Every two years we present Sculpture in the Garden at Wollongong Botanic Garden. The exhibition also includes a $30,000 Wollongong Acquisitive Sculpture Award, and a People's Choice Award.
The next Sculpture in the Garden will be held from 18 March - 30 April 2023.
Exhibiting artists for Sculpture in the Garden 2023 are:
Deborah Redwood, Camie Lyons, Bryn Jones (New Zealand), Danny Ivanovski, Janine Bailey, Juliane Brandt, Selby Ginn, Victoria Monk, Greer Taylor, Anthony Battaglia, Gary Christian, Anna and Michael Rofka (Germany), Tegan Georgette Russell, Ben Allen and Erin Arthur, Susan Reddrop, James Rogers, John Fitzmaurice, Michael Ferris, Malvika Satelkar, Katherine Castillo Alferez, Alice Nixon, Scott Marr, Saskia Everingham, Kirli Saunders, and Robyn Rumpf.
Sculptures and installations are displayed throughout the Garden, with the winning work becoming a permanent part of our city’s public art collection.
Sculpture in the Garden (also known as the Wollongong Acquisitive Sculpture Award) is open to local, national and international artists.
If you’d like more information about Sculpture in the Garden, email us or call (02) 4227 7111.
Applications open for interactive artwork
Expressions of interest are invited from community-based artists to create a temporary, interactive artwork as part of our program for Sculpture in the Garden 2023.
See our Public Notice for details, and apply by Monday 30 January 2023.
View the permanent collection
All previous winners can be viewed at Wollongong Botanic Garden during opening hours.
- 2021 Winner: Curious Dream of an Architect by Fatih Semiz (located near #3 on the Garden Map)
- 2018 Winner: Steel City by Michael Purdy (located on the western side of the Kawasaki Bridge)
- 2016 Winner: King Coal by Louis Pratt (located in the northern corner of the Flowering Trees and Shrubs Collection #7 on the Garden Map)
View more about the past exhibitions and finalists below.
Past exhibitions
The 2020 Sculpture in the Garden was postponed due to COVID-19, and was relaunched from 6 February - 14 March 2021 with the same artists.
Download the Sculpture in the Garden 2021 catalogue PDF, 2964.11 KB to find out more about the 2021 exhibition, works and artists.
Congratulations to the winner of the 2021 Sculpture in the Garden Acquisitive Prize, Curious Dream of an Architect by Fatih Semiz (#14) (below, photo by Tad Souden).
Three works were also highly commended:
- Splash by John Fitzmaurice (#16)
- Evolve by Laura Nolan (#9)
- My Greatest Lament by Mark Cuthbertson (#3)
The 2021 People's Choice Award went to Evolve by Laura Nolan.
2021 sculptures
Photographs by Tad Souden.
Ghost Trees by Greer Taylor
Sculptor in residence, Greer Taylor, invited visitors to 2021's Sculpture in the Garden to take part in an interactive growing, ephemeral sculptural work called Ghost Trees. Watch the video below to learn more.
Winner: Michael Purdy ‘Steel City’
People’s Choice Award: Mike Tikkeros ‘Windy Willow’
Gardener’s Choice Award: Libby Bloxham ‘Treasured Illawarra Resident’.
Winner: Louis Pratt ‘King Coal’ (pictured)
People’s Choice Award and Gardener's Choice Award': Andreas Buisman ‘Coal’