august, 2019
13aug(aug 13)9:00 am20sep(sep 20)5:00 pm
Event Details
Vote now for the People’s Choice Awards in this year’s Queensland Regional Art Awards.
The Queensland Regional Art Awards (QRAA) is an annual visual arts prize and exhibition for established and emerging artists living in regional and remote Queensland. The theme in 2019 is ‘State of Diversity’:
Queensland is a state full of diverse ecosystems, wildlife, places, people and personalities. This year, artists are encouraged to explore the diverse elements and qualities that make up their own communities and locations within Queensland.
The theme was to be addressed in an accompanying artist statement of 100 – 150 words.
People’s Choice Award Voting Process
There are two categories within the People’s Choice Award. Your votes determine the winners of the following prizes:
Adult – $1,250 Ironlak art materials voucher
Youth – $750 Ironlak art materials voucher
Thanks to Ironlak
All entries that meet competition requirements are eligible for the People’s Choice Award.
Voting Process
1. Voting is restricted to one vote each for adult/youth per person.
2. To vote you must provide your real name and email address for confirmation.
3. A confirmation email will be sent to your nominated email address to confirm your vote. You will need to reply to this email to validate and confirm your submission. If you do not reply to this email your vote will not be valid
Voting Now Closed
Adult Category
Fairy Tree
Artist: Helen Dennis
Artist Location: CHINCHILLA
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 61 x 76 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
On our property runs Branch Creek, which flows to the Condamine River, part of the Balonne catchment for the Murray Darling Basin. Our small creek has been a guide for Indigenous travellers visiting the Bunya Mountains, an area of vegetation and animal diversity in its wetlands, a place of lagoons where tall timbers grow, a source of irrigation for crops and domestic animals, and playground for all.
For our community the creeks are the mainstay of life. Without the creeks Indigenous travellers would not have moved through and camped, farms would not have been established, the railway would not have come, and modern townships would not be sustainable. Their waters are an essential element of life.
The roots of a majestic gumtree became the ‘Fairy Tree’ for our children, after a massive flood wore away its foundations, sending it tumbling across the creek and exposing its roots to the elements.
Photographer: Helen Dennis
Swimming Upsteam
Artist: Jacqueline Sanderson
Artist Location: Coolum Beach
Medium: Pastel on paper, 2019
Dimensions: 120 x 69 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Jacqueline Sanderson is a visual artist who has lived on the Sunshine Coast since 2007. Nature, people, and domesticity inspire Jacqueline and she describes herself as an eclectic artist and maker whose artwork is meaningful and good-natured. The interaction of others in forming memories and identity are common themes she considers in her artworks.
For the theme ‘State of Diversity’ I studied two women from different cultural backgrounds, one Sri Lankan, one Vietnamese who developed a unique friendship after meeting each other in their workplace on the Sunshine Coast. Together their friendship supports them both through joyous and difficult occasions, times when they liken their lives as two salmon swimming upstream-thus becoming their mantra. ‘Swimming Upstream’ is a celebration of female friendships and cultural diversity on the Sunshine Coast.
Photographer: Jacqueline Sanderson
Mob on the Move
Artist: Margaret Worthington
Artist Location: CALLIOPE
Medium: Watercolour and gouache on paper, 2019
Dimensions: 57 x 105 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
I chose this painting to enter in the State of Diversity competition because it shows an interesting, diverse and rarely painted area of Queensland. Landscapes like the one depicted in watercolours are common and may be seen along much of the Queensland coast where there are mangroves and mudflats. A solitary rocky island is viewed over the salt pans at low tide. Wetlands both fresh and salty are found in these areas. A mob of very young pigs are shown cavorting on the salt pan moving over to the wetlands to feed. A Pied Cormorant is resting after a fishing expedition.
Photographer: M Worthington
Embracing Azariah
Artist: Catherine Boreham
Artist Location: YEPPOON
Medium: Oil painting on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 61 x 61 x 3 cm
Artist Statement:
I believe that painting portraits gives me a great opportunity to encourage the viewer to move beyond simple tolerance and really see each individual as unique and valuable. I aim to inspire the viewer to celebrate the rich dimensions of diversity contained within each person they behold on the canvas.
One of Azariah’s favorite verses says, “Kind words are like honey, sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.”
With an attitude such as Azariah’s our differences wether they be gender, ethnicity, socio economic circumstances or religious beliefs would certainly be explored in a safe, positive and nurturing environment.
Azariah was very encouraged that I took the time to paint his portrait. Our states of diversity should be celebrated and this portrait is just one example of how I love to use artwork in a positive way to uplift others.
Photographer: Catherine Boreham
Wild Fire Legacy
Artist: Lesley Kane
Artist Location: MACKAY
Medium: Charcoal, 2019
Dimensions: 48 x 68 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
Few blackened tree trunks were evidence of a shocking wild bush fire which devastated parts of the Pioneer Valley west of Mackay late last year. Previously a lush green sugarcane farming and rainforest landscape, the loss was felt throughout the community. Two weeks later, after rain, the scene changed again into a translucent lime green regrowth with only the remaining charred tree trunks as a reminder of the diversity of the elements.
Photographer: Artspace Mackay
From Where
Artist: Jacqueline Sanderson
Artist Location: Coolum Beach
Medium: Acrylic and watercolours on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 62 x 60 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
Jacqueline Sanderson is a visual artist who has lived on the Sunshine Coast since 2007. Nature, people, and domesticity inspire Jacqueline and she describes herself as an eclectic artist and maker whose artwork is meaningful and good-natured. Jacqueline paints, and creates artworks by reusing and transforming discarded and found objects from nature. The interaction of others in forming memories and identity are common themes she considers in her artworks.
As a painter, I am exploring my family’s migration on the Oriana from Sri Lanka to Australia in 1966, and I use the Coolum sky and sea as visual inspiration. “From where” is the voyage from one place to another via sea passage, where the elements not only dictate the nature of the journey, but also represent that which is shared between diverse people and lands.
Photographer: Jacqueline Sanderson
Garden Party
Artist: Kristen Flynn
Artist Location: Chinchilla
Medium: Oil on fabriano paper, 2019
Dimensions: 27 x 43 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
Garden Party celebrates the women of Chinchilla. Our community hosts an array of highly educated women and mothers that help our community run at all levels. Although a regional town, women here redefine their roles just like their city-living counterparts. The three women in Garden Party are all at different stages in their life and they have all individually defined what it means to be a woman in this time and location. They flip the male gaze on its head as their female stares pierce through their floral masks- symbolising their power, presence and importance to community. The three prints were created using digital photography, solar plate and traditional intaglio printing methods. My work pays tribute to all of the wonderful women in my small community and their contributions to make this a true state of diversity.
