Ellis House Art Centre

Ellis House Art Centre: A Contemporary Gallery in Bayswater, Western Australia

Ellis House Art Centre is a vibrant community-focused art gallery situated in Bayswater, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Located at 116 Milne Street, the centre serves as a dynamic hub for contemporary visual art, artist development, and creative learning. Operating from Thursday through Sunday with extended weekend hours, Ellis House welcomes visitors to explore exhibitions showcasing a diverse range of artistic practices, from figurative works and portraiture to contemporary still life and mixed media pieces. The gallery's welcoming approach combines professional exhibition programming with an accessible, community-oriented atmosphere that encourages both seasoned art enthusiasts and newcomers to engage with contemporary Australian art.

The space functions as more than a passive viewing venue; it actively fosters artistic practice and cultural participation across the Bayswater neighbourhood and broader Perth metropolitan area. Through its carefully curated exhibitions, teaching programs, and artist membership options, Ellis House Art Centre demonstrates a commitment to making contemporary art integral to community life rather than exclusive to specialist audiences.

Exhibition Program and Featured Artists

Ellis House Art Centre maintains a regular exhibition schedule that showcases both established and emerging artists working in contemporary, figurative, and representational styles. Recent programming highlights the gallery's strength in portraiture and observational painting; for instance, upcoming exhibitions feature artists such as Karen Hannelly and Michelle Campbell, whose work in oil on canvas and mixed media demonstrates the centre's commitment to figurative traditions rendered through contemporary sensibilities. The Collage Group exhibition, running into June 2026, exemplifies the gallery's openness to experimental approaches within traditional mediums, whilst earlier featured works—including Alba Cinquini's watercolour studies and Marilyn Davis Moore's mixed-media pieces—reveal the breadth of techniques and subjects the centre promotes.

Exhibition openings are held on Sunday afternoons, creating accessible social occasions that encourage community attendance and conversation around the work on display. This programming strategy reflects an understanding that contemporary art thrives when experienced collectively, and it positions Ellis House as a venue where viewing art becomes a shared, unhurried social experience rather than a rushed transaction.

Active Learning and Artist Development Programs

Beyond its exhibition offerings, Ellis House Art Centre operates an extensive teaching program designed to support artists at all levels. The centre offers regular weekly classes spanning a range of disciplines: Long Pose Portrait Drawing and Painting, Long Pose Life Studies, Still Life Drawing and Painting, and Saturday morning sessions in painting with various mediums. This pedagogical structure—built around foundational observational practice—reflects a serious commitment to teaching method and technical skill development. The Tuesday Social Painting sessions provide a more informal, exploratory context, whilst intensive workshop weeks held four times annually across February, May, August, and November allow for deeper practice and specialist focus.

The teaching program serves a dual purpose: it sustains the centre's operational vitality through participant fees and membership, and it creates a pipeline of practising artists whose work feeds into the gallery's exhibition program. This integration of education and exhibition reflects best practice in contemporary art centre management, where teaching and curatorial practice reinforce one another.

A Community-Centred Approach to Contemporary Art

What distinguishes Ellis House Art Centre within Perth's visual arts landscape is its explicit positioning as a 'community art centre' rather than an exclusive gallery institution. The centre actively invites membership participation, suggesting that visitors and learners become stakeholders in the venue's ongoing mission. The inclusion of an Artists directory indicates that the centre actively supports professional development and visibility for its community of practitioners, whilst maintaining a professional curatorial standard for what appears on its walls. This model reflects a growing recognition that sustainable, locally rooted cultural institutions balance public access with artistic rigour.

The venue's physical location on Milne Street in Bayswater places it within an accessible suburban context, avoiding the gatekeeping associations sometimes attached to inner-city galleries. Weekend opening hours from 10am to 5pm, and weekday afternoons from 10am to 4pm, accommodate the schedules of working artists and adult learners who form the centre's core constituency.

Plan Your Visit to Ellis House Art Centre

Ellis House Art Centre is open Thursday and Friday from 10am to 4pm, and Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 5pm, making it easy to incorporate a gallery visit into a weekend outing around Bayswater or Perth's eastern suburbs. The centre is located at 116 Milne Street, Bayswater, WA 6053. Visitors interested in current exhibitions can check the gallery's website for detailed information on featured artists and opening events, which typically occur on Sunday afternoons and provide an ideal opportunity to meet artists and engage in conversation about their work.

For those drawn to hands-on creative engagement, Ellis House offers an accessible entry point into structured art practice. Whether you're interested in portrait drawing, still life painting, or exploring contemporary mixed media, the centre's class schedule provides regular opportunities to develop skills in a supportive community setting. Prospective visitors can also subscribe to the gallery's mailing list to stay informed about upcoming exhibitions and events, ensuring you don't miss significant programming.