October at Gallery Lane Cove + Creative Studios brings two exhibitions that take very different routes to the same idea of returning to a subject again and again. There are also new works on the centre’s two sculpture plinths, a national day of giving to support the ceramics studio, and a full program of Term 4 classes for adults and children that runs into December.
Now Showing: 8 – 31 October
Two exhibitions are on show side by side for the rest of the month. Both share a joint opening event on Wednesday 14 October, 6 pm – 8 pm.
Eighty Five Seasons by Mac Bryla
Every portrait needs a subject. In Eighty Five Seasons, the subject is the planet’s temperature. Mac Bryla has taken 31,046 daily global temperature readings, recorded between 1941 and 2025, and turned them into fifteen portraits. He makes the images using software tools he builds himself, and no AI is used to generate any of the works. The exhibition sits where data visualisation meets portraiture, and it gives visitors a new way to see more than eight decades of climate history.
More about Eighty Five Seasons | RSVP to the opening
Avalon Beach Rockpool Series by Stephen Denham
Stephen Denham paints straight onto a digital canvas with an Apple Pencil, and his impressionistic works keep coming back to one subject: the rockpool at Avalon Beach. He has painted it repeatedly since 2022. Each work shows the pool in a different way as the light, the water’s movement and the seasons change. Seen together, the series feels like a long, patient study of one much-loved place on the Northern Beaches.
More about Avalon Beach Rockpool Series | RSVP to the opening
AusArt Day: Thursday 22 October
On Thursday 22 October, Gallery Lane Cove + Creative Studios joins arts organisations across the country for AusArt Day 2026. Led by Creative Australia, it is a national day of giving when communities support the artists, galleries and creative spaces they value.
The centre has been a home for creativity on the Lower North Shore since 1972. This year it is raising $10,000 to refresh its ceramics studio, one of the busiest spaces in the building. Every week the studio is full of students at the wheel, children working with clay for the first time, and artists firing their work. Years of heavy use have taken their toll. The money raised will fund:
- New kiln elements, shelves and stilts to keep the kilns firing reliably
- Improved scheduling technology to manage firings more efficiently
- New seating at the pottery wheels
- A communal kiln for external firings and kiln hire
With these upgrades the centre can run more ceramics classes and take in more students. It will also be able to open its firing services to local artists and makers.
Gallery Lane Cove is managed by Centrehouse Inc., a not-for-profit charity with DGR status. Donations of $2 or more are tax deductible.
Donate to the ceramics studio refresh | Read more about AusArt Day at Gallery Lane Cove
On the Plinths
Gallery Plinth: Craig Malyon, Untitled (2026)
Craig Malyon’s work in progress is made from bronze, granite and plastic, and was conceived as part of a funerary urn. The sculpture layers Jedi, Christian and Hindu imagery and shifts it out of place, looking for connection in the face of mortality. It does not favour any one tradition. Instead, it considers how different belief systems help people understand themselves and each other, and it treats faith as lived experience without endorsing dogma. At a time when tolerance is in short supply, the work asks viewers to make more room for one another.
Library Plinth (The Plinth Project): Bridget Kennedy, And This Is Where We Land
Artist and Lane Cove councillor Bridget Kennedy has built a fragile miniature cityscape from repurposed jewellery saw blades. It sits on an oxidised silver platter engraved with the names of Australian plants lost or endangered since colonisation. The names are set in concentric circles, like tree rings, as a quiet memorial. Kennedy made the work partly in response to the closure of the Australian Design Centre. It reflects on environmental loss, urban development and the choices communities make together. Rather than mourning, it poses a question: if this is where we’ve landed, what do we choose to make from here?
More about the Sculpture Plinths
Term 4 Adult Classes
Term 4 adult classes cover ceramics, drawing, painting and yoga. Places fill quickly, so it is worth enrolling early.
Ceramics
- Ceramics Class (Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays): Work on the wheel or on hand-building projects at your own pace, with guidance from an experienced tutor.
- Ceramics Open Studio (Tuesdays): An unsupervised session for independent makers.
Painting and Drawing
- Abstract Art (Mondays): Explores abstraction through colour, form, composition and personal expression.
- Paint & Draw (Wednesdays): A flexible class where students can focus on either drawing or painting. It covers fundamentals such as composition and colour and also supports experienced artists developing their own style.
- Studio Set Up (Fridays): A different arrangement of objects to draw or paint from each week, for anyone looking for subject matter and inspiration.
Yoga
- Beyond the Stretch: Gentle Hatha Yoga: A welcoming class for all levels that combines gentle movement, breathwork and mindfulness to build flexibility, strength and relaxation.
- Term Yoga Class (Community/Studio Yoga): A relaxed class for all abilities, focused on movement, breath and mindful connection.
Term 4 Kids’ After-School Classes
After-school classes in art, pottery and sewing run through Term 4 and into December.
Creative Makers (5–7 years and 8–12 years)
Tuesdays, 13 October – 8 December | $285 for 9 weeks
A multi-medium program led by two specialist teachers. Children try pottery, drawing, watercolour, printmaking and mixed media across the term. They learn real techniques such as coil and slab building, watercolour composition and relief printing, through projects like pinch pots, leaf prints and a final self-portrait collage.
Enrol: Creative Makers 5–7 years | Enrol: Creative Makers 8–12 years
Pottery
Thursdays, 15 October – 10 December | $310 for 9 weeks
Children explore clay through sculpture, design and storytelling. They learn hand-building techniques (pinch, coil and slab), surface design and texture, and are introduced to wheel work. They follow the full ceramic process from construction to glazing and finish the term with a collection of fired pieces to take home.
Sewing
Thursdays, 15 October – 3 December | $355 for 8 weeks
Students learn to sew in a supportive class, starting with threading a needle and moving on to using a sewing machine. Along the way they make tote bags, comfortable shorts and more. No experience is needed.
Visit
Gallery Lane Cove + Creative Studios
164 Longueville Road, Lane Cove NSW 2066
02 9428 4898 | [email protected]
Tuesday – Friday 10 am – 4.30 pm | Saturday 10 am – 2.30 pm | Closed Sunday, Monday and public holidays
gallerylanecove.com.au
In the Cove is free to read and paywall-free, and we’d like to keep it that way. If you value independent local journalism, consider supporting us.
Buy us a coffee ·
Support via Presspatron ·
Advertise with us