Gallery 2
28 October - 8 November 2026
Opening Night
30 October | 6 - 8 pm
The exhibition closes at 3 pm on the final day.
STATEMENT
Our Past is Present extends the collective and individual approaches to making, playing and doing of artists Karl Millard, Lynley Traeger and Mark Edgoose, and further deepens their engagement with the tactile object through a long-term commitment to material practice that shapes their ways of working.
Millard, Traeger and Edgoose’s formative years were formed when Melbourne was an Industrial icon, where manufacturers fostered and facilitated their practices through collaboration. Continuing this foundational framework of Melbourne’s Cultural production and Making ethos, Our Past is Present brings together speculative and less structured works that acknowledge their dedication to the metal object and expands on their self-perpetuating investigations, conversations and knowledge to create new manifestations of form and experience within contemporary metal and cultural production.
Mark Edgoose
Mark Edgoose, ‘Untitled’, 2025, titanium, copper, calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide, 200×200×200mm. Photo by Jessica Curry
Mark Edgoose is a Naarm/Melbourne based craftsperson, artist and academic. His work has been shown nationally and internationally in major exhibitions. Curatorial projects, conferences, workshops and making production works adds to his significant contribution to Australian object-making.
Karl Millard
Karl Millard, ‘Pepper Grinder’, 2026, copper, sterling silver, 300×200×60mm Photo by Karl Millard
Karl Millard is an Australian metalsmith who has maintained an independent practice since 1987, he holds a Master of Arts by Research from RMIT University and a Bachelor of Arts from Chisholm Institute of Technology, both specialising in gold and silversmithing. Including residencies and projects in India, Thailand, Italy, and Malaysia.
Lynley Traeger
Fig. 2202 Lynley Traeger, ‘Red square on Golden Circle’, 2025, mild steel, 24ct gold foil, easter egg foil on blackened copper, 80×60×2mm. Photo by Traeger
With over 40 years in contemporary jewellery and object practice, Lynley Traeger designs and hand-makes unique pieces. Studies in Gold and Silversmithing at RMIT, Post Graduate Diploma of Arts in Jewellery and Metals, a Master of Arts by research from Monash University, and a studio in the Nicholas Building for over 25 years, have left an indelible mark on her skills and her place in the community of practice in Melbourne.