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
In a flurry
Artist: David Graham
Artist Location: BUNDABERG
Medium: Digital print, 2018
Dimensions: 70 x 45 x 0.1cm
Artist Statement:
I photographed this local ballet dancer using a long exposure while dragging the zoom to emphasise movement as she seemingly defied gravity in her movements.
Photographer: David Graham
Crazy weather we’ve been having
Artist: Nora Hanasy
Artist Location: ZIZLIE
Medium: Digital collage, 2019
Dimensions: 100 x 100 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
Central Queensland is a land of constant change. One thing that really makes this place I call home extra unique is the weather.’Crazy weather we’ve been having’ is a phrase we use often here as a greeting. It binds all of us together. The heat of summer comes with cyclones and floods and when we are not under water the land is arid and dry with blackened trees as far as the eye can see. The winter fog turns everything eerie and white and the short but severe storms that come out of nowhere definitely get the blood pumping. These extreme and often devastating weather patterns are the cause of our ever-changing colors and textures of the CQ landscape. But it is this diversity that makes every moment here, exciting and beautiful.
Photographer: Nora Hanasy
Shed of all Trades
Artist: Julie Purcell
Artist Location: KIPPA-RING
Medium: Oil on board, 2019
Dimensions: 50 x 70 x 0.3cm
Artist Statement:
I painted this scene because it reflects the diversity of problem solving skills Grandad used while living in a back to basics way in Beebo, Queensland. His shed, once a piggery built by hand, is a still life arrangement revealing a suite of skills and techniques required to solve issues, mechanical and otherwise, that arose on the isolated property. It is a time capsule of agricultural and industrial objects and methodologies – there’s a forge, a lathe, old tractors and earth moving equipment and the incidentally sculptural form of a large wooden gantry. This site is like a personal museum of ingenuity and determination. Recording some of its details over multiple plein air sessions enabled me to feel close to Grandad again because his activities are evident everywhere. The rugged board I painted on is a found-object, its imperfect surface suggests an intergenerational spirit of making and making-do.
Photographer: Julie Purcell
Whispering Sands, Elim Beach.
Artist: Tracey Mutze-Butler
Artist Location: TEWANTIN
Medium: Acrylic paint and artists dry ground pigments., 2019
Dimensions: 60 x 50 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
‘Whispering Sands, Elim Beach’, is an artwork conceived after a road trip to Far North Queensland in 2017. The journey allowed for an experience of diverse wilderness areas including, rainforest, grasslands, wetlands and aboriginal homelands .
Firstly I photograph close up perspectives of the subject then reimagine the images in the studio as a painting
Elim Beach is an hour and a half from Cooktown. The coloured sand dunes are accessed by 4WD at high tide.
The dunes tower over the beach with dazzling luminosity of red, orange, pink, yellow and cream coloured sands .
It was as if the sun had fallen from the sky and all its beautiful hue was absorbed into the dunes.
Whispering Sands, is a celebration of the memory of wild places.
Photographer: Tracey Mutze-Butler
Floodplain
Artist: Louise Lawrence
Artist Location: longreach
Medium: Mixed media – acyrlic, oil and paper on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 75 x 75 x 5 cm
Artist Statement:
‘Floodplain’ is a vivid depiction of inland Queensland after the floods. Flora and fauna lay hidden and dormant until the skies unleash their torrents into the Lake Eyre Basin. the dry red and brown earth is transformed with overflowing streams and creeks bring new life and vibrant colour, wildflowers and migratory birds. The materials used also reflect the flow of water through the landscape; oil and medium was poured onto the textured background. The biodiversity of the region is most evident during the time of flood when the land reveals its glory.
