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Ways Through
Amanda Western
Ways Through
16 September – 27 September 2025
hours:
Tuesday – Friday: 12pm – 7pm
Saturdays: 12pm – 4pm
admission: Free
…the pathways depicted here are not just physical, they’re emotional cartographies, tracing displacement, rebuilding, belonging…
In Ways Through, I explore the threshold spaces that quietly shape our lives- laneways and tree-lined roads, weathered paths through bush or city. These passages, often overlooked, hold memories of those who move through them. They are witnesses to change, both personal and ecological.
My linocuts map these spaces in intricate detail, treating each mark as a form of care. Whether drawn from an overshadowed urban laneway, or a rural track softened by wind and time, each image is part record, part response. The process itself- slow, deliberate carving- is meditative, mirroring the gradual regeneration I often witness in nature and in people.
Having worked in disaster recovery, I see art as an act of reassembly and restoration. These images acknowledge loss while also pointing to quiet forms of repair. The pathways depicted here are not just physical, they’re emotional cartographies, tracing displacement, rebuilding, belonging.
By focusing on what’s often unseen or under-appreciated, I invite viewers to consider how we move through the world, and what it means to truly notice the spaces that hold us.
Link to 3RRR SmartArts interview with Richard Watts and Amanda Western: https://www.rrr.org.au/shared/broadcast-episode/35180/9258000/10351000
Awards
2025
– Finalist, Sunshine Coast National Art Prize (QLD)
– Highly Commended, Milburn Art Prize (QLD)
– Best Other Media, Bendigo Easter Art Show (VIC)
– Winner Queenscliff Art Prize Print Award (VIC)
– Finalist, Flanagan Art Prize (VIC)
– Finalist St Colombus Art Prize (NSW)
2024
– People’s Choice Award Winner, Sunshine Coast National Arts Prize (QLD)
– First prize, Printmakers Exhibition, Geelong Arts Society (VIC)
– Finalist, Southern Ocean Art Prize (SA)
– Finalist, Hornsby Art Prize (NSW)
– Finalist, Stanthorpe Art Prize (QLD)
– Finalist, Artists for Conservation International Juried Exhibition (online)
– First Prize, All Other Mediums, Bacchus Marsh Annual Art Show (VIC)
– Honourable Mention, Castlemaine Annual Art Show (VIC)
– First Prize, Lineworks Art Show, Geelong Arts Society (VIC)
– Best “Other” Class, Warrnambool & District Easter Arts Festival (VIC)
2023
– Visual and Performing Arts Award, Ballarat Arts Foundation (VIC)
Collections & Commissions
2024
– Sunshine Coast Art Collection (QLD public gallery acquisition)
– Ballarat Grammar Fine Art Collection (VIC)
– Mural, City of Ballarat Winter Festival (VIC)
– Mural, Haymes Paints, Ballarat (VIC)
– Road Nationals Coffee Cup artwork, City of Ballarat (VIC)
2023
– Mural, The Mallow Hotel, Ballarat (VIC)
Solo Exhibitions
2025
– “Ways Through” fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne
– “Imprint: Marks We Leave Behind”, KANK Exhibition Space, Ballarat
2024
– “Laneways & Lattes,” Accent Gallery, Ballarat
-“Fragile Fight,” Ross Creek Gallery, Ballarat
2023
– “I See You; Do You See Me?” Old Butcher Shop Gallery, Ballarat
Group Exhibitions
2025
– Milburn Art Prize, Brisbane Institute of Art, QLD
– Habitat Exhibition, Belco Arts, Canberra, ACT
– Gathering II, Goldfields Printmakers Exhibition, Ross Creek Gallery, VIC
– Lineworks Exhibition, Shearers Arms Gallery, Geelong, VIC
– Flanagan Art Prize, Ballarat, VIC
– St Colombus Art Prize, Sydney, NSW
– Latest & Greatest III, Caloundra Regional Gallery (invitational), QLD
– Linden Postcard Show 2024-25, Linden Contemporary Art, St Kilda VIC
2024
– Southern Ocean Art Prize 2024, finalist exhibition (invitational), SA
– Hornsby Art Prize (invitational), NSW
– Sunshine Coast National Art Prize (invitational), QLD
– Stanthorpe Art Prize (invitational), QLD
– Artists for Conservation, International Juried Exhibition (online-invitational)
– Shearers Arms Gallery, Geelong, VIC
– Liminal Gallery, Geelong, VIC
– Castlemaine Market Building Gallery (invitational), VIC
– Fairbanks Eye Gallery, Ballarat (invitational), VIC
– Brunswick St Art Gallery, Fitzroy (invitational), VIC
– The Space Gallery, Geelong, VIC
– Mercure Convention Centre, Ballarat, VIC
Memberships
Committee of Management Member, Print Council of Australia
President, Ballarat Society of Artists
Mentor, Ballarat Arts Foundation (2024 & 2025)
National Association of Visual Artists (NAVA)
Goldfields Printmakers Group (VIC)
Education
Mentoring program 2023-25, Ballarat Arts Foundation
Cert III Visual Arts, Oxygen College, Ballarat
Residencies
2025 All That We Are Art Residency (Tasmania, two week residential)
2023 David Frazer etching workshop (Greece, ten days residential)
Opening Night
Tuesday 16 September, 5-7pm