august, 2021
Event Details
Place your vote to help your favourite Queensland Regional Art Awards 2021 entry win a People’s Choice Award. Selected artists will also be in the running to win judges’ prizes.
Voting Process
You may vote once for an Adult Category artwork, and once for a Youth Category artwork.
- Click on the individual images below to view an artwork, read the artist statement, and reveal their voting link.
- To vote you must fill out the form and provide your real name and email address for confirmation.
- A confirmation email will be sent to your nominated email address to confirm your vote. You will need to click ‘confirm vote’ to validate and confirm your submission. If you do not confirm your vote through this email your vote will not be valid.
Adult Category
The Sacred Tree (Araucaria bidwillii), Vote Now
Artist: Leisa Gunton
Artist Location: Cambroon
Medium: 500m of natural fibre, 4000 knots, handmade porcelain pieces embedded with Bunya, cats claw hoops, strung onto Bunya heartwood, hand shaped and sealed with fire, and 100% biodegradable., 2021
Dimensions: 100 x 2 x 100 cm
Artist Statement:
The sacred tree is better known as the Bunya Pine. Bunyas dominated the landscape of the great subcontinent Gondwanda, 200million years ago. It was lore to never harm these sacred trees, but as early settlers logged the giants of yesteryear, the local indigenous still mourn for their loss.
The great Bunya gathering was an annual tradition that united indigenous peoples of this land, and many would make the pilgrimage to celebrate the abundance that the Bunyi/Bonyi would bring. Due to covid19, the gathering was unable to happen, so I created this 100% biodegradable wall hanging in recognition of The Kabi Kabi people and celebrate the Bunya.
Photographer: Richard Muldoon
‘By the Shoreline We Gather’, Vote Now
Artist: Jacqueline Sanderson
Artist Location: Sunshin Coast
Medium: Buff raku clays, mid-fire glazes, gold porcelain paint, 2021
Dimensions: 44 x 18 x 41 cm
Artist Statement:
By the Shoreline We Gather’ originate from the vessel shapes which are the foundation of my pottery practice. Vessels embody the cultural union of my Sri Lankan-Australian heritage where sharing food is central to any gathering. The vessels vary in shape, size and purpose, and their glazed colours pay homage to the Gubbi Gubbi land and sea where I have lived for over 10 years. Transforming the vessels into the shell-shape was a beautiful, organic process that extended my practice by combining my love of food and food sharing with symbols of the sea. This artwork acknowledges the significance of cultural sharing through celebration, food, and meaningful relationships.
And so, as the ritual moon rises, by the shoreline we gather to celebrate the natural world, friendship, and diversity through food, music, and stories and to honour the shells and other gifts bestowed by the sea.
Photographer: Christine Hall
Litorally, Vote Now
Artist: Zela Bissett
Artist Location: Gympie
Medium: Wool felt and embroidery thread on cotton, 2020
Dimensions: 120 x 38 x 65 cm
Artist Statement:
Literally refers to the mission of this wearable garment, as it is designed to be an article of Armour for the warrior who defends the litoral zone, the section of the sea shore between the high and low tide. This is a area which is regularly painted by the salt waters of the ocean. The salty waters nurture a range of squishy juicy life forms which constantly party in the damp sand.
Photographer: Zela Bissett
High Tea, Vote Now
Artist: Wayne Boyle
Artist Location: Silkstone
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 61 x 4 x 61 cm
Artist Statement:
High Tea, a time to unwind, laugh, eat cake, drink tea with friends and family, forget about our troubles. We have suffered through the isolation, paper cups and takeaway. At the end of Covid lockdown Queenslanders have emerged better off than most, now we can enjoy a new normal with the freedom we have missed so much.
With bold brushstrokes I strive to capture the opulence, social engagement, the eccentric and the ordinary, flamboyant relationships, joyous occasions, outpouring of emotions, lively conversation, laughter, and tears.
Our support networks have never been more valuable, we have probably come to take for granted the simple pleasures such as getting out and sharing cake and a cuppa, enjoying each other’s company and conversation, meeting face to face, listening to the highs and lows, laughing till we cry.
Time to get out of the house, what better way to celebrate than with high tea.
Photographer: Wayne Boyle
Ephemeral Lagoon, Branch Creek, Chinchilla
Artist: HELEN DENNIS
Artist Location: CHINCHILLA
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2020
Dimensions: 61 x 3 x 91 cm
Artist Statement:
Celebrations for those who choose the rural pathway are centred around the whimsy of Mother Nature. One season may be abundant, the next woefully lacking. When she chooses to be indulgent her generosity is shown in the abundant blooming of the land. When she chooses to be frugal, there are cataclysmic consequences for all.
The ephemeral lagoons which fill from our property’s creek are witness to celebrations of life enduring. Indigenous ‘Trade Tracks’ followed the watercourses and lagoons, providing substance, trade goods, tools and shelter. Early European settlers used the waters for irrigation and livestock. Today the ephemeral lagoon is a refugee for weary feathered travellers; animals foraging for succulent grasses and mussels; insects and frogs which add to the night-time chorus. It is our place of quiet contemplation and celebration, our grandchildren’s playground and gateway to the Natural world, and finally, our refuge from an ever increasingly confusing world.