Photographer: Louise Jones
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
Summer Wind (view video)
Artist: Kirsty Lee
Artist Location: TOOWOOMBA
Medium: Digital video loop, 2019
Dimensions: variable
Artist Statement:
Both captivated and confused by the landscape of a small town on the outskirts of Toowoomba, Goombungee, Lee resolves her understanding through the camera. Imbued with colour, speed, repetition and form, signature to that of her video work, ‘Summer Wind’, is an undeniable mirror of Regional Queensland. The deep crevasse within the land, the human form draped in plastic, an unharnessed wind flickers like a mirage through the blades of a windmill. The gusto of the wind like that of its community; unrelenting. Although dry and mute in its tone, ‘Summer Wind’ is softly hypnotic in its repetition. the images read of drought and harsh landscape, but our mind has time to wander to the possibility of change and sustainability. Accompanying this visual work is an aural exploration of the landscape. Found sounds of the windmill, water, birds and wind have been fragmented and looped.
Photographer: Kirsty Lee
Out of the Blue
Artist: Karen Stephens
Artist Location: WINTON
Medium: Acrylic on paper, 2019
Dimensions: 20 x 29 x 3 cm
Artist Statement:
Boulder Opal with its dominant flashes of brilliant blue, is found deep underground at Opalton near Winton Queensland. Once an inland sea, the gem has been luring diverse nationalities since the late 1800s. Boulder Opal is unique to Winton making this remote region a state of diversity.
My painting is from a larger collection of recent works made in Winton about the coloured gem. I liken my practice of a landscape painter to the work of an opal miner – long hours in solitude and a belief in finding richness. There is this daily repetitive search, a type of chipping or scraping away and often I come home frustrated and empty handed. The prospect of finding wealth in this way is reflected in the eyes and words of the wider public which contain a tinge of madness.
But then sometimes I strike it lucky – I am fishing for landscape.
Photographer: Karen Stephens
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
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
Top of Town – Ipswich
Artist: Glen Smith
Artist Location: BUNDAMBA
Medium: Mixed Media – collage, 2019
Dimensions: 90 x 60 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Brisbane Street Ipswich, “Top of Town” precinct has been home to my business for 11 years. With the theme of diversity for this exhibition I couldn’t go past what this street offers. Within 200 metres of my shopfront you can find such a diverse range of businesses, from op shops to high fashion, food banks to fine dining, Tattooist to Art Galleries, barbers to Day Spas and other retailers. Due to this wide range of shops it attracts a diverse clientele. We get every one from those who talk about themselves to those who talk to themselves, the window shoppers, mums dads, fashion icons, people trying to make a quick buck, the unfortunates and the wealthy. All which makes my day interesting and the not knowing of who will enter my door. In this artwork I have tried to capture the diversity of the people that I deal with daily.
Photographer: Glen Smith
LETS FACE IT TOGETHER
Artist: Benjamin Van Eldik
Artist Location: MT MEE
Medium: Ink on card, 2019
Dimensions: 40 x 30 x 0.1 cm
Artist Statement:
My work “lets face it together” depicts the obvious diversity of skin, cultural, and gender. But it carries a more emotive message which I hope the viewer can connect with, and that is that love is blind to all the negative aspects that can challenge the “state of diversity” in all our lives. Love is the only true power that can fuse any perceived divide when we are faced with a new “state of diversity”. My choice to use ink stippling as my method is to highlight that the perceived “State of Diversity” is just that, and can be altered by the simple addition of a single dot from a pen.
Photographer: Benjamin Van Eldik
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
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
Serpentine
Artist: Alana Read
Artist Location: CAWARRAL
Medium: Watercolour on Arches cold pressed cotton rag 300gsm paper, 2019
Dimensions: 36 x 51 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Near threatened, the “Pimelea Leptospermoides” shrub can survive only in the Serpentine Rock endemic to the Cawarral and Marlborough areas of Central Queensland, Australia. The opportunity to showcase this rare and uniquely Queensland plant located in my home town inspired me deeply. Through my chosen medium of watercolour, the fluid lines of the plant and accompanying rocks were conveyed in a sympathetic way. The colourful green and orange Serpentinite has distinctly dark textural lines, which I painted using my fingers and nails, by scratching and smoothing the wet paint across the paper. This cohabitants’ scene reflects the marriage of the lines and colour shared by the two in the artwork and also in the real life relationship between plant and its host in its natural environment. Endangered; Endearing; Enduring.
