Incinerator Gallery announces summer exhibitions
Moonee Valley City Council’s flagship arts venue Incinerator Gallery will present four exhibitions set to take over the space throughout summer. Student exhibitions Fireworks and Bright Sparks are back for another year, alongside thought-provoking works by Lottie Emma and a retrospective of Council’s public art commissions, opening on 14 November and running through to January.
Fireworks and Bright Sparks
14 November to 16 January
Main Gallery
These annual student exhibitions showcase the art and design work of students who live, work or go to school in the Moonee Valley area.
A number of awards will be announced on opening night, including Fireworks Art Award, Fireworks Design Award, Mayoral Award for Excellence in Art, Mayoral Award for Excellence in Design, Mayoral Award for Bright Sparks and Incinerator Bright Sparks Award. The People’s Choice Award will be announced on social media in the week after the exhibition closes.
Bright Sparks features posters submitted by students in Prep through to Year 10 who have embraced this year’s theme: ‘It’s a bees’ world’.
Fireworks spotlights a compelling mix of art and design works created by students in Years 11 and 12. Across drawing, sculpture and mixed media, senior students explore themes of identity, relationships, the environment, wellbeing, family and culture.
Where the Wild Spark Lives by Lottie Emma
14 November to 23 January
Atrium Gallery
Where the Wild Spark Lives is a vibrant textile installation by artist and mother Lottie Emma. Emma’s work is shaped by her experience as a woman, mother and carer to a child with a disability. Themes of care, resilience, tenderness and hope are recurring through her works that blend embroidery with repurposed fabrics and soft sculpture.
Lottie Emma is a South Australian contemporary textile artist who draws on her background in fashion design and wearable art. Lottie’s work weaves personal narrative with themes of vulnerability, care and empowerment. Her exhibitions include Cloudy with a Chance of Mum Storms at Post Office Projects and ‘Super Mum’ Strikes Back at Murray Bridge Regional Gallery. She is a recipient of the ACE (Adelaide Contemporary Experimental) Studio Residency for 2025–27, supported by a Create SA Professional Development grant.
In Public: 30 Years of Commissions
14 November to 16 January
Main Gallery
Reflecting on more than 30 years of public art commissions in Moonee Valley, In Public explores the legacy of painted murals, sculptures, photography, play spaces and site-specific installations to examine our sense of place.
Works and artists include:
Bubup-al Biik-u (Children’s Country) by Kya-ya Ward Nicholson and Mandy Nicholson – Now a permanent fixture at Strathmore Heights Kindergarten, this mural celebrates Country, the animals that share it, and the deep connections between people, place and story.
Arcade Way Public Art Project by Ash Firebrace – This mural at Arcade Way Reserve, Keilor East focuses on the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people’s enduring connection to Country and three significant native species of Moonee Valley’s Natural Temperate Grasslands of the Victorian Volcanic Plain.
Park Sculptural Puzzles by James Cattell and Dorelle Davidson – This playable artwork installation features seven interactive sculptural elements, including human figures, serpents, and instruments, presented at children’s height, and can be found at Maribyrnong Park, Moonee Ponds.
Public art can preserve our past or help imagine our future. It can challenge our expectations and sensibilities. It can ask us to reconsider what belongs in public, whose stories are told, and how we relate to our neighbourhood.
Moonee Valley’s Public Art Collection showcases indoor and outdoor artworks commissioned from the 1990s to the present, featuring a diverse range of local and national artists.
The opening for these exhibitions will be held at 6pm on Friday, 13 November 2026 at Incinerator Gallery, and audiences can RSVP for free here.
Incinerator Gallery
180 Holmes Road, Aberfeldie, VIC, 3040
incineratorgallery.com.au
Phone: 9243 1750
For more details, please contact:
Erin Cook
Media and Communications Lead
Mobile: 0447 198 653
Email: media@mvcc.vic.gov.au