Photographer: HELEN DENNIS
LCS.2
Artist: Petalia Humphreys
Artist Location: Peregian Beach
Medium: Acrylic on plywood, 2021
Dimensions: 90 x 5 x 90 cm
Artist Statement:
I revel and indulge in the act of looking at and exploring architecture.
“LCS.2” is a celebration of architecture, and of colour. What is at once a sunburnt roofline sitting beneath a glorious and intense ocean sky is also a homage to Johannes Itten’s formulaic ratios and fields of colour. A window of white creates a void – a respite – from the hazy midday heat.
Pushed into the corner the square folds into its rigid setting whilst the works manifests itself in a space beyond its physicality. The folded painting discloses contrasts and dichotomies, exploring ideas of playfulness and interplay – mapping both movement and stillness. Although hard-edge and geometric the work reveals itself and the inherent gestural traces left from the painting process. Marking an interplay between site and possible pathways, lines and spaces upon the surface shift, crease, flatten and straighten out and then fold again as the viewer passes by.
Photographer: Petalia Humphreys
Shoe Show, Vote Now
Artist: Therese Foley
Artist Location: Frenchville
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 30.5 x 3.5 x 40.5 cm
Artist Statement:
Paint the town says celebration to me so if it’s time to celebrate, for me that means grab a great pair of shoes and matching outfit and ready myself for a fantastic time out! These heels and being dressed up says nothing but party! Spending most of my life in the small town of Blackwater, that could mean a day followed by night at the races, a night out with my besties or a special night out with my man. I love shoes and browsing the shop windows at Camden in London inspired me to create my own shop window of interesting shoes!
Photographer: Therese Foley
Abuzz
Artist: Jasna Spiranovic
Artist Location: Hollywell
Medium: Acrylic and oil on canvas, 2020
Dimensions: 90 x 2 x 70 cm
Artist Statement:
Where I have my art studio the village becomes “Abuzz” each year for weeks before the annual Music Festival.
This painting depicts the energy
Before the festival in the community combining all sounds of nature and everyday life before the musicians and crowds enter the space.
Photographer: Jasna Spiranovic
Paint the town red, Vote Now
Artist: Angela Heffer
Artist Location: Cooktown
Medium: Acrylic on board, 2021
Dimensions: 46 x 0.40000000000000002 x 62 cm
Artist Statement:
ARTIST STATEMENT
Paint the town red
by Angela Heffer, 2021
In the first week of May 2021, Rockhampton was abuzz with all the excitement of its triennial Beef Week. The Showgrounds hosted thousands of cows, farmers, exhibitors, visitors and locals. Never had so many Akubra hats gathered in one place!
My acrylic painting captures Wednesday night during Beef Week when I donned my jeans and boots and went out to paint the town red. The lights were bright, the music was loud and a huge crowd of likeminded people were making the most of this unique regional event. It was a night of celebrating life and catching up with friends old and new.
Photographer: Angela Heffer
My Town, Vote Now
Artist: Carmen Beezley-Drake
Artist Location: Rockhampton
Medium: acrylic, collage on paper, 2021
Dimensions: 90 x 12 x 66 cm
Artist Statement:
Community has never been more important than ever the last 18 months of this Covid 19 pandemic. It has not deterred our communities and towns from trying to continue with the daily activities and celebrate by coming together for local events. Beef 21, Super Nats, Barra Fishing Competition, and Open Gardens are just some of the events that Rockhampton has enthusiastically embraced during this difficult period.
Addressing the theme of Painting the Town, I have taken these events as my subject and placed them into a created ‘Town’, trying to create the colourfulness of regional towns where these occasions effect and invigorate the whole region.
Working with collage and acrylic on paper, I have incorporated special events into the fabric of everyday community life, there by creating a town where my works echo how these events bring our communities together.
Photographer: Carmen Beezley-Drake
Bunya, Vote Now
Artist: Naomi Hatt
Artist Location: PALMTREE
Medium: Graphite on cotton paper, 2020
Dimensions: 76 x 0.29999999999999999 x 56 cm
Artist Statement:
Summer is Bunya season. The nuts are eaten with family and friends, their starchy texture when fully ripe tastes very much like chestnuts. There is a wildlife carer who lives nearby. Bunya Pines grow on her property and when the cones fall, she collects them and places them in a wheelbarrow beside her front gate. Passers-by pay $5 for a cone, and she uses the money to fund her work saving sick and injured koalas.
Inspired by the open eucalypt woodland surrounding her studio, Naomi Hatt depicts native plant species through drawing works. Her subjects are carefully selected by way of personal encounters. The works are reminiscent of scientific studies and reflect the artists interest in natural history.
Naomi uses drawing to learn about and celebrate the place where she lives. Learning about the physical properties of her subjects, and their historical and cultural significance locally and across Queensland.
Photographer: Martin Barry
The Ville
Artist: Gabriel Smith
Artist Location: Townsville
Medium: Cold Wax and oil, 2020
Dimensions: 120 x 3 x 92 cm
Artist Statement:
I have a love for patterns, colour and how the land looks from the sky. This work explores my home of Townsville and how the built up areas interact with the wild spaces. Castle Hill has always been my special place and I wanted to explore is delicate wildness through pattern and colour juxtaposed with the more structured pattern created by our built environment to paint the town.