Photographer: Alana Read
Wetlands Dry
Artist: Abramo Papp
Artist Location: RUSSELL ISLAND
Medium: Digital photograph, 2018
Dimensions: 22 x 36 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
It took me a few years of living on Russell Island to realise that wetlands are not always wet, sometimes they can actually dry out. These pictures of the wetlands at Burrows Street on Russell island were taken in September 2018 (wet – on left) and June 2017 (dry – right – mirror reverse). The two images were taken at about the same time of day an roughly from the same position (without stepping into the water 🙂 ).
Photographer: Abramo Papp
In Flight (view video)
Artist: Gavin Lewis
Artist Location: EAST IPSWICH
Medium: Digital video, 2019
Dimensions: variable
Artist Statement:
In a recent flight to central Queensland I found myself transfixed by the diversity and complexity of the landscape.
Layering images one on top of the other reflects the different textures of the earth, the airplane itself becoming almost animal-like as it plunges towards its destination.
Photographer: Gavin Lewis
Rayan Isme
Artist: Paul (Zoob) de Zubicaray
Artist Location: Albany Creek
Medium: Acrylic and gold leaf on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 51 x 40 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
Adding to Queensland’s diversity are the five Queensland local government area refugee welcome zones including Ipswich, Logan, Mackay, Toowoomba and Townsville. It was in Toowoomba that my family first met Rayan and her beautiful family. Rayan is grateful for the part time work in the family small business and university options available to her in her much loved adopted Country of Australia. I wanted to portray her optimism shining through for her future, where anything is possible.
Photographer: Paul de Zubicaray
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
Remnants
Artist: Kate Douglas
Artist Location: MOORES POCKET
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 76 x 76 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
This land adjoins a new housing estate in Ipswich. I live nearby and love this view, but eventually it will be cleared as well. Ipswich is a rapidly growing area, with huge tracts of farmland and bush being bulldozed and transformed into suburbia. Like many parts of South East Queensland, remnants of nature are replaced by concrete, tiles and colorbond fences.
The UN-backed IPBES Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, released in May, directly shows the impact of biodiversity loss on the future of humanity. It concludes environmental decline is “unprecedented” with around one million plant and animal species already facing extinction unless immediate action is taken.
In response, this landscape is layered with motifs of nature – patterns found on feathers, fur, scales and wings – patterns of the creatures who live here. In the name of progress, the future of their habitat is uncertain.
Photographer: Kate Douglas
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
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
Ghosts of Forest Fallen
Artist: Shannon Macdonald
Artist Location: BLACK MOUNTAIN
Medium: Acrylic on board, 2019
Dimensions: 60 x 90 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
Queensland certainly is the State of Diversity and whether I am close to home or exploring places near and far I find myself touched by the limitless beauty to be found in our many and diverse environments. From the “picture perfect” beaches and lush rainforests of the coastal fringes to the vast expanses of the outback – red dirt and blue sky. The greatest shame is to find those spaces where diversity is being lost to development and to witness the degradation and feel the sense of loss in the shadows of what once was.
“Ghosts of Forest Fallen” is a reflection of an area in which I walk daily where huge trees have been cut or fallen leaving ghostly spaces amongst the re-growth – where light filters through the remaining tall Blue Gums to forest floor, creating a mosaic of texture, colour and light.
Photographer: not applicable
Meganoton rufescens
Artist: Therese Flynn-Clarke
Artist Location: BANNOCKBURN
Medium: Mixed media, hand stitching, eco dyeing, 2018
Dimensions: 75 x 55 x 0.02 cm
Artist Statement:
I have long had a moth obsession creating named species in 2D and 3D form for many years. Meganoton rufescens is a moth from the north Queensland region and references the story of the first 6 years of married life living in the Cairns region and the birth of our first child. I loved the diversity of the plants and insects so different from anything I’d known growing up in NSW. I had also taught on Thursday Island and the children introduced me to the native almond and its’ edible seeds. Today I have a native almond growing in my backyard in Logan. The leaves have been eco-dyed and hand stitched onto the mixed media background. 30 years of marriage this year and a long connection to the diversity of plants and insects in Queensland symbolised in many layers within this artwork.
