CLOSING DOWN...‘no viable path forward’! Bungendore Wood Works Gallery
28 March, 2025: An era is ending with the shock news that Bungendore Wood Works Gallery will close in early June 2025. For 40 years, BWWG has been the place for seeing and buying fine woodwork in Australia. It’s been pivotal in launching and sustaining the careers of hundreds of makers. While Bungendore Wood Works Gallery has been an endeavour of passion and a vocation for its founder and long-time artistic director David Mac Laren OAM, it’s now the end of an age.
David Mac Laren OAM, founder and artistic director of Bungendore Wood Works Gallery
Bungendore Wood Works Gallery has maintained its diverse range and high standards over the years, and even recorded ‘a modest profit’ in recent difficult years has. However, a satisfactory way forward since David Mac Laren’s retirement has not been found.
In its announcement today, the gallery notes: ‘This decision has not been made lightly. After decades at the helm, Artistic Director and founder David Mac Laren OAM is ready for a well-deserved retirement. While he has explored succession options, sustaining a gallery of this scale has become increasingly challenging in today’s economic climate. Despite our best efforts, we have not found a viable path forward.’
Over the years, the connection between Australian Wood Review magazine and Bungendore Wood Works Gallery has been synergistic and also ‘physical’ through sponsorships which resulted in three landmark Studio Furniture exhibitions (2008, 2010, 2018), curated in partnership and proudly displayed at the gallery.
David Mac Laren’s contribution to the inspiration and careers of hundreds (more likely thousands) of makers is worth celebrating, and we wish him many happy years in retirement. The legacy will continue, however so will the sense of loss.
Makers and artists have been notified of the gallery’s closure in early June. Until then, you still have a chance to visit Australia’s premier gallery for wood at 22 Malbon Street, Bungendore, NSW.