Photographer: Gabriel Smith
Pink Sky Delight, Vote Now
Artist: Jassy watson
Artist Location: Innes Park
Medium: Ink, Acrylic & Oil on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 95 x 4 x 95 cm
Artist Statement:
This painting created with inks, acrylics and a splash of oils is inspired by one of the many vantage points of the only hill in Bundaberg – ‘The Hummock’, otherwise known as ‘Burning Mountain’ by the Tarilbelung people – it was also once an active volcano. The hill is now dotted with houses and communication towers. One of the most stunning views is the hot pink sky as the sun sets behind the Hummock, the old of the landscape and the new of technology and modern life set against each other. This location is such an iconic spot in our regional town of Bundaberg and is steeped in ancient history. I felt to paint the town was to paint the only vantage point that offers a 360 degree in FULL colour – as iridiscent as the landscape itself. Merv Moriarty taught me that the ‘Landscape was our greatest teacher on colour’, I took this to the canvas.
Photographer: Jassy watson
Desert Rose
Artist: Donna Glass
Artist Location: Bunya Mountains
Medium: Digital Print In Frame, 2021
Dimensions: 100 x 25 x 100 cm
Artist Statement:
Surrounded But Still Alone
We are Surrounded by Billions Of Galaxies But We Alone Are The Only Biological Life That Has Been Found As Yet
We Indeed Are Rare And Special
Photographer: Donna Glass
Private Party, Vote Now
Artist: Anne Pyle
Artist Location: Edge Hill
Medium: mixed media on board, 2020
Dimensions: 60 x 0.5 x 90 cm
Artist Statement:
The challenge for this work was to create an ‘inexplicable world’. I found myself with Chagall as I utilised my own style….abstract lyrical minimilist story places.
The uplifting scene provides unexpected interractions which celebrate the theme, painting the town.
Photographer: Anne Pyle
Sedimentary, Vote Now
View Digital Artwork Artist: Jason Nelson
Artist Location: Witheren
Medium: Interactive Digital Artwork, 2021
Dimensions: 80 x 10 x 120 cm
Artist Statement:
After bushfires swept through the Illinbah Valley, new layers of geology and geometry were revealed. Layers of blue-tinted rock, red volcanic soil, burned grass trees, green shooting eucalyptus, yellowed grass lining the mountain slopes. The Coomera river snaking across the landscape. And while the fires themselves were devastating to many, including those closest to us, there is a beauty in the regeneration of nature, a celebration of creatures and wildlife returning, layering the valley with newly born narratives. Sedimentary is an interactive digital artwork replicating our region’s post-bushfire landscapes. This artwork uses generative coding, and forever changing sediments of color and geometry, surfaces and lines to create a journey through our valley. To us, the notion of a “town” isn’t built from streets and houses. Instead our town is born from the soil and geology, the trees and grasses and rivers. It’s a many layered place, painted by erosion and sediment, fire and growth. The artwork is here: http://dpoetry.com/sedimentary/ Use your mouse to move and adjust and rethink the generative valley.
Photographer: Jason Nelson
Drought Rain
Artist: Jasna Spiranovic
Artist Location: Hollywell
Medium: Watercolour on paper, 2021
Dimensions: 30 x 2 x 42 cm
Artist Statement:
In summer 2021 I was bushwalking in the Giirraween National Park where the local town was buying in tank water because of the extended drought. One day it rained and I couldn’t believe my eyes . The colours changed immediately .
I celebrated the breaking of the drought by drawing and painting in the rain.
Photographer: Jasna Spiranovic
Happiness
Artist: Vicki Buttrose
Artist Location: Warwick
Medium: Acrylic, 2021
Dimensions: 40 x 3 x 50 cm
Artist Statement:
Using colour rather than painting the town, I have painted the emotion you feel when you celebrate. The happy glow with bubbles of excitement and whisps of freedom that you experience in those moments of elation and celebration.
Photographer: Vicki Buttrose
Pathways of joy, Vote Now
Artist: Anitha Menon
Artist Location: Rockhampton
Medium: Oil on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 40 x 1 x 30 cm
Artist Statement:
This year the art of celebrating has come with quiet gratitude, reflection and fleeting memories of loved ones stuck in a different time zone. Sitting in my cosy home I adore the precious ring on my fingers and feel the safety of the place I’m living in. Waiting for more colours to fill my senses, I celebrate the joy of life in the mundane coziness of my house.
Sometimes inanimate objects speak through their silence. They can be symbols of a cultural past or moments of a time or sometimes, a realisation for me that time has stood still without progress. My identity as a homemaker, my house and the objects associated with it have been a major influence in my art so far. I am drawn towards symbolism and concepts and find textures fascinating to paint.