Photographer: Therese Flynn-Clarke
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
My Grandmother’s Country
Artist: Agnes Kohler
Artist Location: Gununa, Mornington Island
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2018
Dimensions: 120 x 101.5 x 5 cm
Artist Statement:
My Grandmother’s Country is on the back of Main Base at Bentinck Island – this is where the sun rises and the sun shines on all of us no matter where we come from and who we are.
Photographer: John Armstrong
“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:
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
Mulgaland
Artist: Richard Ranson
Artist Location: Charleville
Medium: Acrylic with watercolour pen, 2019
Dimensions: 76 x 76 x 3.5 cm
Artist Statement:
Blue sky. Red dirt. Green mulga. Yellow sun. The mulgalands of the Warrego; created with colours of the rainbow serpent. Flood or drought, the vast colour array is matched only by the diversity of the animals that have evolved to survive in this land of extremes. Some are beautiful; some are deadly; some are both. Some, like the emus and kangaroos in the painting are easy to see. Others, like the honey ants in this painting are hard to see. They are all different yet depend on each other to survive. In this sense they are the same.
Photographer: Richard Ranson
Determination
Artist: Grant Quinn
Artist Location: Bundamba
Medium: Photography, 2019
Dimensions: 55 x 55 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Nothing shows more diversity than man-made and natural environments. The diverse elements of the two sometimes collide to make up the environment and communities that we live in. As cities and towns slowly spread out its urbanisation we are losing our beautiful and diverse flora and fauna. However, in some cases, our flora and fauna adjusts and evolves to survive in man-made environments. In this image I have capture a Fig Tree with its roots desperately clinging to the side of a brick wall. It is determined to survive in this cold hard eco system. The sprawling roots, twisted branches and minimalist leaves combined with the painted brick wall and cement edging create a stunning picture telling a story of determination and a will to survive against all odds.
Photographer: Grant Quinn
Their Story, My Story (view video)
Artist: Belinda McGrath
Artist Location: ROCKHAMPTON
Medium: Carbon paper monoprint animation, 2019
Dimensions: 0 x 0 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
Their story, My Story is the account of how my grandparents met.
My grandmother was the daughter of a Scottish illegal immigrant who served in the British Army in WW1, and for Australia in WW2. In her early years she lived with her parents in a tent in a small Queensland town called The Willows. When times were more financially stable, they moved to a house in North Rockhampton- next to a train line.
In 1942 my grandfather, the son of an English immigrant mother whose bank book listed her occupation as ‘married’ and listed no financial transactions, just recipes, travelled by train to his training after his enlistment in the Australian Army.
As the troops were transported by rail, the nearby residents would throw them books to occupy them on their journey. My grandmother threw in a book with her name and address inside, my grandfather caught it.
Photographer: Belinda McGrath
“Mountain Aspects” (view detail)
Artist: Johanna DeMaine
Artist Location: LANDSBOROUGH
Medium: Porcelain, 2018
Dimensions: 15 x 11 x 11 cm
Artist Statement:
Mountain Aspects’ celebrates the sublime beauty of the Sunshine Coast Region where I live. The iconic Glasshouse Mountains are a constant source of inspiration as I am challenged and fascinated by constructing their narratives that transcend space and time. The mountains float in space just as do the sails which represent our beautiful beaches. Butterflies symbolize beauty, the soul and freedom in this context.
Many layers of collaged bespoke and self-printed decals, together with the use of layers of gold and raised enamels on wheel-thrown porcelain investigate this marriage of surface decoration and form to achieve an object raised to a higher level.