Photographer: Kristen Flynn
Grevillea – New Blossoms
Artist: Julie Hollis
Artist Location: Highland Park
Medium: Acrylics on double thick gallery wrapped canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 61 x 61 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
Julie has totally fallen in love with the Australian native flora in her area of the Gold Coast. She frequents the Botanical Gardens in Benowa and loves to take lots of photos of the amazing and diverse collection of flowers.
This particular Grevillea is from her own back yard and Julie loves the fact that this plant attracts Bees, Lorikeets,Parrots, Honeyeaters and various other bird life as well as Butterflies.
Julie considers herself so lucky to live in an area where such a diverse range of flora and fauna exists happily together and she has easy access to them to record their beauty on canvas.
Photographer: Julie Hollis
CRESSBROOK DAM REFLECTIONS
Artist: Bruce Griffiths
Artist Location: KLEINTON
Medium: Watercolour on paper, 2019
Dimensions: 50 x 70 x 25 cm
Artist Statement:
A State of Diversity.
Toowoomba, a short drive to the sea, state capital & often parched farm land. Am I city, country, urban or coastal? Due to modern transport, I can identify with each. Toowoomba, the Garden City, but is that what we are?
Knowledge can only be volunteered; it cannot be conscripted. Knowledge passes from father to son, mother to daughter & in towns & villages. A region is rich that shares knowledge & diversity. Few people withhold knowledge if there is a real need. We tap live into a resource & the knowledge is accessed and revealed. Live knowledge becomes learned knowledge & practiced knowledge. Linking & connecting people is the key. A region is successful as we mix, merge & share our knowledge & skills.
We all unknowingly strive for this in commerce, sport & lifestyle that brings prosperity & self-worth for you, me & the region.
Photographer: BRUCE GRIFFITHS
Broken Gully
Artist: Pamela Walpole
Artist Location: Sunshine Beach
Medium: Mixed media on stretched canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 100 x 110 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
After the storm the farmer (bottom right hand corner) inspects his property – the red soil is soaked and will replenish the land, but farm implements lie scattered, signs dislodged – fences damaged – livestock to be found and an uprooted crossing now lies along a once dry creek bed.
A country life is hard work!
Photographer: Pamela Walpole
and will the blue skies go on forever? (view detail)
Artist: Barbara Stephenson
Artist Location: TOOWOOMBA
Medium: Textiles – quillie standing wool rug, 2019
Dimensions: 47 x 66 x 10 cm
Artist Statement:
In a world drowning in waste, I use rejected woollen blankets to create art. Woollen fabric is often discarded for modern materials made of micro-fibres which harm many creatures. And as our country heats up the need for cosy wool decreases. Layers of colour strips are coiled and twisted. I love the way different combinations create new colours but remain harmonious.
My piece celebrates the diversity of Toowoomba and the Darling Downs with its endless blue skies and clouds so close it seems you could touch them. We have rainforest in the Bunya Mountains and Eucalypt scrub on the Range, with farming on the rolling plains in between.
The looming world climate crisis challenges the diversity of human and natural resources. Hopefully between us, we will find a sustainable balance.
But will the blue skies go on forever? Now is the time to put Blue Sky thinking into action.
Photographer: Brian Kenny
Pareidolia Landscape
Artist: Carly Sheil
Artist Location: SAUNDERS BEACH
Medium: Ink on paper, 2019
Dimensions: 21.4 x 15.5 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
Pareidolia is the name of the phenomenon in which we see patterns or human characteristics in inanimate objects. Maps are usually an arrangement of recognisable inanimate objects that can be used to navigate the world. In this piece I’ve merged a traditional pen and ink cartographic style with that of contemporary design and illustration to show this merging of land and people. Surrounding us in Queensland now, in what was once a landscape of natural objects in which we only imagined to see faces, is now a physical-cultural landscape of human characteristics entwined with nature. We all shape and are shaped by it regardless of our wishes by simply being here. We can choose to erode each other and the land, or prop each other up to grow into greater landmarks together – a greater biodiversity of humans to cultivate existing cultures to sprout new and more amazing futures.
Photographer: Carly Sheil
FESTIVAL FOOTHILLS WOODFORDIA
Artist: Deann Cumner
Artist Location: VIA MALENY
Medium: Tar shellac and oils, 2018
Dimensions: 50 x 100 x 5 cm
Artist Statement:
This Dyptch represents a wonderful festival Woodfordia , held twice a year , literally just down the mountain from my farm at Booroobin.
The music festival is a vibrant , colourful and fantastic event where everyone just has fun !
This work is my interpretation of this amazing time in our local area……. the Sunshine Coast Hinterland.1750
Photographer: Deann Cumner
“One Size Fits”
Artist: Kerry Williams
Artist Location: WEST MACKAY
Medium: Textile and acrylic paint on paper, 2019
Dimensions: 50 x 57 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
In Mackay we celebrate our diversity and proudly wear it like a crown. A simple crown made from the rich gifts our residents contribute. People from every corner of the world have chosen this beautiful city as home. They share their culture and intertwine our ways of life with theirs. We have a connectivity to each other and our local landscape that runs deep.
The blue adornments honour our blue river, the ocean, reef and clear skies of tropical Queensland. The deconstructed fabric and crown shape illustrates the cyclical nature of assimilation and acceptance; new people coming, being accepted, more people coming and being accepted. Through acceptance we’re building this whole amazing, wonderful culture, that’s based on our diversity. We are truly fortunate to have the beauty, strength and simplicity of truly connected communities in Queensland. Ultimately our’State’ of diversity unites us.
Photographer: Kerry Williams
Street Theatre
Artist: Erin Dunne
Artist Location: THE RANGE
Medium: Hand-stamped lettering and ink on paper, mounted on foamcore, 2019
Dimensions: 76 x 95 x 2.5 cm
Artist Statement:
This work encapsulates a broad selection of the diverse qualities and elements that represent life in Rockhampton from my perspective. Over the past few years since moving back to the area, I have adopted the position of participant-observer of the rituals, routines and rhythms of life here, allowing me to notice and record moments that resonate with a poetic or lyrical quality, as well as encounters with the humorous, surreal, strange, and emblematic. The written imagery and figurative language within this text-based work are a poetic distillation and synthesis of the written, drawn and photographic documentation that I have been collecting, adopting an ongoing and informal phenomenological research methodology. The text was produced by hand using a stamp set purchased from a local op-shop in Rockhampton, creating a free-form poem that can be read horizontally, vertically, in fragments or in its entirety to create an open-ended narrative of place.