Photographer: Anitha Menon
Going in Cycles, Vote Now
Artist: Glen Smith
Artist Location: Bundamba
Medium: Mix Media, 2021
Dimensions: 66 x 4 x 50 cm
Artist Statement:
For me the joy I get from being involved with our art community gives me a sense of belonging and fulfilment. One of the ways I achieve this is by hosting or partaking in workshops. As a member of a local art group we come together to share ideas, food, good company, the love of art and a little gossip. Our workshops are simple affairs that all are welcome regards of skills and abilities and we get to take home a little memento of the day. In this small way we are painting a town that is inclusive, accepting, joyous and known as an artist hub. I have created this piece of mini artworks showcasing some of the many workshops I have attended or tutored, from book folding, drawing, painting, eco dying to felting just to name a few.
Photographer: Glen Smith
David Invited a Few Friends Over (after lockdown ended), Vote Now
Artist: Marlies Oakley
Artist Location: BUNDABERG
Medium: 3D Hancut Collage, 2020
Dimensions: 82 x 4 x 62 cm
Artist Statement:
How we dream of flying to Europe to party with our overseas friends and families, but we know the reality. Parties and celebrations have been planned, rearranged and cancelled, all at short notice. Social responsibility is the mantra of the new normal, as we try to do the right thing, with its confusing and sometimes conflicting messages.
It started as a quite get together as David invited a few of his fellow artistic friends over (after lockdown had ended of course), but things got a bit out of hand when JD was invited, which was hardly a big surprise.
You can see for yourself where it ended up, but I guess these things can happen to those who have remained still and silent for a few hundred years.
I just hope we’re free again soon and David invites us to his next “get together”.
Photographer: Marlies Oakley
I Left My Heart On The Island, Vote Now
Artist: Jay Feather
Artist Location: Qunaba
Medium: Oil and acrylic on cotton linen blend canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 90 x 3 x 70 cm
Artist Statement:
This piece is very special to me, it was created when I was pregnant with my second child. I find it joyful and it reminds me of my son. After having a failed pregnancy, I was able to reflect on the negative space I had come from and into a happy positive space being pregnant. My marks are strong and confident in this piece through the use of thick oil paint and use of a pallet knife. Forever now I will be reminded of the happy island of hope that emerge from the tumultuous sea of despair, of which, I know I will never return.
Photographer: Jay Feather
No. 79 (The hummingbird cake), Vote Now
Artist: Majeeda Cox
Artist Location: Cooroy
Medium: Acrylic on stretched canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 40.600000000000001 x 4 x 50.799999999999997 cm
Artist Statement:
I had a huge party for my last birthday and I have great memories of it. Most years I like to celebrate on a smaller scale, though – calm, simple and manageable. A usual birthday involves me and a few loved ones sharing a cake. My favourite cakes are Hummingbird and red velvet, and I like to make them myself.
Photographer: Majeeda Cox
Throw It To Me! Throw It To Me!, Vote Now
Artist: Judi Parkinson
Artist Location: Bald Knob
Medium: Acrylic Paint on Stretched Canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 100.3 x 3 x 100.3 cm
Artist Statement:
The picturesque hillsides, views, and rain forests of the Sunshine Coast Hinterland make our countryside and community idyllic for wedding celebrations. Hence, I’m painting our town with bouquets instead of firecrackers as I explore our relationships with traditional bridal bouquets, primarily, The Bouquet Toss.
Current culture celebrates The Toss as an interaction between brides and single female guests. From the delight of brides sharing their flowers that signify joy and future wishes for guests, to the anticipation those guests might experience as the bouquet is thrown. The excitement, the dream to become reality, the eagerness to catch the bouquet as it appears suspended in time.
The diagonal design supports this social interaction like an invisible garden trellis. The tradition remains but the participants may change. These bouquets have been created with reference to simple homegrown flowers, mostly grown in our country garden at Maleny. They symbolize love and innocence.
Photographer: Judi Parkinson
Underground Creek, Girraween, Vote Now
Artist: Zela Bissett
Artist Location: Gympie
Medium: watercolour on Arches paper, 2020
Dimensions: 30 x 1 x 40 cm
Artist Statement:
The rugged rocky outcrops of Girraween National Park are a continual source of inspiration. Painting the town is not easy in out in nature, but every rocky outcrop and hidden spring is the home of many creatures, all of which exist and thrive far from the eyes of humans. They live in biotic communities which are suitably represented by the liquid flow of watercolour.
Photographer: Zela Bissett
Golden Days, Vote Now
Artist: Kym Tabulo
Artist Location: MOOLOOLAH VALLEY
Medium: Mixed, 2021
Dimensions: 11.699999999999999 x 2 x 16.5 cm
Artist Statement:
Celebrating a family birthday with a day at the beach is simply perfect. Especially when it ends in beachcombing at sunset on Bulcock Beach with a Golden Beach skyline. It is a special place where the land meets the sea, and the buildings frame the vista. To create this artwork, I blend my abstract watercolour painting with my photographs and digital drawing techniques. This process allows me to express the theme of a delightful, calm celebration that creates long lasting memories.
Photographer: Kym Tabulo
West, Vote Now
View Digital Artwork Artist: Renee Yates
Artist Location: East Ipswich
Medium: Mixed media animation, 2021
Dimensions: 0 x 0 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
West is a moving-image landscape that captures a familiar scene west of the city: the coal trains rumbling through the Queensland countryside as an afternoon storm rolls in down the range. As an artist who works in the Lockyer Valley, I see coal trains as both living relics exisiting on borrowed time and as a symbol of Queensland’s city-country connection. This connection is evident with the economic function of the coal industry (mining in Western Queensland provides city workers and the economy with the expendable income that allows them to figuratively “paint the town”) and with the juxtaposition of the colourful stylised urban street art that adorns the trains with the natural palette of the countryside. West was created with mixed media craft processes (graphite drawings and painted paper collage) that were digitised and brought to life with animation and audio field recordings and footage.
