TarraWarra Museum of Art

TarraWarra Museum of Art A retreat for the imagination—art, place & ideas on Wurundjeri Country: cutting-edge shows, visible art storage & breathtaking Yarra Valley views.

There are plenty of ways to spend time with art, place and ideas at TarraWarra over the coming weeks:Inside the Mirage d...
02/09/2026

There are plenty of ways to spend time with art, place and ideas at TarraWarra over the coming weeks:

Inside the Mirage draws on the imaginative and philosophical worlds of Ian Fairweather and John Young, calling their practices into dialogue alongside major works from contemporary Australian artists, bringing to light the shared and inherited stories that connect Australian art history to the present.

Friday 4 September — Analog Art Club with art therapist Olympia Antoniadis, a hands on session responding to the exhibition through ink, pastel and watercolour.

Saturday 5 September — a full day at TarraWarra. Catch the return Day Trip bus from Federation Square (only a few seats remain!)

Join John Young and Professor Claire Roberts in conversation with curator James Lynch for Fairweather Transformations, a conversation facilitated by curator James Lynch exploring Fairweather's legacy through Young's own practice, 2–3.30pm, with entry to the exhibition included.

From Tuesday 8 September — TarraWarra Tots begins, monthly on Tuesdays for babies and their parents or carers.

From Tuesday 22 September — Breathwork at TarraWarra begins, monthly, a creative and generative practice held to open access to emotion, memory, sensation and expanded awareness that ordinary waking life keeps at bay.

Thursday 24 September — School holiday Workshop: Design, Construct and Set Sail. Inspired by Ian Fairweather's raft voyage from Darwin to Rote Island, children aged 6–14 design and build their own miniature raft sculpture from art, craft and recycled materials. All materials supplied.

Every Thursday and Saturday— book a Behind the Glass Tour for a first look at Waterways, our brand new collection rehang.

Every Tuesday — Join the Sculpture Walk and Indigenous Garden Tour with Jane.

Did you know? Exhibition entry is free for TarraWarra members and everyone under 18.

Details and bookings twma.com.au/whats-on/

Photos by Astrid Mulder and Thomas McCammon

Inside the Mirage explores how cultural exchange shapes histories and identities, staged through a dialogue between arti...
01/09/2026

Inside the Mirage explores how cultural exchange shapes histories and identities, staged through a dialogue between artist John Young and the work of the late Ian Fairweather, whose lives and practices challenge fixed ideas of cultural origin.

Writing in The Saturday Paper, Carolyn Barnes reflects on the exhibition's wider argument, that "culture is continually created whenever people, histories and traditions meet."

Alongside Young and Fairweather, the exhibition brings together Mikala Dwyer, Gordon Bennett, William Yang, Narelle Jubelin, My Le Thi, Zhou Xiaoping, Johnny Bulunbulun, Michael Stevenson and Meng Yu Yan, tracing histories formed through migration, trade and cultural encounter.

Inside the Mirage is showing now at TarraWarra Museum of Art on Wurundjeri Country.

https://bit.ly/inside-the-mirage

Installation view, Inside the Mirage 2026, TarraWarra Museum of Art. Photo: Andrew Curtis

“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” -James HillmanCome explore how we can use the breath as a crea...
29/08/2026

“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” -James Hillman

Come explore how we can use the breath as a creative and generative too at TarraWarra Museum of Art.

Each session will move through an hour of conscious connected breathwork, followed by time spent with art materials to integrate and explore what has surfaced during the session. There will be no structure to the creative component, no technique to learn or outcome to produce. What is offered is time and space for what is internal to move outward, for sensation to become gesture and for the unspoken to find another form.

Breathwork has the capacity to move beneath the surface of conscious thought, opening access to emotion, memory, sensation and expanded awareness that ordinary waking life keeps at bay.

These sessions will be facilitated by Sunni Hart who holds an International Certificate of Breathwork Mastery. Her work is rooted in presence, relational care and the belief that conscious breath is a pathway to healing, liberation and return. She specialises in using the breath as a tool to unlock creative flow and release blocks which may be emotional, somatic and expressive.