Photographer: Erin Dunne
Garden Feast
Artist: Colleen Helmore
Artist Location: BURNETT HEADS
Medium: Watercolour on arches paper, 2019
Dimensions: 35 x 55 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
At any time of day a different bird can be heard in and around my garden. The diversity of their songs is amazing, however it is the magpie that most captures my attention. I wanted to create a watercolour painting, capturing these birds in a diversity of poses to capture their unique character.
I paint mainly with 3 primary colours and don’t use black or white watercolour paint so I have made a great variety of colourful darks to create the illusion of black and white .
Photographer: Colleen Helmore
Maramaka
Artist: Madge Bowen
Artist Location: HOPE VALE
Medium: Screen print on linen, 2019
Dimensions: 120 x 100 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
I always like to paint my traditional homeland of Bulgan (Kings Plain). I feel a deep spiritual connection to my land, and the sacred sites on it, including the plants and the animals. Maramaka is a kind of fig tree that grows in Far North Queensland, and there are lots of them on my homeland. I love to paint them, because even though my family no longer live my land, when I see one, I feel that deep connection to Bulgan.
Photographer: Melanie Gibson
Host i
Artist: Donna Davis
Artist Location: DEEBING HEIGHTS
Medium: Pigment print onto fine art rag, 2019
Dimensions: 60 x 40 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
This work plays with the idea of the biological host; exploring the complex relationship between human and nature with respect to maintaining our ecological diversity.
Here the floral emblem of my home-town Ipswich, the ‘Plunkett mallee’ simultaneously presents an image of hope and despair; inviting the viewer to question their own ecological truth.
Plants are intrinsic to the health of our planet, yet one-in-five plant species are vulnerable to extinction. By losing plants from their natural environment we are adversely affecting the state of diversity, upsetting the natural balance for all dependent organisms.
Not only are plants key players in helping mitigate the climate crisis but they are also working, under stressful conditions, to provide habitat, food and oxygen; supporting multi-species diversity, including the human.
Which leads me to ask, what is our role? What type of Host are we to our local diversity?
Photographer: donna davis
Wet Tropics Bio-diversity – The Gift
Artist: Buck Richardson
Artist Location: Kuranda
Medium: Photography/Digital Art on aluminium composite, 2019
Dimensions: 95 x 80 x 5 cm
Artist Statement:
Tropical North Queensland has two hot spots of bio-diversity, both World Heritage listed: the Wet Tropics and the Great Barrier Reef. In Wet Tropics Bio-diversity – The Gift I have used many of my original images of moths, beetles and shield bugs that were captured on countless field trips over the last decade with my friend and colleague, internationally renowned entomologist, Dr David Rentz AM. Our trips have traversed Tropical North Queensland from Cooktown in the north, to Chillagoe in the west, and south to Chartres Towers. My passion is both art and science. I first identify the insects scientifically by family, genus and species and then use them as elements in digital designs. Their astounding colours, shapes and patterns give me endless hours of creative enjoyment. The bio-diversity of the Wet Tropics is truly a gift.
Photographer: Buck Richardson
The Teachers
Artist: Dale Leach
Artist Location: Doonan
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 91 x 91 x 3.5 cm
Artist Statement:
This painting was inspired by two art groups I was tutoring.They were a wonderfully diverse lot of characters who had lived extraordinary lives both overseas and here in Australia, and they brought that richness of experience into their artwork. They had a range of skills from advertising, farm business and life experiences and also a great desire and curiosity to learn more. They were generous with their encouragement of one another and were willing to share their expertise. I came to learn a lot from them. I also ate some wonderful home made cakes and slices and drank the odd cup of tea. I loved their good humour and the room was always full of laughter.
Photographer: Dale Leach
Afternoon Sonata
Artist: Leanne Cole
Artist Location: TANNUM SANDS
Medium: Watercolour, 2019
Dimensions: 50 x 32.5 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
I live in Central Qld and recently cruised the Queensland coast from Brisbane to Cairns and back. While I witnessed the diverse range of landscape, the coast line, the ocean and the islands I also witnessed the diversity of the people aboard the ship. Different ages, different nationalities, all there to enjoy the Queensland weather and hospitality. Some happy to take part in all activities, others happy to enjoy quiet interludes, hidden in small nooks and crannies. I found this young girl playing the piano tucked away in a cocktail bar during the day with no-one there but me.
Photographer: Leanne Cole
Resource Removal (view detail)
Artist: Rose Rigley and Pamela Kusabs
Artist Location: WHITFIELD
Medium: Sculptural assemblage (paper, mixed media, copper wire), 2019
Dimensions: 14 x 68 x 12 cm
Artist Statement:
The artist considered the theme ‘State of Diversity’ both geographically and psychologically. The resulting artwork was an exchange between two different individuals, with empathy, trust and an understanding of another’s location, the key to the collaborative outcome. Destruction or preservation became an integral part of creation, as each artist contributed to the beginning or end of the structure. Strategies of how to respond to ‘the object’, to letting go of concrete connections to place, and to the production of a’cohesive’ visual language were explored in the undertaking. Collaboration – a quite wonderful and intriguing process – has, at its foundation, the ideas of diversity and compassion.
Resource Removal focuses on the environment and the impact of human inhabitation.
Photographer: Michael Marzik
Terra
Artist: Hayley Groves George
Artist Location: MARYBOROUGH
Medium: Mixed media on stretched canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 100 x 75 x 3.8 cm
Artist Statement:
“Terra” is the Roman Goddess of Earth. She lays upon the drought stricken land to release fertility and fruitfulness to end the suffering that once was. Unfortunately I have seen this harsh country become dust too often over the years and with no food or water for native animals and live stock await death. However, once the storm clouds start building and roll in from the distance with the rain, the nutrients in the ground activates with the moisture and then there is life again. That sweet smell of the first few droplets that hit the dirt, is the smell of Terra.