Photographer: Johanna DeMaine
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
SCRIBBLY GUM WILD LIFE
Artist: Brian Hatch
Artist Location: CLEVELAND
Medium: Oil, 2019
Dimensions: 101 x 76 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
The diversity of Queensland’s flora and fauna is something unique to this state and country. There are many species of variegated eucalypt trees and one variety is called the scribbly
gum identified by the familiar iconic tracks left in the tree trunk by the moth larvae as it zigzags around.
In this painting I have used these scribbles made by the larvae to surreptitiously suggest and enhance images of our unique wild life hidden within the lines. When viewing these gum trees in the native bush it is possible to imagine all kinds of animals and bird images appearing in the diverse scribbles.
The blue background suggests the native blue gum found in many areas of Queensland. The zigzag tunnels on the trunk of a tree inspired this painting using ones imagination to perceive
various animal images hidden within the lines. There is a great diversity in the animal kingdom as suggested in this painting and the scribbly gum is but one species of diverse eucalypts found in the Queensland bush.
Photographer:
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
“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
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
Bluefaced honey eaters
Artist: Debbie Dieckmann
Artist Location: MILLMERRAN
Medium: Watercolour, 2019
Dimensions: 55 x 45 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
I have been a creator all my life being raised in the bush by my mother who was an artist. I began my artist endeavours by painting and then created using different mediums for several years .In the last 6 years I have returned to painting and mixed media but in the last 10 months I have found a passion for watercolour and the wildlife in my bush community. For me watercolor best illustrates the fragility and subtly diversity of the bush, be it’s colours, delicacy of birds or fauna. Bush diversity is everywhere and is often overlooked as its subtle and changes with the seasons.
I am intrigued with my co inhabitants and try to record glimpses of their lives in my paintings. There’s over 238 birds, numerous marsupials and reptiles here so it’s going to be a long interesting journey without leaving home.
Photographer: Debbie Dieckmann
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
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
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
Solastalgia
Artist: Bodhi Del Mar
Artist Location: MUDGEERABA
Medium: Archival 300gsm cotton rag photograph, 2019
Dimensions: 60 x 48 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
Nowhere is Earth’s current 7th mass extinction more apparent than The Great Barrier Reef. The science predicts a catastrophic 95 percent loss in biodiversity on the reef by the end of the century due to rising sea temperatures, increasing ocean acidity, pollution and over fishing. It is an environmental crisis caused solely by the pervasive anthropocentric notion of our human supremacy.
Painting the natural world directly on the human body allows me to explore the concept that we are indeed neither superior nor separate from nature. And if there is to be any hope, we need to heal this dire disconnection.
Photographer: Bodhi Del Mar
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
Landscape
Artist: Hannah Parker
Artist Location: HOLLOWAYS BEACH
Medium: Etching, 2019
Dimensions: 53 x 39 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
This work is a print of a series of etching plates. I am exploring how line, colour and shape tell the story of our environment. Thinking about land, sky, water and sea; our interaction and interference with our environment; and the history it created by us and by natural forces.
Photographer: Hannah Parker
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
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
Woven Together as One
Artist: Gail Meyer
Artist Location: NORTH ROCKHAMPTON
Medium: Watercolour on paper on board, 2019
Dimensions: 42 x 29 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
‘Woven Together as One’
It is a big State of excitement and assorted adventures.
The remoteness of the outback could be calling with lyrical images of dry red sandy plains, bush pubs and country hats instead of city briefcases. As well, bushland will beckon, with its differing associated range of wildlife.
A variance could be the distinctive ecosystem of wetlands and unique array of creatures including the crocodile.
The warp and weft of environmental and regional differences has to include the verdant, moist rainforests beaches that hold back the coral studded ocean.
