Iconic sculpture returns to display at SAM, while major exhibition The Shape of Things to Come enters its final days.

Shepparton Art Museum’s (SAM) current major exhibition The Shape of Things to Come will draw to a close on Monday 9 June. Curated by SAM Artistic Director Danny Lacy, the exhibition pairs artworks from the SAM Collection with key loan artworks that explore themes of dystopia and utopia across painting, works on paper, ceramics, and sculpture.

Featuring works by John Perceval, Lin Onus, Penny Byrne, and Bridget Hillebrand, the exhibition borrows its name from a 1933 science fiction novel written by H.G. Wells that imagines an alternative future society. The Shape of Things to Come provides a window into an unknown future where artists investigate ideas of progress, transformation, and adaptation through diverse mediums and bold visions, and marks the first public display of several works since they entered the SAM Collection, including Locust Jones’ sprawling work The Bird Agents, 2007-2008, and German artist Anne Wenzel’s Silent Landscape, 2006-2010. Visitors to SAM will be able to experience this exhibition over the King’s Birthday long weekend before the museum’s Lin Onus Gallery on Level 1 closes for the installation of upcoming exhibition Brett Whiteley: Inside the Studio.

On Level 2 at SAM, a new collection display dedicated to artist Sam Jinks’ renowned 2010 sculpture Woman and Child was recently unveiled. To mark the return of Woman and Child to public display in Shepparton after its last appearance in early 2024, the artwork has been accompanied by archival news reports that chart its journey into the SAM Collection, from its first showing in 2010 to the powerful response it evoked from the Shepparton community, who contributed significant funds over less than two months to support SAM and the Greater Shepparton City Council to acquire the work into the museum’s permanent collection. Visitors to the exhibition can also enjoy a short film that screens alongside the sculpture, which features an intimate interview with artist Sam Jinks that captures him in the studio, reunited with Woman and Child after almost 15 years to perform conservation work on some of the artwork’s materials.

Woman and Child is now on display in Stories from the SAM Collection, located inside The People’s Gallery on SAM’s Level 2. Admission to the exhibition and the museum is free.

ENDS

Image credit: Installation view of Sam Jinks’ Woman and Child, Shepparton Art Museum, 2025. Photo: Shepparton Art Museum

About SAM:

Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) is located on Yorta Yorta Country, Shepparton, Victoria.

As a leading Australian regional art museum, SAM showcases its exhibitions and collections in new and exciting ways, creating a welcoming, inclusive and engaging space for all visitors.

Recognised for its significant Australian ceramics collection and nationally significant collection of Indigenous art, SAM’s programming is designed to be locally relevant and engages with global contemporary ideas. Through its exhibitions, collection, programs and events, SAM creates a place where art helps us to better understand the ancient cultures of this country and contemporary multicultural Australia.

Media enquiries, please contact Mikela Guseli, SAM Communications Officer.

p: (03) 4804 5009 e: mguseli@sheppartonartmuseum.com.au