Photographer: Renee Yates
Sunday Morning, Vote Now
Artist: Eva Fritz
Artist Location: Sadliers Crossing
Medium: Oil on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 100 x 1 x 120 cm
Artist Statement:
For myself, ‘Paint the Town’ holds similarities and differences post 2020. Similarities are things like waking up with the sweet evidence of the night before: my discarded clothes and paraphernalia from the evening, and the still-lurking adrenaline from the fond memories of the places I have gone and the people I have been with. Sitting on the edge of my bed the morning after and relishing the recall of the experiences, however simple or subjectively grandiose they were, can often be as rewarding and fulfilling as the night itself. Differences is there is often a whole new sense of organisation and restriction that accompanies these nights, as suggested by the Check in Qld App. Reflecting this is the juxtaposition of spontaneity of brushstrokes and abandonment of objects in this piece with the harsh lines and flat tones of the mobile device.
Photographer: Eva Fritz
I Bring You Gifts,
Artist: Maharlina Gorospe-Lockie
Artist Location: Palm Cove
Medium: Acrylic and oil pastel on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 88.5 x 3.5 x 48.600000000000001 cm
Artist Statement:
Maharlina Gorospe-Lockie’s work expresses the beauty of landscape while exploring tensions between stasis and change, nostalgia and threat, celebration and despoilment. “I Bring You Gifts” invites the viewer to immerse themselves in water, forest and sky, to find their own sense of scale, time, and joy.
Photographer: Daniela Vavrova
Gathered Thoughts, Precious Memories, Vote Now
Artist: Pamela Finlay
Artist Location: BOWEN
Medium: Mixed media and Stitch on Textile and Paper, 2021
Dimensions: 30 x 8 x 23 cm
Artist Statement:
The Red Tailed Black Cockatoos are renowned to arrive preceding the rain and they’re a wonderful sight to see, they’re so hyper and exuberant when you hear them screeching. They also arrive in town to eat the fruit of the Terminalia Tree, also known as the Scrub Almond. They literally paint the town red with their red tails flying across the sky. The Terminalia is a carpet of red too in August when it drops its gigantic red leaves which are the source of reference for this collection of Artist Books that I have created. The different colours of the leaves intrigue me as does the variety in the colours and patterns of the feathers of the Cockatoo. It’s a special part of nature we get to experience and it makes my heart sing.
Photographer: Pamela Finlay
Cobb&Co1, Vote Now
Artist: Katherine Civil
Artist Location: Toowoomba
Medium: oil on canvas, 2020
Dimensions: 51 x 4 x 77 cm
Artist Statement:
The town of Toowoomba is painted in this work as the iconic museum. Bringing visitors from far and wide, this part of the world echoes the celebration of town and country. The wind machines
turn for water and the structure is stable in the elements. In this oil the paint is applied quickly and loosely and the colours harmonise to ring in sync with all that is Toowoomba.
Photographer: Katherine Civil
Dark Skies
Artist: Donna Glass
Artist Location: Bunya Mountains
Medium: Digital Print In Frame, 2020
Dimensions: 100 x 15 x 75 cm
Artist Statement:
Living In The Beautiful Dark Skies Of The Bunya Mountains Is An Absolute Privilege
Home Of The Wakka Wakka people With Huge Towering Ancient Bunya Trees
With Owls Hooting And Dingoes Howling Makes Foer A surreal Setting For Night Shots.
Photographer: Donna Glass
CELEBRATION, Vote Now
Artist: BRUCE GRIFFITHS
Artist Location: KLEINTON
Medium: WATERCOLOUR, 2021
Dimensions: 35 x 5 x 54 cm
Artist Statement:
CELEBRATION – 35X44 – Watercolour – BRUCE GRIFFITHS
I reviewed history for an event that had impressed me. The Sydney Tall Ships Regatta came to mind, but it would not be any old seascape. “It is not the subject that makes a painting work, it is the interpretation of the subject by the artist that lifts it out of the ordinary.” So, I merged a number of my own images with history and placed the “viewing point” on top of the midmast of one of these majestic vessels. All below is secondary, even the Opera House & Sydney Harbour Bridge. So, against tradition I placed the viewer & some of the crew in the upper foreground. The only things above them; the soaring birds & fleeing balloons before the wind. All other are simply supports & my focus is the cavalcade of celebratory flags tied to the foremast. It is all about CELEBRATION
Photographer: BRUCE GRIFFITHS
A Reason to Celebrate
Artist: Pamela Finlay
Artist Location: Bowen
Medium: Mixed Media on Watercolour Paper, 2021
Dimensions: 56 x 2 x 76 cm
Artist Statement:
Art is a process of exploration. Today I might see something fresh and new in the landscape that I didn’t see yesterday. Every day is a reason to celebrate the diversity of what I see. Today might be windy, tomorrow may be calm and these elements can affect the natural world immensely. Leaves can be blown off trees and tomorrow sees a new cycle of growth emerging. The Scrub Almond Tree comes to mind when I think of this, the colour, size and shape of the different leaves on the same tree. The Red Tailed Cockatoos enjoy devouring fruit from this tree and set about leaving litter from their munchings on the local beachfront avenue of trees. To see them flying across the sky is a sight to behold. The ground throughout Bowen is a carpet of red leaves after their onslaught and afterwards fresh new growth of bright green leaves appear.
