About public art in Casey
Our residents come from a variety of cultural backgrounds, faiths and speak numerous languages, we believe that public art has a vital role to play in celebrating our diverse communities, rich cultural heritage, and vibrant urban and natural environments. Public art brings creativity into everyday places—sparking conversations, inspiring reflection, and enhancing our shared spaces.
Public art belongs to everyone, which is why we work closely with artists, residents, and partners to commission works that reflect Casey’s communities, their values, and aspirations. Whether you're exploring a local park, visiting a civic building, or walking through a town centre, you’ll find public art that invites connection, curiosity, and pride.
City of Casey is committed to developing and delivering high-quality public artworks across the municipality - with more than 250 public art projects across the City of Casey, the chances are there will be local artwork near you.
Join our Artist Database
City of Casey is inviting artists who may wish to be considered for future public art opportunities to submit their details to our Public Art - Artist Database.
This invitation is open to artists from across Australia, but we would especially encourage artists who live, work, study, or base their art practice in Casey, to submit. Previous public art experience is not necessary.
Email publicart@casey.vic.gov.au with the following information:
- A short biography and CV (maximum three pages).
- A brief description of your current artistic practice and why Council’s public art program is interest to you (maximum 500 words).
- A portfolio of artworks, including any public art commissions (maximum 15 images) labelled as Artists name, Artwork title, Location, Gallery and Date. The images much be sent individually and can emailed as attachments or via a file share link without password requirements. PDFs will not be accepted.
- The names of two referees, preferably from a previous client, commissioner or curator related to a previous public art commission.
Public art commissioning guidance
City of Casey is keen to encourage best practice in commissioning of public artworks. With this in mind, we have developed the following guidelines.
- Public Art Policy
- Guid to Public Art Commissioning
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Public Art Commissioning Guidelines
Collection highlights
- Untitled by George Rose
This mural uses botanicals as a shared visual language to celebrate the cultural diversity of Narre Warren. Six flowers, each associated with a country represented within the community, are woven together in Rose's signature palette of bold colour and gestural form. Afghanistan: Tulip. Australia: Gum inflorescence. China: Plum Blossom. England: Tudor Rose. India: Lotus. Sri Lanka: Blue Water Lily. In bringing these plants together on a single wall, the work honours the many communities who call Narre Warren home and the deep connections between culture, country and the natural world.
George Rose is a muralist and one of Australia's foremost large-scale street artists, recognised for her vibrant, botanically driven work that transforms building facades into canvases for endangered flora and fauna. Trained at the ANU School of Art, she has completed commissions for international institutions and brands, from the STRAAT Museum in Amsterdam to Instagram and TikTok and regularly participates in the global mural festival circuit. Her accolades include multiple Resene Total Colour Awards and the Best Mural title at the Street Art Australia Prize in 2019.
- Samphire by Jade Oakley
- 2019. Thermoformed acrylic, stainless steel
- Manna Gum Family and Community Centre, 2–16 Calgary Way
- jadeoakley.com.au/
Suspended in the entrance of the Manna Gum Family and Community Centre Pavilion, Samphire is a hanging mobile composed of curved acrylic leaves strung along interconnected aluminium wire chains in four cascading tendrils, spanning two metres wide and four metres high. Inspired by the colours and forms of the samphire plant growing in the nearby saltmarsh estuaries of the Northwestern Port Nature Conservation Reserve, the work hangs in a delicate, shifting balance. All its parts come together in harmony, representing a connection with the natural environment and reflecting the role of the centre as a connector within its community.
Jade Oakley is a sculptor widely acclaimed for her large-scale kinetic mobile sculptures, delicate hanging forms that transform solid materials into something light and ethereal. Holding a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours in Sculpture from the College of Fine Arts, she has completed major public commissions for the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, Crown Casino, the ACT Law Courts in Canberra, and the National Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei, among others. Oakley's practice is guided by a belief that public sculpture should have a strong thematic relationship with the natural or cultural history of its setting.
- The Ovals
- Sculpture
- Pearcedale Recreation Reserve, Pearcedale
- Casey Fields (Ovals 4 and 5), Cranbourne East
- Robert Booth Recreation Reserve, Hampton Park
The Ovals is a series of three connected sculptural works sited across the City of Casey, inviting visitors and locals to venture across the municipality. Each piece originated from a series of hand-drawn impressions made at its location by Jonathan Thompson, a lover of AFL football, capturing the fluid movement and spirit of the game as well as the broader connections, diversity and collective energy that these community spaces generate. As the artists describe, "the idea behind these works centres around the oval, the big patch of green where all the action happens, where stars are born, friendships forged, and communities come together." Together, the three works form a connected celebration of sport, place and community life.