All materials, mats and blankets are provided. Book your place bit.ly/breathwork_tarrawarra

Images by Astrid Mulder

I wish you happiness and health but I cannot complete your journey I am a visitor. Sydney based photo-media artist Meng-...
28/08/2026

I wish you happiness and health
but I cannot complete your journey
I am a visitor.

Sydney based photo-media artist Meng-Yu Yan has long explored the cultural and historical significance of mirrors, ghosts, shadows and apparitions in their practice.

In 2022, Yan completed Double Witness, a series of short videos made in homage to the Taiwanese writer and Q***r literary figure Qiu Miaojin. Miaojin’s second and final novel Last words from Montmarte (1995) takes the form of twenty-one letters that can be read in any order and reflects on the narrators past and new loves, heartbreak and their emotional worlds, and the city of Paris.

Double Witness in now showing as part of our current exhibition, Inside the Mirage.

On Saturday 3 October, you are invited to join Meng-Yu Yan and curator James Lynch for We Are All Visitors, a bilingual walking tour through the exhibition with live Mandarin interpretation by Yan Yu Lok. Book your tickets https://bit.ly/weareallvisitors

Artwork: Meng-Yu Yan, Double Witness 2020 (video stills). Courtesy of the artist

The closing lines of Double Witness (quoted above) are drawn from Theo Angelopoulos' 1991 film The Suspended Step of the Stork, which Qiu Miaojin used, unattributed, as the final words of her novel Last Words from Montmartre (1995).

Analog Art Club, Friday 4 September – Respond and Play with Olympia AntoniadisFor our upcoming Analog Art Club, art ther...
27/08/2026

Analog Art Club, Friday 4 September – Respond and Play with Olympia Antoniadis

For our upcoming Analog Art Club, art therapist and artist Olympia Antoniadis will host an immersive two-hour workshop inspired by the exhibition Inside the Mirage.

Gathering around a selected artwork, participants will be guided by Antoniadis through a process of slow looking, mindful observation and shared reflection, using what resonated with them as a starting point for creative exploration. Following a guided material warm-up, participants will be invited to experiment with a range of materials, including ink, pastel and watercolour, to investigate line, colour, texture and form.

Encouraging curiosity, play and personal expression, this workshop offers a supportive space to explore materials, trust the creative process and develop individual responses to the artwork. Along the way, participants will have the opportunity to connect with the exhibition, themselves and others through making.

Whether you are new to art or have years of experience, this Analog Art Club session offers a unique opportunity to slow down, look deeply and discover new ways of engaging with art through creative practice. Everyone is welcome.

Book your tickets https://bit.ly/analogartclub_

Analog Art Club is a joint initiative of Public Galleries Association of Victoria (PGAV) and ArtsHub.

We invite you to join us for an intimate conversation with artist John Young and Professor Claire Roberts, facilitated b...
26/08/2026

We invite you to join us for an intimate conversation with artist John Young and Professor Claire Roberts, facilitated by curator of our current exhibition, Inside the Mirage, James Lynch.

This will be an in-depth conversation of both Roberts' and Young's recent creative research which share a love in the life and work of Ian Fairweather (1891–1974), one of Australia's most enigmatic modern artists. Explore their long-held connections, affinities and passions, and the ways they have shared his artistic legacy.

"For both men, art is a transcultural practice and part of a larger process of becoming." - Professor Claire Roberts, Portrait of A Collection: TarraWarra Museum of Art, 2024.

To make the trip hassle free, we will also be running the TarraWarra Day Trip bus that day. You will receive a link to book the bus in your booking confirmation. Only a few seats remain so don't wait!