Photographer: Hayley Groves George
Honeymoon Bay (Moreton Island, Queensland)
Artist: Elena Suto
Artist Location: Regents Park
Medium: Oil on canvas, 2018
Dimensions: 76 x 91.5 x 3.5 cm
Artist Statement:
Between the rocky Cape Moreton and North Point lies Moreton Island’s picture perfect Honeymoon Bay. Looking like something from a movie, the hidden picturesque half-moon shape beach is about 50 meters wide, making it the perfect spot for a refreshing swim. Honeymoon Bay is the most famous of the four small pocket beaches near Cape Moreton. Honeymoon Bay is hard to miss whilst exploring the island. When my family and I first visited this location in December 2007, we were absolutely taken by this beautiful secluded location.
Photographer: Elena Suto
Journey Through The Playground (view detail)
Artist: Debbie Chilton and Mieke Den Otter
Artist Location: IPSWICH
Medium: Textile, 2019
Dimensions: 8 x 40 x 50 cm
Artist Statement:
Debbie is an artist living with disabilities. She uses the Image of a’scarecrow’ to explore themes of difference, varying abilities and diversity. The theme of diversity was prominent in the work both artists explored during the term. The collaborative textile book is reflective of the themes explored by both artists during their residency.Mieke is a textile artist who drew on the playground environment to develop her work and threading the images into felting. The felt characters which were created at kindy representing the diverse cultural backgrounds of the children. The themes of diversity were drawn from the children at play, their dress, gardens, trees and leaves and ‘rooms’ are depicted in the book. The characters can be moved from page to page to paper, which is reprehensive of the movement in the kindy environment during the artists session times.
Photographer: Debbie Chilton
Wild Panorama 1
Artist: Andrea Baumert Howard
Artist Location: IPSWICH
Medium: Junk mail, newspaper, egg carton, office paper and recycled children’s craft paper pulp, 2019
Dimensions: 20 x 40 x 0.3 cm
Artist Statement:
When I think of Queensland’s diversity, I am immediately reminded of the huge variety of landscapes we have to explore. It is something intangible, it’s sort of a feeling, a memory, it is extremely difficult to depict in a 2-dimensional piece.
The gorgeous coastlines, rainforests, dry sclerophyll forests, deserts, mountain ranges, grasslands, and big skies. And of course, the farm lands, cattle property, cities, small country towns and tiny communities dotting these landscapes.
I have used a variety of recycled papers to create my landscape in paper pulp. Junk mail, newspaper, egg carton, office paper and recycled children’s craft paper make up the body of the scene. The fragility of the paper helps to convey the beauty and fragility of our environments and express the vastness of our state of diversity.
Photographer: Andrea Baumert Howard
Crying Art
Artist: Hediyeh Soleiman
Artist Location: HERVEY BAY
Medium: Gouache & watercolour, 2019
Dimensions: 38 x 38 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
Queensland, the state of diversity
A blend of the rich ancient Persian art mixed with the beauty and assortment of colours in majestic Australia’s landscape inspired me to introduce Persian illumination art. This form of ancient painting born in the early 15th century is now fading away from young modern memories. The diversity of our beautiful red soil, the deep blue ocean and the turquoise sky are united around the golden values at the core of our nation. This Crying Art is hoping to be seen by the younger generation and find its place once more in the eyes of art lovers.
Photographer: Hediyeh Soleiman
A Loganholme Queenlander
Artist: The Ly
Artist Location: LOGANHOLME
Medium: Watercolour on 300 gsm paper, 2019
Dimensions: 55 x 75 x 0.1 cm
Artist Statement:
A Queenslander is a unique architecture in Queensland which is designed to be adaptive and responsive to the regional climate and environment. The characteristics are that the house is made of timber, elevated, and built with tin roof. It has large surrounding verandahs which help occupants to connect to outdoor spaces, create circular ventilations, and open to a diversity of fauna and flora.
The painting picked up a Loganholme Queenslander, including its Queenslander features and the connecting landscape. The house and the surrounding habitat join together as a whole. The painting showed a tranquillity life in Queensland country, but indicated lively activities of people, animals, pastureland and trees. The colour was selected in warmth, revealing a sunset moment in Queensland. By exploring space and time of the characteristic Loganholme Queenslander, the painting discovered a sense of place which can only be found in the diversity of Queensland.
Photographer: The Ly
Shute Harbour: A Stunning View
Artist: Claudia Gray
Artist Location: AIRLIE BEACH
Medium: Acrylic on canvas board, 2019
Dimensions: 25.4 x 20.3 x 3 cm
Artist Statement:
My “State Of Diversity” art piece, I painted three things:
*Seaview of Shute Harbour, Queensland
*Long-Fruited Bloodwood Tree
*Pretty Watty
Shute Harbour is one of most icon views in the Whitsunday, being a dead end street: I see a place of pure beauty.
Long-fruited bloodwood tree has a straight trunk. The outside of the bark is grey and the inside is red-brown. Interestingly, the grey bark is crumbly!
I choose to paint the wattle sticking out of the tree overlooking Shute Harbour. This is an ‘imaginary view of three items’ which I tried to capture (to me), it is the most beautiful view in the world.
The star of this painting is the wattle flower. It is very tiny around 3 cm in diameter. The flower is the most stunning bright golden-yellow round heads. Being so tiny, I think many people who visit Shute Harbour will not even notice it.
Photographer: Claudia Gray
Hanging out the clothes
Artist: Sharon Hamill
Artist Location: BUDERIM
Medium: Acrylics, 2019
Dimensions: 101 x 76 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
Winter sun on the Sunshine Coast casts heavily patterns of light and dark. This afternoon sun painting tried to capture the diversity of sun and light with smooth of lawn and texture of the bush. The image tried to impart a snapshot in time in a rural setting in the coast
Photographer: Sharon Hamill
Splash
Artist: Grace McClymont
Artist Location: DICKY BEACH
Medium: Mixed media on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 80 x 118 x 3 cm
Artist Statement:
Places of natural beauty provide a setting for diverse groups of people to gather and embrace life side-by-side. In our area Currimundi Lake is one such location. Throughout the year the lake fills with people from all walks of life enjoying the many activities that it has to offer in the water, on the water, under the water, and around the water. New Australians who are daunted by the surf beaches, families with toddlers exploring sand and salt water for the first time are able to relax while confident swimmers drift on currents near the lake’s inlet. People in twos and threes planted serenely in the landscape talking, playing, building, resting. A beautiful oasis bursting with life and still peaceful. A place to be ourselves. Together.