My approach to such contrasts has been to paint the many differing visual narratives including the Queensland Emblems; Brolga, Blue Sapphire, Cooktown Orchids, Koala Anemone Fish. These were fixed onto a backing and topped with a rough weaving together of strips of watercolour images that loosely form the cross on the State badge
Photographer: Gail Meyer
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
Burleigh headland
Artist: Terrence Martin
Artist Location: BURLEIGH HEADS
Medium: Digital, 2018
Dimensions: 60 x 83 x 3 cm
Artist Statement:
The surf culture is part of Qld Gold Coast and what better than the burleigh headland . The rock formation immortalised in the Dreamtime storey of jabreen the spirit who legend has it swam to the horizon from the headland and on returning raised his hands and created the headland we see today .
The headland in turn helps create the swell sets that surfers enjoy to this day .
Photographer: Terrence Martin
Baby Lady Apple
Artist: Esmae Bowen
Artist Location: HOPE VALE
Medium: Screen printed ink onlinen, 2019
Dimensions: 120 x 100 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
My artwork is inspired by the forms and colours I see in the environment and my love of plants. When you see plants and you’re so down and out the beauty of that plant can lighten your day. A flower can put a smile on my face for the whole day. My favourite flower to paint is the baby lady apples (also called bush apples) at the time just before the flower grows into fruit. Lady apples only fruit in the early part of the wet season, and I love to paint them so much because they remind me of my childhood Christmases spent down at the beach with my family, where we used to like to eat them with salt.
Photographer: Melanie Gibson
Representing Fieldwork (no. 1) (view video)
Artist: Alinta Krauth
Artist Location: WITHEREN
Medium: Digital animation, 2018
Dimensions: Variable
Artist Statement:
This digital video artwork represents a culmination of research performed by the artist into how climate change is impacting the diversity of animal life on our planet. Taking a wide series of examples, from wild horses in New Zealand, to bats in Germany, to Alpine Lizards, the artist explored how scientists are recording and analysing the reduction of diversity of nonhuman life due to climate change.
In order to create this video, the artist has made over 1000 hand-drawn images that represent this diversity of life and the struggles they are having. These images were then fed into a digital generative system. What results is a collaborative cacophony between artist and computer that hints at the confusion and struggle that our nonhuman kin face in an era of human monodominance.
Photographer: Alinta Krauth
Paradise Revisited
Artist: Jennifer Ryan
Artist Location: CAPTAIN CREEK
Medium: Digital collage, from my own acrylic paintings, 2019
Dimensions: 29.7 x 18.1 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
Jennifer M Ryan creates art for herself, that reflects on, and reveals aspects of life. When creating this digital collage her motivation was the personal cost of living in the pristine and private community of the Discovery Coast, Queensland .
An untrained artist, Jennifer was moved to create art when auto-immune diseases affected her movement. Her preferred style, for digital art, is to combine her acrylic/oil pastel/water colour/pen and ink works to create digital collages.
Paradise, tyranny, conflict and perfection:
1. Isolation in Paradise. Blue: surrounded by clean oceans and bright skies.
2. Tyranny of Distance. Yellow: mine site uniforms, Vs sunsets and coastline.
3. Tyranny of Caring. Grey: the opposite side of the paradise coin – obligations and responsibilities for protecting turtles and maintaining the pristine environment.
4. Conflicts in Paradise. Purple: the constant reevaluation of the practicality of living in paradise.
Photographer:
SWEET LOVE AND THE BULLOAK JEWEL 2019
Artist: Lee FullARTon
Artist Location: BLACKSTONE IPSWICH
Medium: Acrylic and collage on wood panel, 2019
Dimensions: 25 x 25 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
Near the Darling Downs town of Leyburn is Ellengowan Nature Reserve a fragile habitat for the ancient Bulloak and the endangered Bulloak Jewel Butterfly Hypochrysops piceata.
It is a nature story of complex relationships of diverse and endangered species only found in Queensland. My favourite part of this ecological story is the exchange of sugary delights for protection and guidance between the Bulloak Jewel Caterpillar and an undescribed ant, Anonychomyrma sp.
Reviewing the work of Entomologist, Dr Don Sands in conservation of this rare and tiny butterfly, led me to an artists expedition to discover the last place of the Bulloak Jewel in paint and paper.