Photographer: Pamela Finlay
Sandbeach songlines
Artist: Samantha Hobson
Artist Location: Lockhart River
Medium: acrylic on canvas, 2020
Dimensions: 61 x 3 x 106 cm
Artist Statement:
Songline’ is a term that is often used to define relationships between stories, ceremony and sacred sites; the knowledge that is passed down through oral tradition, song, dance and more recently, fine art painting. Sharing these stories brings the community together in celebration.
‘Sandbeach Songlines’ captures a contemplative mood. For Samantha, this begins with a creamy white background representing the pristine sands of the Great Barrier Reef, north of Lockhart River where the artist lives. Fractured lines bleed into this tranquil background. The artist often reflects how such opposing forces echo her own turbulent life, delicately balanced between a sense of apprehension and acceptance. ‘Sandbeach Songlines’ is a gestural landscape which epitomises the inseparable dualities of land and sea, culture and identity, time and healing.
Photographer: Mick Richards
Dance Like Nobody’s Watching, Vote Now
Artist: Katie Whyte
Artist Location: South Toowoomba
Medium: Gouache on Cotton Rag Paper, 2021
Dimensions: 25.5 x 0.20000000000000001 x 35 cm
Artist Statement:
I dance like nobody’s watching.
I use all the colours.
I paint the town as a mural artist travelling across Queensland.
I employ others to embrace their weirdness.
I give silent permission to find joy in expressing our true selves.
I celebrate our uniqueness and celebrate our wonderful differences,
in all shapes, sizes and details,
as individuals, cultures and communities.
Photographer: Katie Whyte
The Royal
Artist: LeAnne Vincent
Artist Location: Sadliers Crossing
Medium: Pigment print on Photo Rag, 2021
Dimensions: 52 x 0.2 x 75 cm
Artist Statement:
The outback town of Winton asserts a festive atmosphere ideal for celebration, with a main street lined with carnival lights, lively hotels, and The Royal theatre, Australia’s most iconic open-air cinema, and one of only two still operating.
Constructed in 1938 and still standing triumphantly, this building has largely escaped graffiti, bar a solitary, roughly painted face, aptly reminiscent of the Greek theatre masks of comedy and tragedy. The simple architecture of this shed-like structure of corrugated iron walls without a roof, adds to the quirky ambiance that serves to recreate the excitement of the silver screen era in the outback.
A chance moment led me to this experience on a recent road trip from Ipswich to Winton. On a cold evening, with freshly cooked popcorn in hand, I celebrated being in the outback, with John Wayne in The Desert Trail, set against the Winton evening sky.
Photographer: LeAnne Vincent
Eucalpytian Glad Rags
Artist: Anne Mossman
Artist Location: Elanora
Medium: Coloured Porcelain, 2021
Dimensions: 26 x 22 x 22 cm
Artist Statement:
Mossman’s inspiration is drawn from the disparate colours on some of the eucalypt tree trunks that surround her hinterland environment. In the summer the eucalyptus bark peels off in sheaths to reveal nude like patches of new ‘skin’ which is invariably smooth and lighter coloured than other parts of the bark. The contrast in colours and tones is wondrous and provides an ever changing visual feast. This vessel purposely exaggerates the colour palette as a celebration of Australia’s iconic trees.
Photographer: Anne Mossman
Maleny, Vote Now
Artist: Sophie Thyer
Artist Location: Caloundra
Medium: Watercolour and Gouache, 2021
Dimensions: 30 x 1 x 45 cm
Artist Statement:
My family and I relocated to Sunshine Coast during the Covid-19 pandemic period. Lockdowns and snap border closures mean that we needed to stay local and appreciate everyday life without travelling overseas, or even interstate. I was inspired to paint this work to capture a glimpse of natural beauty in my town. I can’t help but wonder, why is nature so therapeutic? Beaches, Hinterland, mountains, and subtropical rainforest- Thank you. You have made my memory during the pandemic much more beautiful!
Photographer: Sophie Thyer
Looking Forward, Vote Now
Artist: Margaret Goldsmith
Artist Location: Mt. Tambourine
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 64 x 64 x 5 cm
Artist Statement:
Margaret’s preferred painting style is abstract expressionism using acrylic and oils, also mixed media and collage with drawing. Her studies included Ceramics, Sculpture , Bachelor of Arts at Queensland University Technology. in the early 1980’s
She is fully professional and had set up her studio on Tamborine Mt over thirty years ago, her name is very familiar on the catalogues of prestigious galleries around Queensland and New South Wales. Her works are included through Australia, New Zealand and many countries
Through my paintings and glass work I attempt to capture a language that does not know stillness, only motion. ”
“My work is full of happy predictions, vital paint colours, refreshing and vibrant moments of intense pleasure,
The uncontrollable happiness of a dance on canvas or paper. My aim is to simplify the figure further. I paint series of many different subject matter.