Photographer: Grace McClymont
Inclusive Diversity
Artist: Leigh-Ann Hargreaves
Artist Location: IPSWICH
Medium: Mixed medium- mostly acrylic, 2019
Dimensions: 80 x 100 x 5 cm
Artist Statement:
In creating Inclusive Diversity I used a diverse range of colours representative of Queensland soils and plants. Deep red fertile soil of Redland Bay and rich black soil of the Scenic Rim. North Queensland is represented in the lush greens and blues of the forests. Ochre reminded me of dry Western Qld and golden yellows for the sandy Coast. Queensland is a state of diversity of climate and conditions.
I have represented people of diverse cultures, ages and abilities. In painting the figures, I have used colour to represent diversity, not skin colour. We are richer for our differences. . Inclusivity makes our communities stronger, smarter, safer and richer.
I am promoting a state of tolerance and understanding where marginalisation no longer exists.
Photographer: Leigh-Ann Hargreaves
The Jazz Singer and The Magician
Artist: Daniele Lamarche-Sarvia
Artist Location: CLONTARF
Medium: Watercolour and mix media such as oil and graphite on cotton rag paper, 2018
Dimensions: 74 x 100 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Diversity for me is primarily human because I am not only a visual artist but also an anthropologist inspired by the people surrounding me.
“The Jazz Singer and the Magician” illustrates our present pluralism, our youth and their aspirations. The faces divided in two and toned differently represent humankind.
What I like about my work is the interplay of watercolour’s fluidity and the gestural mark on paper making it quick, vibrant and challenging.
I also create individual paper grounds for each subjects emphasising the improvisation effect creating works that are original and free.
My unique style allows viewers own interpretation because the viewer’s interpretation of my art is as valid as mine since it is about them and me being part of them as a human being.
Photographer: Daniele Lamarche-Sarvia
Alice in the Antipathies: Shifting Sands (view detail)
Artist: Sasi Victoire
Artist Location: Clifton Beach
Medium: Mixed media on kawaad (artist book), 2019
Dimensions: 30 x 60 x 10 cm
Artist Statement:
Alice in the Antipathies has been created for projections for a cross cultural performance work of the same title to uncover the narrative of the Asian diaspora encountering various challenges to belong in Australia. This work promotes diverse narratives through theatre in regional Queensland for harmony and awareness raising.
The kawaad box is used as a story telling device based on the narrative of Alice in Wonderland to tell a migrant story.
Photographer: Sasi Victoire
Squatters and Broken Songlines
Artist: Barbara Scott
Artist Location: CABARLAH
Medium: Wet felt and needle felting using wool and other fibres, 2019
Dimensions: 112 x 64 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Queensland State of Diversity
This new ‘unchartered’ inland beckoned them,so up and over the mountains they came.
At One Tree Hill (Tabletop Mountain), Multuggerah and his tribes fought hard to drive them back. He fought for 15 years but still the squatters came with their guns, tools, sheep and cattle.
Their tools drained ‘The Swamp’ and Toowoomba was built. Bit by bit they moved further afield across the fertile Darling Downs.
The land that Multuggerah once knew now changed; paths previously trodden were fenced, waterholes now drained, fire once used now uncontrollable and land once harvested now cultivated.
My archeological dig of the Darling Downs today exposes a diverse mix of country and city dwellers, farmers and graziers, industry and land care and slowly Multuggerah’s song-lines once broken, now resurface.
Photographer: Barbara Scott
Parrot #1
Artist: Liz Celegato
Artist Location: EATONS HILL
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 76 x 38 x 3.5 cm
Artist Statement:
The application of texture onto the canvas has created layers within the surface to evolve naturally producing an organic and interesting background that was then able to be incorporated into the foreground of the work. This technique has allowed me to generate a colourful and textured representation of one of the bird species that frequents our backyards within the Moreton Bay area. The late winter has encouraged them to hang around a little longer this year and although it’s a pleasure to have them around, I have to ask, is the warmer weather of late an indication of global warming so close to home?
My artwork is intended to be a visual reminder of nature’s beauty that exists within our ‘state of diversity’ reminding us of our responsibility to care for it now and into the future.
Photographer: Liz Celegato
A Home for Birds
Artist: Rose Rigley and Barbara Dover
Artist Location: WHITFIELD
Medium: Book-based sculptural assemblage, 2019
Dimensions: 25 x 20 x 11 cm
Artist Statement:
The artist considered the theme ‘State of Diversity’ both geographically and psychologically. The resulting artwork was an exchange between two different individuals, with empathy, trust and an understanding of another’s location, the key to the collaborative outcome. Destruction or preservation became an integral part of creation, as each artist contributed to the beginning or end of the structure. Strategies of how to respond to ‘the object’, to letting go of concrete connections to place, and to the production of a ‘cohesive’ visual language were explored in the undertaking. Collaboration has, at its foundation, the idea of bringing diversity together through compassion.
‘A Home for Birds’ focuses on the impact that human inhabitation has on local wildlife.
Photographer: Rose Rigley
Mangrove Mafia
Artist: Fiona Groom
Artist Location: Ninderry
Medium: Acrylic, 2019
Dimensions: 120 x 120 x 3 cm
Artist Statement:
Life on the Noosa River is always changing, so taking a rest, soaking up the warm sun and just hanging out with your friends is not only traditional with us humans, but very much enjoyed by the local bird inhabitants. This painting conveys a sense of River life, a sense of comradery, peacefulness and a feeling of the river flowing, rising and falling weaving its way out to sea… River life is in constant flux as these birds go about their daily lives we the viewers get to witness the beauty and diversity that life on the Noosa River gives us every day…
Mangrove Mafia… Noosa River Locals
Photographer: Fiona Groom
“TOWARDS THE SUN”
Artist: Anne Pike
Artist Location: MERMAID WATERS
Medium: Textiles, 2019
Dimensions: 90 x 60 x 5 cm
Artist Statement:
Expressing their way towards the sun, the pandanus, with their stout scarred trunks, present rough and warty exteriors. The stilt roots, anchored in loose sand, claw and struggle as they are smashed by strong winds and salt spray. They cling precariously off the point, whilst below, the barnacle and shell encrusted rocks, gather flotsam and weather the conditions. My textile work highlights these tactile organic forms and is inspired by the beauty of this southernmost Queensland beachpoint, frequently viewed from a walking trail wrapped around Greenmount Hill. The walkers, the surfers, the observers, the grinners, we are all celebrating the diverse aspect of the greatest bay in Queensland!
