Cottesloe’s sculptures: a local guide

For a few weeks around March each year, sculptures appear across the sand, grass and foreshore from the sea wall towards North Cottesloe Beach. Large works stand against the Indian Ocean, unexpected shapes emerge from the sand and a beach walk becomes a chance to see art up close.

Entry is free, with donations welcome. Changing light and shadows give the works a different look throughout the day.

Sculpture by the Sea first came to Cottesloe in 2005. The next exhibition is confirmed for 5-22 March 2027, when Cott will once again become a giant temporary sculpture park.

Sculpture by the Sea: Cottesloe

But you don't have to wait until March to go sculpture hunting in Cott.

Some of the sculptures never leave

Over the years, the Town of Cottesloe has acquired or been gifted 25+ works from previous Sculpture by the Sea exhibitions.

And they're not all lined up neatly on Marine Parade.

Some are beside the ocean. Some are in parks. Some appear beside ordinary streets. Others sit near the railway, Cottesloe Civic Centre and grounds or tucked into parts of Cott you might otherwise pass without a second look.

The sculptures stretch from Grant Street and North Cott through central Cottesloe and down towards the southern end of the Town.

Walking or riding lets you explore the collection a few works at a time.

You can find out more about each sculpture and its address on our Local Finds page here Local Finds sculptures

For locations, use the Town of Cottesloe: Sculpture trail map (PDF)

Where to start?

Use the map to find a work near you, then see what else is along your route.

The Sun Dial

One Cott landmark deserves to be part of the outing even though it isn't one of the 25 numbered works on the Town's Sculpture Trail map.

Just south of Cottesloe Beach, near Mudurup Rocks and the Cottesloe Surf Life Saving Club, is the Cottesloe Sundial.

It's a wonderful bit of public art and landscape architecture in its own right - large stone planes and a curved metal element framing the sky and ocean.

And yes, it actually tells you the time.

Town of Cottesloe: Sun Dial

Some works are worth seeking out

Lucky Country: Norton Flavel

One of the standouts is Lucky Country by WA artist Norton Flavel.

Originally exhibited at Sculpture by the Sea, the huge work pairs a polished floating sphere with a shackle and chain.

Flavel described the idea in terms of the competing positives and negatives of the Australian psyche - which makes the beautiful mirrored ball and enormous restraint underneath it suddenly feel rather less decorative.

It's sculpture that works particularly well when you discover it unexpectedly.

Home is Where the Heart is: Jimmy Rix

Then there's Jimmy Rix's Home is Where the Heart is.

It's one of those pieces where the title starts doing some of the work before you've even properly looked at it.

A kangaroo, a house and a heart come together in Rix's recognisable steel work.

It appeared at Sculpture by the Sea in 2017.

Pause: April Pine

Head south towards Dutch Inn Beach and playground and look out for Pause by April Pine.

It's appropriately placed for a part of Cott that's particularly good for doing exactly that.

Beach. Reef. Grass. Playground. Sculpture.

Pause for a while, then keep moving.

Riding? This is even easier

A bike makes the full collection much more achievable.

The works aren't confined to the coast, so riding lets you jump between the foreshore, railway side, Cottesloe Civic Centre and grounds, local streets and South Cott without every diversion becoming another twenty-minute walk.

The Town's sculpture map helps you choose which works to connect on your ride.

And on shared paths, slow down around people walking - particularly along the busy foreshore.

If you're coming from farther away, the Fremantle Line and railway Principal Shared Path make Cott easy to reach without bringing the car.

CottBuzz: Cottesloe without a car

With kids? Make it a treasure hunt

Hand over the map and let the children choose a numbered work to find. Who can spot it first?

Once you're there, ask which sculpture they'd put in the backyard, or what they think it means before reading the description. The answers may be better than the label.

When attention fades, a playground or beach stop can keep the outing going.

CottBuzz: Cott with kids: more than a beach day

Sculpture by the Sea is still the big one

The permanent trail is worth exploring, but March is something else entirely.

When Sculpture by the Sea is on, the familiar foreshore is transformed.

The exhibition spreads from the sea wall along the sand towards North Cottesloe Beach and into the surrounding grassed areas.

You can arrive intending to look at a few sculptures and suddenly realise you've been there for hours.

And because it's outdoors, the exhibition keeps changing through the day.

Early morning is quieter.

Bright sun makes shadows and polished surfaces part of the works.

Cloudy days change the colours.

And at sunset the ocean becomes part of the exhibition.

The 22nd Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe is scheduled for 5-22 March 2027.

Put that one in the calendar.

But don't wait until March

Sculpture by the Sea might be the event that makes Cottesloe famous for sculpture, but some of that story is still sitting around the suburb every day of the year.

On street corners. Beside playgrounds. Near the railway. Among the trees. Overlooking the ocean.

So next time you're walking or riding through Cott, open the map and take a slightly different route.

You might discover a sculpture you've passed a hundred times.

And once you've noticed it, you'll probably never pass it quite the same way again.