Book your tickets! https://bit.ly/fairweathertransformations

Images:
1. Laurence Binyon, The Flight of the Dragon: An Essay on the Theory and Practice of Art in China and Japan, first edition, from The Wisdom of the East series, original copy (below) once owned by Ian Fairweather. Private Collection
2. Professor Claire Roberts
3. John Young by Zan Wimberley, 2018
4. TarraWarra Museum of Art by Rory Gardiner

In 1952 Ian Fairweather set sail from Darwin on a raft built from salvaged materials, bound for Timor. Presumed dead aft...
25/08/2026

In 1952 Ian Fairweather set sail from Darwin on a raft built from salvaged materials, bound for Timor. Presumed dead after three days at sea, he in fact survived sixteen days before landing at Roti Island.

New Zealand artist Michael Stevenson revisited this journey in 2004, building a full scale replica of Fairweather's raft with the Whitstable Sea Scouts in England. Alongside the raft, Stevenson produced a set of hand drawn maps charting the ocean currents, tides and winds of the Timor and Arafura seas, tracing the very waters Fairweather crossed.

Together these works sit within Inside the Mirage curated by James Lynch which is now showing at TarraWarra Museum of Art.

Plan your visit: https://bit.ly/inside-the-mirage

Artworks:
Michael Stevenson, Rakit 2004
project with sea scouts Whitstable UK, black and white photography by Alice Maude-Roxby © Michael Stevenson, courtesy of the artist and Fine Arts, Sydney
Installation view, Inside the Mirage 2026, TarraWarra Museum of Art. Photos Andrew Curtis

TarraWarra Tots!Engage in storytelling, singing, mindful, art and craft activities in a playgroup program for both babie...
20/08/2026

TarraWarra Tots!

Engage in storytelling, singing, mindful, art and craft activities in a playgroup program for both babies (0–12 months) and parents/carers at TarraWarra Museum of Art.

Spend an additional 30 minutes roaming the grounds and enjoying our stimulating museum exhibitions before the museum opens to the public (with plenty of room for prams!)

All sessions are facilitated by our Learning and Engagement Manager, Sarah Metzner and include light refreshments and an opportunity to relax and connect with other like-minded parents and carers in the beautiful museum and grounds at TarraWarra Museum of Art.

All materials are supplied.

Book now: https://events.humanitix.com/tarrawarra-tots

Photos: Astrid Mulder

19/08/2026

Artist My Le Thi on the project behind her work in Inside the Mirage.

Since 1992, Thi has cast the feet and shoes of people she meets, transforming them into painted portraits shaped by each person’s journey. What began with a small group has grown into Our Shoes, made in collaboration with communities in Vietnam, Germany, Taiwan, Darwin and Sydney, including people experiencing homelessness and incarceration.

The project traces back to Thi’s own childhood, watching feet and shoes pass by from a basket beside her mother’s market stall. Decades on, each cast still carries the same idea: individual lives, brought together into a shared portrait.

Ian Fairweather is one of her own points of reference, an artist who kept working, and kept loving the work, through hardship.

My Le Thi’s work features in Inside the Mirage curated by James Lynch, now showing at TarraWarra Museum of Art on Wurundjeri Country.

Video: Craate Creative

19/08/2026

Artist My Le Thi on the project behind her work in Inside the Mirage.

Since 1992, Thi has cast the feet and shoes of people she meets, transforming them into painted portraits shaped by each person's journey. What began with a small group has grown into Our Shoes, made in collaboration with communities in Vietnam, Germany, Taiwan, Darwin and Sydney, including people experiencing homelessness and incarceration.

The project traces back to Thi's own childhood, watching feet and shoes pass by from a basket beside her mother's market stall. Decades on, each cast still carries the same idea: individual lives, brought together into a shared portrait.

Ian Fairweather is one of her own points of reference, an artist who kept working, and kept loving the work, through hardship.

My Le Thi's work features in Inside the Mirage, now showing at TarraWarra Museum of Art on Wurundjeri Country.

Video: Craate Creative

Address

313 Healesville-Yarra Glen Road
Healesville, VIC
3777

Opening Hours

Tuesday 11am - 5pm
Wednesday 11am - 5pm
Thursday 11am - 5pm
Friday 11am - 5pm
Saturday 11am - 5pm
Sunday 11am - 1pm

Telephone

61359573100

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