Photographer: Margaret Goldsmith
To the Citizens of Paradise
View Digital Artwork Artist: Bianca Tainsh
Artist Location: WEYBA DOWNS
Medium: Digital print on Hahnemühle Bamboo paper, graphite, frame made from sustainable timber, wood chips from land cleared for a shopping mall expansion, online video 1:46min., 2021
Dimensions: 65 x 3.5 x 58 cm
Artist Statement:
With a practice grounded in social change, open-disciplinary artist Bianca Tainsh generates spaces for reflection on social dilemma, with suggestive cues to self-evolve. Her work To the Citizens of Paradise was conceptualised as a response to the exodus of urban inhabitants to idyllic rural locations, in the wake of COVID-19. As towns swell, commercial development is accelerated. And this multidimensional work is an entreaty to these new neighbours to discard urban penchants for convenient consumerism and celebrate a life elevated by locality – our beautiful biosphere and village culture. As a development of her own recent return to ‘paradise’ Tainsh’s more current works seek to reframe the magnificence of the wilderness. At the same time, she avoids romantic and empirical approaches, and comes from a place where primal connections become fundamental for the individual to identify with our true nature, as part of the whole.
Photographer: Bianca Tainsh
Sundae Night, Vote Now
Artist: Charlotte Wensley
Artist Location: Peregian Beach
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 76 x 4 x 76 cm
Artist Statement:
We ‘paint the town’ with a family tradition that can be traced back to my childhood; a time when growing up on farming country left little time for celebrations and visiting the ice cream parlour in town was a grand and poignant affair. This ‘treat’ inheritance lives on today as part of our family’s story about how we celebrate special occasions. Gatherings big or small, loud or quiet, with friends or kith and kin, our festivities are incomplete without ice cream sundaes, crafted with care and ceremony. ‘Sundae Night’ is inspired by our familial devotion to all things sweet and sugary. In this painting I wanted to convey a sense of layers of indulgence and the feeling of gravitas evoked by special celebratory moments. This humble confection, dolloped, drizzled and steeped in family folklore, symbolises abundance, joy in our togetherness, gratitude for family and sweet moments in time.
Photographer: mark Lutz
Flying Art, Vote Now
Artist: Christa Coetzee
Artist Location: Clear Mountain
Medium: Mixed Media on Paper, 2021
Dimensions: 87 x 0.20000000000000001 x 64 cm
Artist Statement:
Flying Art
Imagine innocent youth. Combined with silver strands of wisdom.
Flying with whimsical wings of freedom, fuelled with flawless wisdom,
through time on a pendulum suspended from a universe filled with
1010010011101110011000’s and you are one block in the chain…
Knowing nothing yet everything.
In this virtual ‘apple’ world of songs yet to be ‘sung’
Photographer: Christa Coetzee
The final meal, Vote Now
Artist: Katie Hooper
Artist Location: Tamborine Mountain
Medium: Digital photograph, 2020
Dimensions: 50 x 0.5 x 50 cm
Artist Statement:
The final meal. With friends, a lover, a community, with life.
The final meal. No matter the reason to say goodbye, it is a time to celebrate.
The final meal. A reflection of what was and is no more.
The final meal. A time to remember the laughter, the love, the learning.
The final meal. All the favourites, all at once.
Photographer: Katie Hooper
Kickin Up Ya Heels, Vote Now
Artist: Donna Rivers
Artist Location: Jundah
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 60 x 3.5 x 60 cm
Artist Statement:
My preference is to explore with acrylic mediums and textures in a free style to bring my art pieces to life.
Kicking Up Ya Heels has been created with bold colours, textures and evolving brush strokes. With feelings that bring joy of having fun, a connection to country, family and friends and elevates life in our town.
My artwork captures the sense of excitement of the ‘paint the town’ theme as it represents the atmosphere, culture and people of my town, Jundah, during times of celebration. It has a strong visual appetite for colours in my outback surrounding at festive times.
Photographer: Donna Rivers
A Gentle Sway
Artist: Nicole Jakins
Artist Location: Glenwood
Medium: Stoneware clay, brass, eucalypt pigment, 2021
Dimensions: 50 x 21 x 93 cm
Artist Statement:
The winter light filters through the wattle as they sway gently in the breeze. Cradled in between soft mountain peaks, their blooms slowly turn into a burnt golden hue as the sun lowers in the sky. I breath in the rich, heady scents of the bush, listening to the slow-flowing trickle of tannin stained water as it meanders around me.
This is how I celebrate life – by switching off and quietly reflecting on the incredible diversity of the surrounding environment, and observing the flow of things. A simple, solitary act that fills my cup so profoundly that I am completely restored, feeling blessed that I have been able to share this celebratory moment with nature itself.
Photographer: Nicole Jakins
Hiraeth, Vote Now
Artist: Bernadine Anning
Artist Location: Nanum
Medium: Mixed media Acrylic and oil, 2021
Dimensions: 90 x 2 x 90 cm
Artist Statement:
Hiraeth is Welsh for a spiritual longing for a home which maybe never was. Nostalgia for ancient places to which we cannot return. This work explores the magic and longing for a natural landscape that we should exist. We cannot return to this place and therefore deep nostalgia is prominent in our dreams.
