Five unmissable exhibitions in Canberra you need to see before they leave
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Hey Canberra, here are five art exhibitions you have to see! Whether you’re an art enthusiast or just looking for something fun to do in Canberra, make sure to catch these before they leave.
All of the exhibitions have a unique experience for you; you could be interacting with plasma, walking through a story of belonging told in paint, or seeing the work of local contemporary jewellers.
Delightly
Delightly is an exhibition by Harriet Schwarzrock, showcasing her small-scale, subtly interactive, plasma-illuminated objects in the Canberra Glass Works foyer as part of the 2026 Craft + Design Canberra Festival. Harriet uses borosilicate glass and traditional laboratory apparatus to sculpt vessels containing plasma, producing pieces that are described as resembling an aurora in a bottle.
During this exhibition, visitors are invited into a dark and suspended installation to experience firsthand the interaction of their presence on the quality of the light, as within these objects the light shifts and pulses in response to those nearby. Delightly is not just an exhibition you view; it’s an experience you join, and it invites creativity, curiosity and experimental thinking, as it’s meant to make you feel a part of the showcase, rather than an observer.
Showing Thursday 5 November until Wednesday 25 November | 11 Wentworth Avenue, Kingston | canberraglassworks.com
Funny Peculiar, Not Funny ‘Ha Ha’
Erin Dickson’s exhibition navigates the tension and balance between humour and darker topics such as grief, anger and isolation. She evokes the question of what art can be through her fusion of traditional craft skills with digital technologies; her pieces challenge the expectations of craftsmanship and ask you to question what belongs in a gallery.
It’s a thought-provoking journey, causing you to question how contemporary art blends old and new techniques as well as concepts. Throughout this exhibition, Erin’s art will encourage you to engage with the contrast and will shift your focus to the deeper levels behind the art itself. These pieces have more than just a visual impact; they promote questions and comparisons of light and darkness.
Showing Thursday 5 November until Sunday 31 January | 11 Wentworth Avenue, Kingston | canberraglassworks.com
Raw and Refined
Presented as part of the 2026 Craft + Design Canberra Festival, Canberra-based contemporary jeweller Phoebe Porter presents Raw and Refined, a thought-provoking exhibition exploring the tensions between raw and worked, natural and cultural, and material and meaning. Responding to the festival’s theme of Dissent, Porter’s work challenges traditional ideas around value, preciousness, and craft. Set in the Canberra Airport Departure Lounge, the display contrasts raw Australian gold, native copper, uncut sapphires, and meteorite fragments with precision-crafted structures, celebrating deliberate craftsmanship as an act of creative dissent.
Thursday 5 until Sunday 22 November | Departures Lounge, Canberra Airport | craftanddesigncanberrafestival.org
Kahani: Painted Stories
During this exhibition, artist Aditi walks us through her journey of discovering what home and belonging mean to her. Aditi brings us along as she uses her art to explore whether home is physical, or if home is in your experiences and the people around you.
This exhibition reflects on the feelings the artist faced growing up between cultures, trying to build an identity between two separate worlds, exploring belonging, memories, migration, and the evolving meaning of “home”.
Aditi tells her story in this exhibition through two very distinct yet connected series. The first series is Island Home; this series consists of vivid acrylic and oil paintings of Australian flora and landscapes inspired by encounters on Aditi’s travels through the country. This series reflects the serious and deep connection and respect Aditi has for the country she calls home.
Aditi’s second series is Chitra Qala; this series includes a series of mixed media works which incorporate watercolour, acrylics and inks. In these pieces, you will find Indian folk-art motifs, symbols, colours and mythological and philosophical references layered into Australian landscapes.
Together, the two series tell the story of Aditi’s journey. Kahani: Painted Stories is a celebration of connections and self. While Aditi’s pieces are personal and unique to her experiences, she hopes that the viewers of her work can see some of their own story through her exhibition and can reflect on the people, places and experiences that shaped their sense of belonging.
Showing Friday 20 and Saturday 21 November | Kitchen Garden at Rodney’s Nursery, Pialligo | @st.mariposa
Rosalie Gascoigne
Opening at the National Gallery of Australia, this major exhibition celebrates the career of Rosalie Gascoigne (1917–1999), one of Australia’s most celebrated contemporary artists. Famous for transforming discarded, weathered items (such as retro-reflective road signs, wooden crates, and feathers) into poetic assemblages, her works reflect the light, color, and texture of the surrounding Kamberri/Canberra landscape.
Until Sunday 14 February | National Gallery of Australia, Parkes Place East, Parkes | nga.gov.au
Feature image: Raw and Refined Work in Progress. Credit: Pew Pew Studio for Arts ACT
