DrawnOut, the exhibition
The Outside Gallery, Paine Reserve Newport
April - October 2025
‘DrawnOut’ by Lindsay Douglas the exhibition, explores the built environment of Melbourne’s inner west. His hand drawn and meticulously planned images unearth often unnoticed details of our built environment revealing local places and suburban beauty, in graphic detail.
As an architect and artist, Lindsay finds the western suburbs a rich source of inspiration. He has an in-depth awareness of the role he plays in shaping the suburban form and an interest in examining the historical footprint and evolution of the built form in Melbourne’s inner west.
To create his art, Lindsay meticulously places thousands of dots onto the page with an architect’s technical pen in a technique known as stippling. His delicate imagery can be scaled down … or as for this exhibition, up.
Lindsay’s works are typically in black and white, printed on watercolour stock and mounted within black frames. Adding colour specifically for this exhibition has opened new opportunities and Lindsay now looks to incorporate more colour in the development of his artistic practices.
The Outside Gallery is a public art installation of 11 lightboxes in Paine Reserve Newport Victoria. The launch was held on April 24th at the Newport Bowls Club (opposite The Outside Gallery).
The DrawnOut by Lindsay Douglas exhibition for Heritage Hobsons Bay is presented as part of the Australian Heritage Festival 2025 and can be viewed every day until October 2025 … these works will be illuminated every night once the sun sets.
Read on for Lindsay’s artwork statements …
Thank you to Art and Industry Projects and Hobsons Bay City Council for the opportunity to be involved.
Mason (01)
The unearthing of unexpected viewpoints frames much of my work, as is the case with this drawing above the roofline in Mason Street Newport.
There is something uniquely suburban about power lines and the way the cables drape between the poles, are they framing your view or are they so ubiquitous that you don’t even notice them anymore?
The heritage nature of the background buildings give the cables a delicate lacelike appearance, modern buildings in the background would give a different experience altogether.
Ballarat (03)
Ornate buildings built for banks were once the cornerstone of suburban shopping villages. They were buildings of importance, signifying important functions and standing in our communities.
Those days are now long gone, and it is becoming harder than ever to find your local branch. This former State Savings Bank of Victoria on Ballarat Street Yarraville has had a second, third and fourth life in retail and hospitality.
Look up (the catch-cry of many architects) the beauty of the frieze, the brickwork, the lead-lighting … all missed if you forget to look up.
Memorials
A walk through the Williamstown Cemetery reveals many stories, new and old, it holds much information about the history of Williamstown.
Uneven ground, weathered stone, mass graves and my own family’s history going back six generations. Adding to the atmosphere are the monuments that are scattered throughout the cemetery.
‘Memorials’ captures the beauty of these stone monuments whilst also reflecting their fragility, a missing hand, missing fingers, weather worn stone covered in moss.
‘Memorials’ tells it’s own story of remembrance, sorrow and protection.
Sun Theatre
The Sun Theatre is loved in the West and holds the ultimate story of redemption. Opening in the late 1930s it was the most popular ticket in town until its popularity dwindled over the 50s and 60s.
In the 70s it was revitalised for a short time, screening Greek language movies and in the 80s it fell under great disrepair. This is where my memories of the Sun start, a derelict and abandoned Art Deco beauty.
In the late 90s the building is restored and the neon sun is turned back on with great fanfare. The community got their wish, the cinemas were reopened and The Sun Film Society was born.
The Sun Theatre is now a beacon of the inner west, immediately identifiable to all who live this (the best) side of the Westgate.
Gem Pier (02)
Williamstown is our historical seaport on a peninsula and much of what we love about Williamstown is based around water.
I love to observe the layering of water activities from viewpoints around the bay, this drawing captures the fishing boats in the foreground, sail boats moored in the midground and the docks with containers and cranes in the background.
On other days you might see kayakers enjoying the bay, tugboats guiding a container ship or the odd seal catching the sun on a buoy.
Laverton
Streetscapes within our communities focus on the facade of buildings, but what happens in the in-between spaces?
Our homes are our sanctuary, but our neighbour’s sanctuary is often at most only a metre away, particularly within our heritage suburbs.
This space between two homes is sometimes shared by two neighbours, sometimes it simply hides the mundane things our narrow homes need access to in our front yards.
I love to capture the edge of two homes and their in-between spaces.
Tramyard
Trams in Williamstown … kind of.
The Newport Railway Workshops located between Williamstown and Newport the workshops are full of interesting and diverse buildings that house rail restoration projects.
So many projects that there is some overflow, like these W-Class Trams awaiting attention in an overgrown paddock behind the workshops.
I felt drawn to these trams as a composition and to the irony of trams in Williamstown where we have no tram line.
English Scottish Australian Bank
This former English, Scottish and Australian Bank building is located on Nelson place and was Williamstown’s first purpose built bank.
It is a striking building on the streetscape as the only Gothic Revival building on Nelson Place.
This drawing captures the transitional edge from the Italian Renaissance Revival building on the left and the Gothic Revival building on the right, highlighting the contrasting architectural styles with arched verses gothic windows, stucco verses face brickwork facades.
Two buildings where the contrasting styles allow the beauty of the adjacent building to feature.
Apex
The Apex Belting neon sign was Melbourne’s oldest continuously operating neon sign until it was sadly destroyed in a 2021 stormfront.
Perhaps not as famous as Richmond’s ‘Skipping Girl’ neon, it was a beacon of the inner west in Footscray and a marker I would often go out of my way to drive past.
I love the way it is a seamless continuation of the architecture of the Apex Belting factory and how it looked just as good in black and white as it did in it’s full neon brilliance.
Bar Bar
Transitional edges are a constant theme in my work, this drawing captures the transition between two buildings on Nelsons Place Williamstown built in the boom period of the late nineteenth century in two different architectural styles.
On the left a Renaissance Revival building, and on the right the former Williamstown Advertiser building in a Classical Revival style with a frieze depicting the introduction of printing to England by William Caxton.
I love to unearth contrasting historical building styles that are not noticed at the retail level, styles only appreciated when looking up.
Pump Station (02)
Built in the Late French Empire style, the Spotswood Pumping Station (now known as ScienceWorks) is a remarkable structure that is styled to celebrate the forecasted industrial success of Melbourne’s first centralised sewerage system.
A beautiful building supporting the not so beautiful function of moving millions of litres of sewerage.
I am taken by this viewpoint, the wrought iron fence in the foreground and the brick structure in the background, it looks like it could be located in any European major city.