Jonathan Thompson is an artist with over 20 years of experience working across sculpture, drawing and mixed media. His work draws inspiration from everyday domestic life, human interaction and popular culture, and has found strong support through commercial galleries, awards and private collectors.
Mark Cuthbertson is an artist and designer with extensive experience in public art, ephemeral constructed forms and large-scale community projects for local councils and festivals. He also regularly collaborates with Back to Back Theatre and brings a playful yet challenging commentary on society to his sculptural practice.
- Billy Buttons by Matthew Harding
- Stainless steel and aluminium
- Bloom Residential Estate, Clyde North
Billy Buttons is a sculptural gateway feature standing over five metres high at the entrance to Bloom Estate in Clyde North. Comprising twelve individual elements, the work depicts the Billy Button, a cheerful native wildflower known for its bright spherical golden blooms, taking its inspiration directly from the name of the estate itself. The sculptures bring a sense of local botanical identity and colour to the streetscape, creating a distinctive landmark that announces arrival into the community.
Matthew Harding (1964–2018) was an internationally recognised Australian artist and designer engaged in a diverse practice spanning sculpture, public art and furniture design. Working from his studio in the Central Highlands of Victoria, he produced over 50 major public works across Australia and abroad, with works held in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, the Boston Museum of Fine Art and The Royal Collection, England. He was the recipient of the McClelland Sculpture Survey Award (2014), the Helen Lempriere Scholarship at Sculpture by the Sea (2010), and a Churchill Fellowship (1998).
- The New Bloom by Matthew Harding
- Stainless steel and aluminium
- Bloom Residential Estate, Laker Boulevard
The New Bloom is a freestanding sculptural gateway feature standing up to four metres in height at the entrance to the Bloom Estate on Laker Boulevard. Taking the form of an abstract spherical seed pod fabricated from stainless steel and cast aluminium, the work draws on the botanical identity of the estate to create a striking and welcoming landmark. Its organic, rounded form evokes the energy of growth and new beginnings; a fitting presence at the threshold of a residential community.
Matthew Harding (1964–2018) was an internationally recognised Australian artist and designer engaged in a diverse practice spanning sculpture, public art and furniture design. Working from his studio in the Central Highlands of Victoria, he produced over 50 major public works across Australia and abroad, with works held in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, the Boston Museum of Fine Art and The Royal Collection, England. He was the recipient of the McClelland Sculpture Survey Award (2014), the Helen Lempriere Scholarship at Sculpture by the Sea (2010), and a Churchill Fellowship (1998).
- Crowned by Melinda Schawel
- Laser cut and sandblasted stainless steel
- Cranbourne West Community Hub, Cranbourne
- melindaschawel.com
Crowned is a custom-designed metal tree grille enfolding a street tree in the forecourt of the Cranbourne West Community Hub. The work continues Melinda Schawel's ongoing exploration into the resilience of fragile ecosystems, environments under threat from both natural and human-made forces, yet still capable of flourishing under the harshest of conditions. Crowned draws its specific inspiration from snorkelling in the Whitsundays and references the devastating impact of the Crown of Thorns starfish on the corals of the Great Barrier Reef. In transforming a functional piece of street furniture into a work of art, Schawel invites quiet reflection on the natural world within the everyday rhythms of community life.
Melinda Schawel holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of California Santa Barbara and a Postgraduate Degree in Printmaking from RMIT. Her practice spans paper, metal, wood and clay, and her work is held in major collections including the National Gallery of Australia, Artbank, the Royal Museum of Fine Art in Antwerp, and the Whitehorse Art Collection. The City of Casey's Crowned commission in 2020 was her first integrated public artwork.
- Block Stack by Mike Hewson
Block Stack is a monumental stack of heavy-duty pavers on pallets housing an internal irrigation system that sustains a grass tree (Xanthorrhoea australis) planted and secured at its summit. At once functional and poetic, the work fuses Hewson's backgrounds in structural engineering and conceptual art, presenting an everyday construction material, the humble paver, in an unexpected configuration that prompts fresh thought about public space, landscape and the presence of nature within the built environment.
Mike Hewson is an award-winning artist based in Sydney, whose practice merges conceptual art, structural engineering and heavy-civil construction to create sensibly strange and risk-positive interventions in the public realm. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) from the University of Canterbury and a Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University, New York. His public commissions across Australia include Rocks on Wheels at Southbank Melbourne, Pockets Park in Leichhardt Sydney, and St Peters Fences in St Peters Sydney.
