Sculpture in the Garden

Every two years we hold the $30,000 Wollongong Acquisitive Sculpture Award at Wollongong Botanic Garden.

The next Sculpture in the Garden will be held from 18 March - 30 April 2023. Expressions of interest for artists have now closed.

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.

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).

Winning sculpture, Curious Dream of an Architect, by Fatih Semiz. 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.

Michael Purdy's sculpture 'Steel City' featuring five columns of various heights made from metal, stone and wood

Winner: Michael Purdy ‘Steel City’

Sculpture by Mike Tikkeros in the shape of a weeping willow tree made from rusted metal parts

People’s Choice Award: Mike Tikkeros ‘Windy Willow’

Detail of Libby Bloxham's sculpture with a praying mantis made from found metal on grass, with group of school children out of focus in the background

Gardener’s Choice Award: Libby Bloxham ‘Treasured Illawarra Resident’.

Louis Pratt's sculpture 'King Coal' featuring the head and torso of a man wearing a cap backwards with his arms crossed

Winner: Louis Pratt ‘King Coal’ (pictured)

detail of Andreas Buisman's sculpture showing three large rocks with coal cross-sections

People’s Choice Award and Gardener's Choice Award': Andreas Buisman ‘Coal’

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