Local artist Mollie Edgecombe, exhibits a range of artworks created over a 60-year period.
Following on from her 2024 artist in residence exhibition at MJAC which highlighted an extensive range of portraiture and landscape works, 2025 sees a shift in focus to her skills in fashion illustration, design, screenprinting and advertising.
A curated collection of precious objects, homewares and 2D artforms to imbue our lived environments, with a core focus on WA designers and makers.
Taking inspiration from the iconic landforms and architectural heritage of Midland Junction, invited artists form a shared experience, building the fabric of history and people connected with these places.
Mollie Edgecombe, Study of two heads.
From 30 November, local artist Mollie Edgecombe will be in residence at MJAC exhibiting a range of artworks including portraiture, landscapes and signwriting created over a 60-year period.
Join Mollie as she shares her artistic journey, stories about growing up on her family vineyard, Edgecombe Brothers, in Swan Valley, and her continued passion for environmental advocacy, particularly in preserving the natural environment and unique character of Swan Valley.
Biography:
Mollie Edgecombe was born in 1933 and grew up on the Edgecombe Brothers property, located at the corner of West Swan Road and Gnangara Road in the Swan Valley. She enjoyed living on the vineyard with her siblings and lots of aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins.
She attended West Swan Primary School before moving on to Perth College in Mt Lawley, where she discovered her passion for art, after an Art Teacher noticed her talent. After completing her education, Mollie enrolled at Perth Technical College for a year. Eager to pursue her artistic ambitions, she sought evening work as an usherette to support her studies. However, her mother dissuaded her from this plan, steering Mollie in the direction of earning a wage.
In 1960, Mollie welcomed her daughter, Elisa. With a desire to further her artistic skills, when Elisa was in primary school, she began attending art classes in central Perth guided by the esteemed Polish art teacher Henry Froudist. Over three years, Mollie honed her craft, developing a particular interest in portraiture. At this time, Mollie and Elisa were living in Herne Hill which features in her paintings and drawings. In 1969, Mollie showcased her work in a joint exhibition of charcoal landscape works at Boans Fashion Hall in Perth, alongside fellow Swan Valley artist Betty Barrett-Lennard.
In 2000, Mollie gained national recognition when her face was featured in the "Faces of Australia" stamp collection. Photographer Katie described Mollie as an "honest Aussie battler" and "the best mate anyone could have." The accompanying text noted her upbringing as a "depression baby," living in a home in the Swan Valley without running water or electricity, highlighting her resilience.
Mollie has always been passionate about the natural world and co-authored two books: The Vanishing Heritage of the Swan Valley (2000) with Janette Gathe and Bevan Carter; and Robert Brown, Botanist with Matthew Flinders (2001) featuring flora from Albany area.
Her commitment to preserving the environment is also evident in her tireless work to save the lake on the Edgecombe Brothers property, now known as Lake Yakine, which means "Turtle dreaming" in Noongar language. Mollie designed labels for the winery’s bottles featuring this turtle and created the landmark sculpture "The Big Bunch of Grapes" for the café on the family property.
Today, Mollie resides in Forrestfield, where she finds joy in her garden, her personal haven. Throughout her life, she has remained a devoted supporter of her large family and the Edgecombe Brothers property and has left a lasting impact on her community through her art and environmental advocacy.
Previous image: Mollie Edgecombe, Woman in yellow flower dress (detail), c 1960.
WA artists interrogate and reinvent their traditional disciplines to create carefully crafted artists’ books that unfold their connections to land, humanity and place.
Coincident investigates the connection between objects and images, drawing on the histories of craft and art.
Eminent West Australian ceramist Bernard Kerr’s fourth solo show explores how ceramic objects are displayed, represented, perceived, and used in Western culture. This exhibition aims to shape conversations around the puzzling phenomenological relationship between our interactions with, and perceptions of, objects and images. In this case, between hand -crafted ceramic objects and still life paintings.
Juxtaposing functional ceramic and trompe l’oeil objects with representational artworks, Coincident examines how functional ceramic objects, bounded by domesticity and ideas about craft, are camouflaged by our privileging of images and take on different meanings when presented as sculptural groups or images.
Carrying two perspectives, and presenting a bonded conversation between works, this time-capsule exhibition by mother and son covers the feelings, emotions and expressions related to the fleeting nature of childhood and the ensuing presence of parenthood, nurtured in a home set amongst the creative arts in the Perth hills.
Annually, young artists are asked to respond to a theme created by the Hyper team for City of Swan. This year they explore their interpretation of the word ‘Sweet’. Whether it is a fascination with sugary goods, emotive expressions, or 00’s slang, their unique perspectives cover photography, sculpture, traditional media, fashion/jewellery, short film, and experimental media.
stitched and bound, presented by the Western Australian Quilters Association, showcases the innovative range of current work being produced by Western Australian textile artists. This juried contemporary quilting exhibition features work that challenges the usual concept of the quilt medium, with artists focusing on making personal statements through the use of unconventional materials, techniques and ideas.
An artist-in-residence programme is offered in parallel with the exhibition.
CURATED BY SAMARA KING
Re.Collection celebrates the endurance of Aboriginal art and culture, exploring how archival photographs can be reclaimed and utilised as a connection to First Nations history and experiences. Historic Western Australian photographs feature Aboriginal life from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and build upon the ‘Returning Photos’ research project. New and existing works by First Nation artists Dianne Jones, Jarnda Councillor-Barns and Katie West respond to and reimagine archival photographs, sharing an insight into the active and timeless creation of First Nations art and culture.
Did you know that Midland Junction Arts Centre is managed by Mundaring Arts Centre (MAC)? If you are looking for even more arts and cultural experiences in the region visit the MAC website for details.
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