Photographer: Lee FullARTon
Coastal sea life
Artist: Susan Lhamo
Artist Location: TAMBORINE MOUNTAIN
Medium: Acrylic paint on stretched linen, 2019
Dimensions: 100 x 100 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
In this artwork “Coastal sea life” I am reflecting on a range of memories and experiences of coastal rock pools in South Queensland. These amazing diverse habitats, quite like microcosms of a larger ocean ecology, have long been places to explore and enjoy. The environment of such pools where ocean meets shore, has a complexity due to the meeting of these two extremes. I’ve employed abstracted motifs and forms to convey the diversity of sea creatures found in such pools. Shape, colour, textural brushwork and paint application serve to enhance the richness of these forms. A spacious quality allows the eye to move around the work, hopefully allowing the viewer to enjoy the flow of colour, movement of water, and to have recollections of their own experiences.
Photographer: Susan Lhamo
Head in the Sky
Artist: Beatrice Prost
Artist Location: TINBEERWAH
Medium: Hand carved unique original print on aluminium ed 1/1, 2019
Dimensions: 76 x 50 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
I am fascinated by the residual pockets of subtropical rainforest that still exist on the hinterland of the Sunshine coast. Those are so fragile survivors of a distant past now surrounded by Eucalypt forest and grazing lands. Using a monochromatic “Willow Pattern” blue design I hope to infuse a sense of attention to protect those remaining green islands of diversity. But above all, “Head in the Sky” glows and enchants us with its complex patterns of extraordinary generous abundant life.
Bridging the gap between the digital and material world, I design images based on my own photographic material. I carve the physical print by hand creating original bold contemporary artworks. Those irreversible marks vary from deep grooves to shallow etches on the surface. I work on paper or in this case on aluminium exploring a surreal often monochromatic world to transport the onlooker into a dreamlike reality.
Photographer: Beatrice Prost
Little fishy mandala
Artist: Susan Lhamo
Artist Location: TAMBORINE MOUNTAIN
Medium: Digital photograph on matte enhanced photographic paper, 2018
Dimensions: 30 x 30 x 0.1 cm
Artist Statement:
The digital image “Little fishy mandala” reveals a contrast between the transparent waters of Currumbin Creek and a delicate mandala of vegetation and fish created from various photographs I’ve taken. The expression of diversity is seen in this contrast, through viewing these aspects of the same place seen in dissimilar ways. The image of the fish mandala encapsulates the mood and intricacy of small water habitats found in these tidal creek locations and is like a mirror on this tiny world while the Currumbin Creek background image shows the bigger picture…one that we’re most familiar with, in everyday form.
Photographer: Susan Lhamo
The rich and the poor
Artist: Jenny Foxton
Artist Location: HIGHFIELDS
Medium: Oil on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 61 x 92 x 25 cm
Artist Statement:
My semi-abstract work reflects very diverse Queensland landscapes. ‘The rich and the poor’ symbolises the layers of complexity within any environment – conflict between nature and humans, between conserving and consuming.
I have used colour and horizontal layers to symbolise the verdant rich farming lands and rainforests close to the Queensland coastline, juxtaposed with the ochre and red soils found inland in the South Burnett and Darling Downs.
My works reflect not only the rich colours of our diverse environment but the deep layers of human’s relationship with our landscape, both in harmony and in conflict with nature.
Photographer: Jenny Foxton
No. 10 (Noosa River)
Artist: M.N. Cox
Artist Location: COOROY
Medium: Oil on linen, 2018
Dimensions: 61 x 91 x 3.5 cm
Artist Statement:
My grandparents bought at Noosaville in the 1950s so I’ve been visiting the Noosa River all my life. Now I live nearby. While the area has changed a lot (and the river is under pressure) it still holds a place in my heart.
This picture was painted in oils and is a composite of aspects of river life and things I’ve seen there over the years. I like how everyone comes together and there are so many distinct activities occurring on the river banks and water.