Photographer:
Spring flower garden
Artist: Michelle Mann
Artist Location: WOOMBYE
Medium: Mixed media, pencil, acrylic,, 2019
Dimensions: 30 x 40 x 5 cm
Artist Statement:
I live in South East Queensland a diverse and very beautiful part of the world. From its Glass house mountains to the islands, beaches and marine life, it is a most important eco system and I feel privileged to live in. I am inspired by so many different things but nature is the thing that most inspires me. Where i live in Woombye I am surrounded by beauty, native animals and birds. And in particular native plants, flowers, seeds, pods which are reflected in my art.
Photographer: Michelle Mann
‘Presence to absence: from flood to fire’
Artist: Sue Gedda
Artist Location: LOTUS CREEK
Medium: Watercolour & mixed media, 2019
Dimensions: 77 x 101 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Unprecedented damaging floods, prolonged droughts and bushfire are punctuating Queensland life with increasing frequency. This abstract work seeks to suggest our climatic diversity – from watery to incinerated. Through the mix of pigment with locally sourced creek water, silt, plant matter and charcoal it explores the complexity and fragility of our local ecosystems in an environment impacted by anthropogenic influences.
Process-led techniques manipulate the found materials and embrace chance effects allowing nature to almost paint itself. Fluid and granulating characteristics of watercolour help to suggest solubility, dehydration and charred destruction, depicting the presence & absence of water. The triptych presentation indicates the passage of time; the narrowed windows a possibility of limited societal awareness. In contemplating these extreme weather events I reflect deeply on my place and influence in the world.
Photographer: Sue Gedda
Lunch Mates
Artist: Mieke den Otter
Artist Location: BELLBIRD PARK, IPSWICH
Medium: Pastel on card and text, 2019
Dimensions: 29 x 41 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
As a painter and textile artist I am interested in developing ideas in response to new spaces.
In June 2019 as an Artist in Residence in an Ipswich Kindergarden, I spent some time drawing in the outdoor landscape. This sketch is one of my in situ pastel on card works. It is drawn from the playful and interactive spaces offered in kindergardens around the State of Queensland.
The act of drawing informs my art practice but is not always the destination.
Text accompanies the image and opens the ideas of nurturing diversity within an early childhood learning space with respect, freedom and play.
Hungry
hoods
Lunch
in boxes
on the
mat
Hungry
minds
Play
with buds
in the
garden
Growing
shapes
Forming
community
not far
from home
Photographer: Mieke den Otter
Food Frenzy
Artist: Heather Delaney
Artist Location: SCARBOROUGH
Medium: Watercolour, 2019
Dimensions: 76 x 56 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
Heather grew up at Jimbour on the treeless pains west of Toowoomba, where she has been involved in art since her teenage years. She participated in four McGregor Art Schools, worked as a professional photographer and is a current tutor and member of the Redcliffe Art Society where she currently lives. Heather teaches her signature painting style of pouring transparent washes with water based mediums and how to retain white paper without using a lot of brushwork.
Her latest achievement was winner of Best Watercolour at the Brisbane Macgregor Lions Art Extravaganza 2019. More of Heather’s work can be viewed on her facebook page Heather Delaney Art.
Our coastline is visited by a diverse community, whereby, food brings us together and is shared by beach goers, including local wildlife. Heather’s artwork “Food Frenzy” depicts this diversity in the interplay of our wildlife, beach ecosystems and people.
Photographer: Heather Delaney
Too much, too little, we are all at the mercy of water.
Artist: Emma Ward
Artist Location: GRACEMERE
Medium: Graphite, chalk, watercolour and ink on watercolour paper, 2018
Dimensions: 38.5 x 57 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
Inspired by a recent walk through the Rockhampton Botanical Gardens I discovered a path that winds closer to the road, there is a fence covered in ‘flood weeds’ a regional term for plants that have been uprooted and deposited as the flood waters carry debris which gets caught in the barbed wire fences. A poignant discovery, as the last flash flood was in 2017 and these remarkable waterlily remains were still clinging happily to the fence! In my mind, they were an example of the diverse and difficult nature of our landscape. As we constantly rotate through extreme changes in our weather conditions, experiencing years of drought, then bushfires, to extreme flash flooding, the landscape itself has adapted to take on the same personality as it’s people; tough and tenacious, we are all at the mercy of land in which we live, we ebb and flow depending on the weather.
Photographer: Emma Ward
Hedlow Creek, west – grazed wetlands
Artist: Veronika Zeil
Artist Location: ROCKYVIEW
Medium: Acrylic onboard, 2019
Dimensions: 47 x 91 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
This painting depicts the aerial view from Mt Hedlow north of Rockhampton, documenting the highly fractured and extensively grazed nature of that landscape in minimal, expressive style emphasizing diversity of this ecosystem as well as extensive land-use. This marine plane consists of Hedlow Creek, tiny remnants of original melaleuca and blue gum woodlands, areas of ponded pasture and isolated islands of volcanic plug-mountains.
The Hedlow Creek wetlands are essential for bird breeding, provide a nursery area for fish species and freshwater and marine life, are recharging the water table, and are a cattle-grazing area.
Wetlands are vital for capturing freshwater flows and recycling sediments and nutrients before they enter estuarine systems, inshore waters and the Reef. The future prospects for the Fitzroy basin depend on the ability of people to ensure finding a balance between land and water use, and ecosystem health.
Photographer: Veronika Zeil
Catastrophe
Artist: Trudy Brooks
Artist Location: Dayboro
Medium: Watercolour,graphite and ink on yupo paper, 2019
Dimensions: 58 x 88 x 0.3 cm
Artist Statement:
Sometimes the diversity of our weather is too much to bear. After a devastating drought, our North Queensland graziers were hit by catastrophic floods earlier this year. The usually welcome rains have become another obstacle to survival.
This work depicts the despair of one grazier during the catastrophic Queensland floods. It symbolizes that the vast flood and its devastation have become a part of who he is. There may be light on the horizon but all that occupies the man’s thoughts now are horrific, reoccurring visions of his dead and dying cattle across the vista of the land. At this moment he is overwhelmed but in time and with support, he will endure what is ahead and survive.
Photographer: Trudy Brooks
” GLADFIELD COUNTRY “
Artist: Colleen Gardener
Artist Location: HARRISVILLE
Medium: Oil, 2019
Dimensions: 30 x 66 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
This particular valley along the Cunningham Highway at Gladfield ,draws me back time and time again to stop and paint. Its diversity of terrain and colours, sorrounded by drought stricken holdings with their burnt earth tones, to the lush green terraced crops of the Millers Valley, irrigated by the Glengallon Creek and backing on to the Taylor Range, sets this oasis apart, not only with the diversity of crops and colours but the in your face, emotional aspect of how life is dependant on the creek waters. The valley supports, a dairy industry, horse studs, broad acre farming and a thriving tourism industry.
