Ann Newmarch, Jake, Bruno, Jessie - 11, 6, 1 year, 1983, screenprint on paper, Warrnambool Art Gallery Collection. © Ann Newmarch/Copyright Agency, 2026
Ann Newmarch, Jake, Bruno, Jessie - 11, 6, 1 year, 1983, screenprint on paper, Warrnambool Art Gallery Collection. © Ann Newmarch/Copyright Agency, 2026

Borrowed from the title of Elizabeth Gower's work of the same name, The Transient Nature of Things touches on the complex lives of women who walk the tightrope between motherhood, art-making and selfhood. Working with bold colours and in large scale, each artist presents personal experiences that resonate with the feminist politics of the 1970s and 80s. From the elevation of what had previously been considered traditional female craft practices, to the recognition and depiction of personal domestic life as an inescapable political act; this exhibition acknowledges the ways that motherhood is woven, both seen and unseen, through the lives of these artists.

Artists: Marie Cook, Elizabeth Gower and Ann Newmarch

Education Resources

Master Weaver Marie Cook discusses her piece 'Train to St Petersburg', on show as part of the Warrnambool Art Gallery Collection exhibition 'The Transient Nature of Things' which opened March 2026.