IT is all-too common for those outside the art world to imagine that indigenous Australian art is just “dot paintings”.

There is, of course, far more to it than that, as the ravishing basket-inspired works and sculptures in the current Indigenous Triennial at the National Gallery prove. As well, the art market has recently turned its attention to sculptures from Elchoand the Tiwi Islands.

Now Object Gallery and the Australian Museum have joined the National Museum to bring in a touring exhibition featuring sculptures depicting Australian animals, produced by well-known and emerging artists, among them local art star Danie Mellor, who works a across bedazzling variety of media and whose large mixed-media works in the Triennial place indigenous culture in the context of classical civilisation.

Danie Mellor and the exhibition’s curator, Nicole Foreshew, will discuss contemporary indigenous sculpture, in Visions Theatre, NMA, 12.30pm to 1.30pm, Thursday, July 26. Free but bookings essential to bookings@nma.gov.au or 6208 5021 (9am-5pm weekdays).

“Menagerie: Contemporary Indigenous Sculpture in Australia”, at the National Museum of Australia, July 14 to October 14.