Photographer: M.N.Cox
Toyah loved sunflowers (view detail)
Artist: Moo (sam) Matthews
Artist Location: MOSSMAN
Medium: Ceramics, 2019
Dimensions: 17.5 x 26 x 26 cm
Artist Statement:
Toyah loved sunflowers.
And the colour orange.
And so, you just KNOW, that Toyah Cordingly must have been a sunny, joyful soul.
Not that I actually knew Toyah. Not many of us did.
But now we all know “of Toyah”.
Or we know someone that did know her.
And that is because Toyah went for a walk, with her dog, at her favourite beach, and a person or persons “unknown” , attacked her.
And killed her.
FNQ is not such a big place really. Lots of space, lots of diversity, but not that many people. So, if you didn’t know Toyah – it still feels like you could of.
And when something very bad happens where, when or to something very good, the contrast in extremes is unimaginably shocking.
The far north QLD community will never forget Toyah – it is the very least we owe her.
Sunflowers.
For Toyah.
Forever.
Photographer: Sam Matthews
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
Windy day at the beach
Artist: Charlene Attard-Slack
Artist Location: Mackay North
Medium: Mixed media on canvas, 2018
Dimensions: 20 x 20 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
An important part of my community is beach culture. ‘Windy day at the beach’ depicts my two young children immersed in the sun, and oblivious to the wind as they engaged in play. I recall as a child, special days at the many beaches in the Mackay Region and the immense fun to be had chasing waves, building sandcastles, finding soldier crabs, exploring rock pools and discovering all living creatures I could find. Protecting the ecology of our beaches is more important now than ever and whilst this artwork captures only a brief moment in time for its subjects, I hope that the darkening clouds in the sky and blurring of the dunes serves to remind us all of the preciousness and need for preservation of our beach locations for future generations of children to explore, discover and enjoy.
Photographer: Charlene Slack
Snap Shots
Artist: Kym Tabulo
Artist Location: MOOLOOLAH VALLEY
Medium: gicle print on paper, 2019
Dimensions: 40 x 80 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
The Sunshine Coast’s scenic diversity is a microcosmic likeness of the wider state of Queensland. It is abundant with a variety of unique natural and built curiosities that draw people to live or visit here. This work, Snap Shots, transforms several iconic landmarks of the region into hypnotic images, as a way to entice others to look into the work and appreciate the array of attractions in the area. The forty-five panels capture local emblems in a moment of time, from the bunya pines and Glasshouse Mountains, to the beachside pandanus palms and the Caloundra lighthouse. And last but not least, the Big Pineapple, presented in the final panel as if it is the punch-line joke of a comic book story, because it always makes me smile. Viewers are invited to create their own stories about the region or perhaps relive memories of a Sunshine Coast holiday.
Photographer: Kym Tabulo
ars longa, vita brevis
Artist: Meaghan Shelton
Artist Location: IMBIL
Medium: Embroidery on victorian guest towel., 2019
Dimensions: 120 x 60 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Ars longa, vita brevis ( the life short, the craft long to learn ) references the diversity of materials that can be counted as valuable means for art making and also the diversity of experiences required to make a person whole. The vintage, hand crocheted guest towel was gifted to me when a friend’s parents had passed because ‘I would know what to do with it’. I utilise domestic crafting techniques as a form of activism. The work evidences innumerable hours of labour devoted to creating both the original matrix that forms the foundation for this work as well as the more recent embroidered additions. By representing the moulting snake, this iteration more explicitly expresses the existential restlessness that can occur during life’s transitions, a time that can be eased by laborious and meditative making processes that bring calm and resolution. This work unfolds as a trans-generational collaboration between women.
Photographer: Leeroy Todd
Fallen Stick #1
Artist: Julie McEnerny
Artist Location: EDGE HILL, CAIRNS
Medium: Watercolour pencil on Arches 300gsm, 2019
Dimensions: 50 x 35 x 0.2 cm
Artist Statement:
Microcosms of industry, that’s what I see on finding one of my ‘sticks’. I can go weeks without yearning for another but when I do it’s always there somewhere, overloaded and falle