Photographer: Colleen Gardener
Microcosm
Artist: Amanda Dickson
Artist Location: MAROOCHY RIVER
Medium: Oil paints on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 76 x 76 x 3.5 cm
Artist Statement:
I fell in love with the Great Barrier Reef years ago when I lived on Heron Island. My family and I continue to visit the reef almost every year, soaking up its vibrant beauty, above and below water. Snorkelling leaves me marvelling at the abundance of life around me, knowing I am only viewing a tiny part of the colossal 344 400 square km (70million football fields!). My painting highlights the extraordinary magnificence of the vast sprawl of the reef formations, although it depicts just a microcosm within the vast macrocosm. The viewer is invited to contemplate the beauty and immensity of this living entity which supports the highest diversity of life in any existing ecosystem. I hope people appreciate what a privilege it is to have this natural wonder of biodiversity at our doorstep, and understand it is our duty to protect it.
Photographer: Amanda Dickson
The Glimmer of Moonlight
Artist: Lesley Shelley
Artist Location: BRIBIE ISLAND
Medium: Oil on aluminum, 2018
Dimensions: 73 x 58 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
I am fortunate to live at White Patch on Bribie Island, where coastal bush runs alongside
pumicestone passage. This painting depicts an area of bush at night, using an experimental process with a variety of ingredients. Oil paints because they lend themselves to being scraped and scratched with brush and knife; Wax because it gives fluency, Marble dust because it creates texture, plus silver and gold pigments to give luminosity. The challenge for me lies in the elimination and reduction of detail, so I can convey reality strongly, and without distraction. I add my experience as a dedicated artist and observer of nature to take the viewer into the essence of place, and see with fresh eyes, the bush in moonlight.
Photographer: Lesley Shelley
Old Hope Vale
Artist: Wanda Gibson
Artist Location: HOPE VALE
Medium: Screen print on linen, 2019
Dimensions: 120 x 100 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
As an artist, I am particularly interested in creating work which documents my personal history, in particular, images of the places that I have lived, and the communities that have shaped the person I am today. My textile is called “Old Hope Vale” and it is a map of the Hope Vale mission as I remember it in the early 1970’s. Community life has changed a lot in the last 50 years, but places for community to come together and catch up remain as important as ever. My map shows all the places that were important to me and the community, including the house I moved into with my husband, the school, the shop and the Church, which my father helped to build, and which still stands at the centre of community life in Hope Vale today.
Photographer: Melanie Gibson
Rubric
Artist: Ann Fitzgerald
Artist Location: CROWS NEST
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 61 x 61 x 3.5 cm
Artist Statement:
My artistic goal is to create intellectually, fascinating and visually, stimulating art that challenges the viewer perception. Rubric is a conceptual, geometric abstraction and has a historical context of Australian, post-colonialism. The title is derived from the square constructs that cover most of the painting. The individual squares with their own colour identity connect to create a regenerating oneness. These central open-ended forms have less chroma intensity as they overlap in the mid-ground, metaphoric of a mellowing, maturing culture and the hard edge, its resilience. The land of the first nation is the brown monochrome ground and imposed colonisation the coloured squares invading the balance of the ground. The blue denim glaze for universality and unity, the unglazed triangles, remnants of the past and the brown ground a constant. The foreground’s layered, blue denim, glazed triangles are metaphoric for leafing through pages of time creating a State of Diversity.
Photographer: Ann-Maree Fitzgerald
‘Them Cheeky Cockatoos are Back Again’
Artist: Jassy Watson
Artist Location: INNES PARK
Medium: Ink drawing, acrylic, oil and hand torn collage on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 60 x 90 x 5 cm
Artist Statement:
From the ever changing landscape of red dirt and cane, to the remaining pockets of ancient swamplands, onto sand and sea the Bundaberg region is rich in diversity. There are many characters, people and places that iconically represent this area, but when I thought about my connection to this place it was the landscape and bustling birdlife that stood out. My favourite time of year is when the red breasted black cockatoo comes from out West to the coast during the dry season seeking food. Watching them frolick and carry on in their large flocks is a wonder to behold, they really are cheeky characters. This painting is inspired by an area close to Moore Park Beach where they gather in their hundreds in Autumn, it is a rare sight to see. The painting was created with ink, acrylic & oil with each bird a hand torn piece of collage.
Photographer: Jassy Watson
Twist (view detail)
Artist: Netty Ferpozzi
Artist Location: BELLBIRD PARK
Medium: Found object sculpture, 2018
Dimensions: 32 x 82 x 12 cm
Artist Statement:
I walk pass the thirty-three brand new homes boxed in behind my house to get to my Ipswich suburban bushland.
The dog needs a walk and I am on the scrounge for dumped stuff.
I admire a rich green prickly pear nestled amongst forest debris, vast verticals of the eucalyptus trees and land galore the developers have yet to gobble up.
I spy a rusty mangled nugget; nature has become entwined with it. What event lead it to become so twisted? A twist in the road? Why did you have to discard it here?
I pluck it from obscurity. A twist of fate.
Photographer: Netty Ferpozzi
Sun Harness (view detail)
Artist: Joanne Taylor
Artist Location: BARCALDINE
Medium: Paper pulp, iron oxide, cotton thread, gold leaf, paper, cotton rag paper, ink, pencil, pencil, perspex, wood, dye, 2019
Dimensions: 50 x 36.5 x 14 cm
Artist Statement:
Queensland is the state of diversity with its vast coastlines, open flat interior and abundant resources. But one thing that unites us all in the ‘Sunshine State’ is indeed, the sun. It’s the binding factor that makes Queensland what it is. Sunlight energises the productive heart of our state and imprints our landscape such that we all benefit.
The repetition of “suns” in this sculpture represents the numerous but similar solar farms popping up in recent years in Central West Queensland, all doing their bit to power our lives and our future prosperity.
Increasingly, the iconic and quintessential Queenslander home many of us have spent at least part of our lives in, is now being powered by energy harvested from the sun.