- Fountain Gate by Robin Boyd (1967)
- Galvanised steel tubing
- Corner Tinks Road & Princes Highway, Fountain Gate Estate entrance
The Fountain Gate sculpture marks the entrance to the Fountain Gate Housing Estate, one of Melbourne's most innovative planned residential developments of the 1960s. Designed by Boyd in conjunction with developer Isador Magid, the estate was laid out on Radburn principles, separating pedestrians and vehicles through cul-de-sac entries and green spines, with the fountain serving as a landmark gateway to the community. The structure is heritage-listed and stands as a rare surviving example of mid-century integrated design thinking, where architecture, landscape and public art were conceived as a unified whole.
Robin Boyd CBE (1919–1971) was one of Australia's most influential and celebrated architects, writers and social commentators, and a leading proponent of the International Modern Movement in Australian architecture. He is widely known for his innovative residential designs and for his landmark book The Australian Ugliness (1960), a critique of Australian suburban architecture that remains influential today. Boyd received the Royal Australian Institute of Architects Gold Medal in 1969, and the national residential architecture prize has been awarded in his name annually since 1981.
- Untitled by Sam Songailo
.png)
- Painted concrete (epoxy-modified acrylic paint)
- Ray Bastin Reserve, Narre Warren
- songailo.net
This site-specific work spans three locations across Ray Bastin Reserve, drawing on imagery from the world of space exploration to animate each space with its own visual identity. The reserve entrance is designed around a diagram of a black hole, drawing visitors in toward the heart of the site, while the playground takes inspiration from solar system diagrams to create an immersive environment for children. The skatepark draws on representations of spacecraft and alien technology from science fiction, providing a dynamic backdrop for skaters and the film and photography culture that surrounds the sport. Rooted in Songailo's practice of deconstructing patterns, symbols and environmental markings and reassembling them in unconventional ways, the work creates distinct interactions and experiences across each space.
Sam Songailo is a multidisciplinary artist whose work spans painting, installation, video, sound and sculpture, deeply influenced by digital technology, electronic music and science fiction. He studied Visual Communication at the University of South Australia and has since delivered public art commissions across Australia, with works held in the collections of Artbank, Monash University and Flinders University, among others. His practice is guided by a belief that public space functions like a gallery; a blank canvas that gains meaning through the presence of art.
- Within the Assembly of the Lotus there are no differences by Sangeeta Sandrasegar
- Fibreglass and LED lighting
- Clyde Active Open Space
- sangeetasandrasegar.com.au
Drawing upon Buddhist stone lanterns that have become a common garden feature across Australia, the familiar form relates to the diverse cultural communities of the City of the Casey. Bringing illumination and focus to the wide array of histories and geographies that inhabit the city, the lantern develops a relationship with the landscaping of the park and signals towards the various areas located within the reserve. The head of the lantern is based upon the antechinus, a native marsupial local of the area. As dusk draws the nocturnal creature lights the entry to Clyde Recreation Reserve.
Sangeeta Sandrasegar is a Melbourne-based artist born of Malaysian and Australian heritage, whose research-based practice explores postcolonial identity, hybridity and the power of shadow as a visual and symbolic motif. She holds a PhD from the Victorian College of the Arts and has exhibited nationally and internationally, with works in the collections of the National Gallery of Victoria, the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, ArtBank and the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Her major public commissions include works for the MCA's Loti Smorgon Sculptural Terrace in Sydney, the Barangaroo Sculpture Walk, the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, and an installation for the Atrium of Federation Square, Melbourne.
Upcoming artworks
- Hop, Skip, Jump by Abdul-Rahman Abdullah & Anna Louise Richardson
City of Casey is proud to present Hop, Skip, Jump, a new sculptural installation by artists Abdul-Rahman Abdullah and Anna Louise Richardson, soon to be installed at the entrance to Hardys Road Family and Community Centre. The work comprises three large-scale aluminium birds celebrating native species found in the City of Casey: the spotted pardalote, silvereye and superb fairy-wren. Developed from paper collages made by the artists' own children, the sculptures are scaled to a child's height and finished in bold, vibrant colour; offering a joyful and welcoming presence at a place designed for care, connection and community.
- Playstack by Jess Lowther AKA Hoffy
Ballarto Road Family and Community Centre
Playstack brings together a collection of bold, colourful and tactile abstract forms in a playful, balanced composition. Inspired by the process of collage, the work reflects the vibrant diversity of the Clyde community, where different cultures and stories come together to form something greater than their parts. Smooth, rounded shapes in an uplifting palette invite visitors of all ages to get up close, explore the textures and find a moment of joy in their everyday surroundings.
Jess Lowther AKA Hoffy, is a multidisciplinary artist and designer. Her practice spans painting, digital illustration, collage and large-scale murals, driven by a love of colour, pattern and the natural world. With a background in graphic design, she deconstructs everyday observations into abstracted organic forms, creating bold and playful works that have been applied across public art, prints, homewares and textiles.