Sculpture at Bathers is building on a decade-plus legacy since beginning in 2013, rebranded and expanded as Sculpture West, a WA arts organisation championing sculpture practice Statewide.

“It got to a point where we realised there was a lot more demand for support for 3D and sculptural artists, apart from just a Fremantle-based exhibition every three years,” Sculpture West artistic director Sandra Murray says.

“We want to fill that void and become a landmark organisation Statewide for supporting sculpture . . . We’ve got great plans to be a year-round service organisation, as well as a presentation organisation, which means we put on exhibitions.

“We’re also looking at going out into the regions because there’s clearly a demand for support from regional sculptors. We did a large survey earlier in the year, and that was one of the things, that everything shouldn’t be metropolitan-based.”

Sculpture West will mark its official launch with Splash!, an indoor free exhibition transforming a West Perth industrial building into a group sculpture showcase, featuring more than 40 artists from Perth, the Wheatbelt, the South West and the South Coast of WA.

“We’re making a splash with a celebration of sculpture from our place and time,” says Murray, who is a Splash! co-curator with Aimee Dodds.

“It’s an intergenerational mix of professional contemporary artists, and we have emerging sculptors accompanying established with longstanding figures such as Tony Jones, the founder of Sculpture at Bathers, who was a major force as a teacher.

“So we have sculptors from teaching institutions installed amidst some of their former students, who have gone on to be very well-known sculptors in their own right. Then there’s also some self-taught artists and some who’ve come to their artistic careers later in life.”

One of the primary drivers for the exhibition’s co-curation came from Murray and Dodds’ consideration of sculptors who had previously exhibited multiple times at Sculpture at Bathers.

“We wanted to support those artists but then we also wanted to open it up to other artists who we thought were worthy to be included, so that’s why it’s a mixture of some very familiar names such as Stuart Elliott, Susan Flavell, Paul Kaptein, Tony Jones, with newer names who are still making a mark for themselves,” Murray says.

Gabby Testaferrata Olivier is among the exhibiting artists after her involvement in Sculpture at Bathers 2025, when she won the emerging artist award.

The sculptor uses the Cleaver Street building as her studio. It is the former site of Stala Contemporary, which gallery owner Sherri Staltari has moved to a new location in West Leederville.

“That building is part of the Pickle District, which is marked for redevelopment, and Gabby was fortunate to get it as a studio in the interim,” Murray shares.

“She’s kindly offered us the space. It’s not easy to find a fantastic indoor space, so we’re very fortunate to have it.”

Testaferrata Olivier’s Splash! sculpture spells the word “Strive”, which the multidisciplinary artist — who also has a background in fashion design — made from Raku clay and aluminium.

Murray says all participating artists are thrilled to be involved in Sculpture West’s launch exhibition showcasing 3D works in abstract, figurative, kinetic, ceramic, cast and modelled forms.

“It’s rare that you find a group exhibition for sculpture indoors of this scale, of this number of artists, so it’s quite significant for them,” Murray adds.

“We’ll be doing more exciting shows over the next few years.”

Splash! is at 12 Cleaver Street, West Perth, 11am-5pm, Thursdays to Sundays, August 20 to 30.

A free talk with artists and curators will be held at 3pm, August 30.