Photographer: Donna Jedras
Gloria Arrow
Artist: Janet Ambrose
Artist Location: SARINA
Medium: Charcoal on linen, 2019
Dimensions: 80 x 80 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
This is a portrait of Gloria Arrow who is a descendant of Natafilinga (Katie Marlla). Natafilinga was blackbirded from her island home of Oba, Vanuatu to Queensland in 1875. Katie, as she was later known, was put to work in the cane fields at age 15.
I explore the human face of the South Sea Islander community, identifying and understanding the unique differences of their culture and of adaptation in the removal from their homelands and life in their new land.
South Sea Islanders are part of the Australian cultural landscape.
Rendered in charcoal on linen, Gloria’s portrait shows her strength and resilience which I believe has been handed down from her great grandmother’s philosophy of, “Never look back, always forward.”
Photographer: Janet Ambrose
Moolin Rouge
Artist: Sammy Meurant
Artist Location: Cunnamulla
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 100 x 80 x 1.8 cm
Artist Statement:
This painting represents the State of Diversity by using the colourful cow to symbolise the unique and diverse, people and personalities that are within our regional areas. I grew up in a regional city and moved to a small, rural, agricultural town in SW QLD. This very colourful cow represents the fun and colourful personalities I have come across which make Queensland great.
Photographer: Samantha Meurant
Milky Way
Artist: John Williams
Artist Location: Gununa, Mornington Island
Medium: Acrylic on belgian linen, 2019
Dimensions: 101.5 x 101.5 x 5 cm
Artist Statement:
This is the Milky Way with Emu, Kangaroo and Crocodile – doesn’t matter where we are in Australia, or who we are in Australia, we are all seeing the same Milky Way.
Up here on Mornington Island we get good night sky and can easily see the Emu, Kangaroo and Crocodile and we know that when we are looking up then a whole mob of other people are looking up too and each of them is seeing the same things in their own way.
Photographer: John Armstrong
Opalton to the Ocean – It’s a bloody long drive
Artist: Nick Hoops
Artist Location: TOWNSVILLE
Medium: Acrylic and ink on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 100 x 110 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
I love Boulder Opal. I love Opalton. I live approximately 830km away in Townsville. I also love the ocean. The blues of the Coral Sea. I make the journey as often as I can to fossick the Opalton opal fields. I don’t find a lot. I am a novice; this does not curb my enthusiasm; I am a future opal miner. The landscape changes from blue to green, undulating at first. Then the landscape flattens, the trees seem to disperse and the ground morphs from green to brown and then into a fine white dust. The air is hot. The flies are thick. The digging is tough. The pickings are slim. Is it worth it? The bloody long drive home from Opalton to the Ocean.
You bet it is!!
Photographer: Nick Hoops
The Ladder
Artist: Tarja Ahokas
Artist Location: NINDERRY
Medium: Acrylic on 2 canvases, 2019
Dimensions: 50 x 80 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
State of diversity of our climate unites us in my community as it does across the country.
From extreme heat of our summers that can cause bushfires and drought to the rain events resulting in flooding and chaos.
The ladder in the painting symbolises the physical and emotional support which is offered to those who need it at any given time.
Photographer: Tarja Ahokas
Blending in Trees
Artist: Jane Milliken
Artist Location: UPPER FREESTONE
Medium: Textile, 2019
Dimensions: 34.5 x 26 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Blending in Trees shows the stalwart traditional merged with artistic personality. I have hand-stitched antique & vintage textiles blended with my own botanical dyed prints. It is a euphemism for blending of differences between artists and farmers in our small city of Warwick. There has long been a struggle for acknowledgement from the artistic community for recognition of quality in their diverse art practice, yet by and large are ignored in the community as not important. Our community relies on the thriving farming way of life, many of us living on the land, or are deeply influenced by the land. Rural cultural differences is something we understand, if it cannot be harvested or milked what is its use? Our Chamber of Commerce are building bridges across the differences, creating an alliance for all to shine, so we appreciate all, erasing discrimination built up over the years.
Photographer: Jane Milliken
Hello Sunshine
Artist: In Sun Park
Artist Location: WEST MACKA
Medium: Oil on panel, 2019
Dimensions: 30 x 24 x 0.7 cm
Artist Statement:
As a resident of North Queensland for the last seven years, I can proudly say the state has re-kindled my passion in me to create a colour pallete that reflects the environment in which we live. The feelings the emotions the sheer joy of experiencing life and living it to the fullest in this ever changing landscape which draws a diverse variety of people from all over the world.
Photographer: In Sun Park
Bucket & Spade
Artist: Shannus O’sullivan
Artist Location: Hivesville
Medium: Acrylic, 2019
Dimensions: 60 x 87 x 0.5 cm
Artist Statement:
This is my experience of beach culture and is based of years of observation. The painting Bucket and Spade is my interpretation of the diverse nature of people who frequent our beaches
Photographer: Shannus O’sullivan
One Square Mile: District of Diversity
Artist: Christine Brassington
Artist Location: Via Helidon
Medium: Oil on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 30 x 30 x 7.5 cm
Artist Statement:
Carpendale is a little more than “One Square Mile” – blink and you’ll miss it – but if you take the time to look, you will see diversity in the bush and the cultivation: a landscape of many colours that change through the day, the seasons, and the crops; red bottlebrush mark the course of Flagstone Creek, yellow wattle mark the season. Among the wildlife that reside here are wallabies, possums, echidnas, snakes; a big green frog lives in the post of my carport; pelicans visit regularly, but a black swan is an extra special treat. I moved a turtle off the road the other day; when we were kids we said turtles meant rain – I hope so! – but it takes a big flood to bring the platypus down the creek. I marvel at the multitude of birds – they’re my go to procrastination and favourite soundtrack.
Photographer: Christine Brassington
Self Portrait (view detail)
Artist: Amanda Bennetts
Artist Location: POMONA
Medium: Glass, MRI, LED and metal, 2019
Dimensions: 50 x 50 x 50 cm
Artist Statement:
As an Artist with Multiple Sclerosis, I have explored the diverse elements of my identity now that I live with a disabiltiy. My self-portrait is not a literal representation of myself, I am letting the viewer into my psyche, my ecosystem and allowing them to see the unseen, in a very vulnerable and personal manner. I have been stripped bare. I am unable to disconnect identity from disease and it is the slight information on the MRI’s that will show the viewer that this artwork refers to the past and present with boiling flasks bridging the two together symbolising that I have not resolved my identity crisis, I have cut it up, thought it through, rearranged it and although as the colours in the flasks are becoming clearer it is still unresolved. The sci-fi aesthetics of the artwork minismises the subject to a scien