On Saturday SEPTEMBER 27 from 11am, please join us at King Street Gallery on William for an informal exhibition tour with needle lace artist, Maggie Hensel-Brown through her inaugural exhibition with us, Jetsam.

KSGoW would like to invite you to walk with Maggie Hensel-Brown through her upcoming exhibition Jetsam on Saturday 27 September for an informal exhibition tour and artist talk. Please join us at the gallery from 11am. As this is a complimentary, ticketed event, registrations are essential.

Maggie Hensel-Brown is an Australian artist working predominantly in needle lace techniques. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Newcastle in 2014.

In 2015, Hensel-Brown took a class in Reticella at the annual general conference of the Australian Lace Guild. Since then her practice has been dedicated entirely to lace making. She has travelled and studied needle lace in England, Italy, the United States, the Netherlands, and all around Australia.

Her lace takes techniques from various needle traditions to create contemporary imagery. Each piece of needle lace has been made individually, over a period of months of methodical and meditative stitching. Maggie Hensel-Brown’s works respond to a long history of storytelling in needle lace. While most historical lace pieces tell grand biblical tales, or stories about royal lore, these laces illustrate quiet, contemporary moments of frustration, boredom and bliss.

Her works have been exhibited widely throughout Australia and the United States. Most notably in the Lace, Not Lace exhibition at the Hunterdon Art Museum, New Jersey USA, Seeing Red at the Lockup Gallery NSW, Home is more than a Place, Hamilton Gallery VIC, and the Tamworth Textile Triennial in September 2023. Her works feature in the collections of the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney NSW, and The Denver Art Museum in Denver Colorado.

KSGoW has represented Maggie since 2024 and we're delighted to present Maggie's inaugural exhibition with us, Jetsam, from Wednesday September 23. Her exhibition will be on display in conjunction with Twenty, by John Bokor. Refreshments will be provided on arrival, and we look forward to joining Maggie for a walk through her exhibition. [Both exhibitions are on display until October 18].

If you require accessibility accommodations or a visitor assistance please contact King Street Gallery staff via email: art@kingstreetgallery.com, or phone: 02 9360 9727. This event may be recorded.

🔔When: Saturday, SEPTEMBER 27

📅 Time: 11am to 12pm, noon

📍Where: King Street Gallery on William, located 177-185 William Street, Darlinghurst.

“Needle-making is a process about time. There are centuries of lacemakers, passing skills from hand to hand across generations. There are years of my own practice and training and refining the technique. Then there are months spent crafting each peace, days of meditative stitching, hours of care and attention and labour in each square centimetre.
When I think about where all of that time is going, I like choosing to dedicate it to small, ordinary objects and moments. The scattered, crumpled detritus of every day. I want to take those moments and those objects and give them life.” – Maggie Hensel-Brown
Excerpt from interview by Althea Kuzman
Art Collector, Issue 113, 2025.

Image: [detail] Maggie Hensel-Brown in her Melbourne studio, Photograph courtesy of Michael O'Rourke, 2024.