne Tobin's talk: feel welcome to join the workshop from 10am–11am, and return from 12pm–1pm — the program is structured to allow responses in different locations around the site.

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Photography: Maja Baska

29/07/2026

"The Dharug, along with other neighbouring nations, hold stories of an Ancestral Creator in the form of a serpentine eel, that at one time long ago, formed the rivers and mountains here." — Leanne Tobin

In many of Tobin's works, eels serve as a metaphor for the experience of the Dharug people, who have endured, adapted, and persevered to ensure their survival despite the ongoing impacts of colonisation.

Her blown-glass sculptures bring to mind the life-cycle of the Burra (eel). Burra climb dams, cross land, and undergo extreme physical transformations to make the journey northwards from fresh to salt water to breed and die. Their transparent offspring, baby 'glass eels,' then travel home to freshwater, picking up the colours of the river as they swim.

A story of resilience, the call of Ngurra (Country), and continual homecoming, Tobin's eels speak to Dharug endurance through changing environs—the need to bend with the current rather than resist it, and the capacity to withstand systemic and environmental challenge while always finding the way home.

Leanne Tobin - Ngalawan: We Live. We Remain.
Main Gallery & Lewers House Gallery
exhibits until 1 November 2026
open daily from 10am-4pm

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Leanne Tobin, 'Ngalawan: We Live. We Remain.' installation views at Lewers: Penrith Regional Gallery, 2026. Photography: Maja Baska.