Sturt Permanent Collection

A collection of national significance

Since the early 1950s, Sturt has developed and maintained a rich collection of Australian post-war contemporary art and craft.

Many visiting artists who come to live, work and teach at Sturt have contributed pieces to the collection. Uniquely, almost everything in the collection was made in our own studios and workshops.

Thanks to a Community Heritage Grant from the National Library of Australia, the Sturt Collection underwent a Significance Assessment Report in 2011 by curator, Grace Cochrane. The Report found the collection to be of national significance, and one of the most important in Australian contemporary craft held outside of our national institutions.

The Sturt collection houses nearly 800 objects of ceramics, woodwork, jewellery, small metalwork, textiles, glass, basketry, photographs and artwork on paper. This includes significant industrial machinery used here (and still used today) in craft-making, as well as kilns, looms, spinning wheels, potter’s wheels and workbenches.    

Thanks to funding from the National Library of Australia, the Sturt collection was again the subject of a Preservation Needs Assessment in 2012.

Part of our collection is on permanent display in Sturt Cottage and the Frensham Schools Archive building, located on the Sturt campus. You can view this by arrangement, or on selected public open dates (including every Sturt exhibition opening) during the year.

To discover more, contact Sturt on +61 2 4860 2083.