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Artist: Scarlett Stokoe<\/p>\nA fully immersive art shop, an otherworldly garden filled with garden themed objects, is taking over an artist\u2019s studio in Marrickville, promising a wondrous, mossy, overgrown installation where giant ceramic slugs roam, sculptural butterflies dot the skies, oversized cockroach and objects become the garden\u2019s flowers. Curated by Emma Bartik of Voluptuary Ceramics, a Sydney-based ceramics studio known for design-led ceramics, bold colour palettes, and playful sculptural work, The Garden will showcase creations from more than 60 Australian artists, designers and makers, in mediums including ceramic, glass, jewellery, paint, photography, and textiles.<\/p>\n
\u201cArt doesn\u2019t have to be serious to have value, it should make you feel alive,\u201d says Emma. \u201cThe artists\u2019 brief itself was intentionally simple: respond to the idea of an otherworldly garden and create something that can be lived with.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Garden will be open from Saturday 25th July \u2013 Sunday 30th August 2026, Wednesday to Sunday from 10am-4pm. Exhibiting artists include Hilary Green, Claire Ritchie, Nastia Gladushchenko, Lawn Bowls, Acid Flowers, Suparom Ronyut-Henry, Kate Mitchell Glass, Earth Creature, Christina Mclean, Isekai Creators Guild and Yang Qi. Admission is free, and all works are available for purchase and can be taken home immediately.<\/p>\n
Here, we speak with Emma Bartik, artist and curator of The Garden to discover more about the upcoming exhibition. <\/p>\n
Artist: Scarlett Stokoe<\/p>\n
What makes The Garden such a rich source of inspiration?<\/p>\n
\u201cGardens are wonderfully expansive. They can be literal or imagined, beautiful or strange. They encompass flowers, fungi, insects, weeds, decay, colour, texture and growth. Every artist has brought their interpretation to the theme, which is why the work is so wonderfully diverse.\u201d<\/p>\n
What is the first image or feeling you want visitors to experience when they step into the exhibition?<\/p>\n
\u201cI want people to feel as though they\u2019ve stepped into another world, a whimsical, surreal garden imagined collectively by over 60 Australian artists and designers.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Artist: Nastia Gladushchenko<\/p>\n
Did many of the artists tap into similar ideas or emotions?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe range of work is incredibly diverse, across ceramics, glass, textile, jewellery, and more. Even when an idea is similar the outcome is so different. Each artist has taken something from the natural world and filtered it through their own imagination, creating a garden that feels more dreamlike than botanical.\u201d<\/p>\n
Which three artists or exhibits shouldn\u2019t be missed?<\/p>\n
\u201cHunter Candles created a bespoke room spray exclusively for the exhibition called The Garden Haze. Inspired by her Great Aunt Alma\u2019s garden, it\u2019s a herbaceous blend of freshly picked herbs, velvety petals and bright lemon that fills the space and really makes the exhibition feel immersive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Cruel Goblin has created incredible embroidered artworks: insects, swans in vintage frames and even an oversized cockroach.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire Ritchie\u2019s original paintings bring a wondrous sense of joy with her gestural and playful flowers and butterflies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Installation week is equal parts puzzle-solving, caffeine, hopes and dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Artist: Kate Mitchell Glass<\/p>\n
Were there any submissions that completely changed how you thought about the theme?<\/p>\n
\u201cAny Clay Studio\u2019s giant ceramic slugs are a literal interpretation, and are incredibly sculptural and beautiful. They\u2019ve become one of the characters of the exhibition and make the whole space feel more alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Artist: Scarlett Stokoe<\/p>\n
What was the most challenging or exciting part of making The Garden happen?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest challenge is that I don\u2019t actually know what the exhibition will look like until about two weeks before opening. Because almost everything is made specifically for the show, I spend months imagining how it might all come together before finally seeing it in person. That makes the curatorial process both exciting and terrifying. I know the concepts, but not exactly how they\u2019ll evolve in scale, colour or material. Once everything arrives, the challenge becomes weaving dozens of completely different artistic voices into one cohesive environment. Installation week is equal parts puzzle-solving, caffeine, hopes and dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the same time, I\u2019m also running my own ceramics practice from the same warehouse. The front of the space becomes the exhibition while the back continues operating as a working production studio, so it\u2019s quite a balancing act as the scale of these projects grows.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why was it important to you that people could take work home immediately rather than the usual gallery wait?<\/p>\n
\u201cBuying art shouldn\u2019t feel intimidating and the beauty of this format is that it removes the hierarchy between a painting, a vase, a fragrance, or a sticker and instead focuses on the artist\u2019s ideas and execution. This is also one of the more logistically challenging aspects of this format: we hang and decorate a whole space only for it to continuously evolve throughout the duration as work is sold and added. And in theory this also helps artists to sell more of their works, which is the main goal!\u201d<\/p>\n
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Artist: Claire Ritchie<\/p>\n
After spending months surrounded by imagined gardens, has it changed the way you notice beauty in real gardens or everyday nature?<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely. As an artist I\u2019m constantly noticing colour, texture and form, but working on The Garden has made me appreciate just how many different ways there are to look at the natural world. Seeing dozens of artists interpret the same theme has been incredibly enriching.\u201d<\/p>\n
Plan Your Visit<\/p>\n
The Garden will be open from 10am-4pm, Wednesday to Sunday from the 25th of July to the 30th of August 2026. <\/p>\n
Admission is free, and all works are available for purchase and can be taken home immediately.<\/p>\n
124 Chapel St Marrickville, Sydney, voluptuaryceramics.com\/thegarden<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\tWriter \t\t\t\t\t\tSenior Content Producer\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"Danielle](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/500x500-shopping-42-6a4f31ba62687.png\")
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tDanielle Grover\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n