Photographer: Bernadine Anning
Festival Fever, Vote Now
Artist: Kym Tabulo
Artist Location: MOOLOOLAH VALLEY
Medium: Digital, 2021
Dimensions: 64 x 1 x 46 cm
Artist Statement:
Woodforida is a party town for the week-long festival, that once was and will be again. This artwork captures the energy of the celebration, which climaxes with a New Year’s Eve party. My digital collage combines photographs I took at the festival with digital drawing. I use an XP-Pen drawing tablet, Photoshop, and filters to blend several layers into a final image. The process enables me to generate art that reflects the excitement of the event in all its glorious colours, especially red.
Photographer: Kym Tabulo
Jumping for Joy, Vote Now
Artist: Jenny Neubecker
Artist Location: Waterloo
Medium: Pencil and graphite on paper, 2021
Dimensions: 41 x 2 x 58 cm
Artist Statement:
No matter the weather or time of day, our working dogs jump for joy when they are released from their pens. Sometimes that’s for work or sometimes just for play; either way their joyful enthusiasm is contagious. Whatever my days’ circumstances or the mood I might be in they bring instant joy and pleasure. Without any worries about the past or anxiety about the future they live completely in the present and celebrate in leaps and bounds without a hint of self-consciousness. Being with them when they play, or work the cows, brings joy to my soul and reminds me to enjoy and to celebrate the small pleasures of life.
Photographer: Jenny Neubecker
Inside Adventure 1
Artist: Kym Barrett
Artist Location: Chatsworth
Medium: oils and cold wax medium on board, 2021
Dimensions: 55 x 4 x 55 cm
Artist Statement:
INSIDE ADVENTURE emerged organically out of the painting process of building up and breaking down layers using oils, oilsticks and other drawing media. It was an exciting adventure, (a celebration even!) with rapid gestural mark-making, quick paint applications.
Not the usual way a person might celebrate but during Covid 19 restrictions in 2020, the studio solitude was the perfect place to have fun!
I’m not a party girl. Never have been. No painting the town red for me!
This work can be seen as an internal landscape, while tethered to memories of my creek at the bottom of my property, where I regularly sit and draw. That I can do this, is cause for daily gratitude and honouring.
My abstract vocabulary of colour, texture and mark expresses my lively connection to place, as well as a traversing of the mysterious, ambiguous terrain in the process of both painting and living.
Photographer: Kym Barrett
Precious, Vote Now
Artist: Gabi Sturman
Artist Location: Yungaburra
Medium: Ceramic, timber, 2020
Dimensions: 17 x 35 x 42 cm
Artist Statement:
Two squirrel gliders are waking up from their sleep to embrace the night with their antics that will paint the town – or forest in this case.
Squirrel gliders are the party animals of the forest at night, aerobatic flashes of grey dart in between the trees as their big, beautiful eyes glisten like the celestial sky.
Their night club of choice are gnarly big old trees that they can glide between, and hollows they can sleep off the excesses of the night.
Unlike the squirrel gliders, I am not a party animal, but I do enjoy quiet moments of reflection and gratitude in the bush. Moments that celebrate the amazing diversity of our wild landscapes with all its creatures. Even though rarely seen, when spotted, there is such delight in knowing that the gliders are still there, in their natural habitat, doing their thing. Truly precious.
Photographer: Sarah Scragg
Joie de vivre
Artist: Kerry Wilson
Artist Location: Yandina
Medium: Mixed Media on paper, 2020
Dimensions: 61 x 0 x 45 cm
Artist Statement:
I enjoy the drama of romantic landscapes, and I enjoy mark-making.
I enjoy the calligraphic and floating perspective of Chinese landscapes.
I enjoy automatic drawing and the excitement of chance.
All of these things are distilled into my own personal iconography.
Painting helps me to understand the world, to celebrate the natural world, to see, to feel, and to live in the moment.
My aim is to invoke the spirit and feeling of the natural world.
I invite the viewer to experience and connect with the exuberant enjoyment of life.
Photographer: Kerry Wilson
Purlingbrook Fall, Vote Now
Artist: Paul de Zubicaray
Artist Location: Albany Creek
Medium: Oil on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 102 x 4 x 76 cm
Artist Statement:
For the inaugural Merv award I have painted a picturesque waterfall in the Gold Coast hinterland called Purlingbrook Falls. My family and I have regularly visited this peaceful and tranquil spot over the years so it has nostalgic value. As the Gold Coast is renowned for its nightlife, these days I prefer to paint the town red (and other colours) literally rather than figuratively.
Photographer: Paul de Zubicaray
Only Pink in Here! (2021), Vote Now
Artist: Lee Fullarton and Sue Hammond
Artist Location: Ipswich
Medium: Photographic Print, 2021
Dimensions: 29 x 5 x 30 cm
Artist Statement:
Through their collaboration FullARTon and Hammond intentionally wander into the narratives of the creative, mythical and adventurous woman. Together they create the work as an installation searching iconic Queensland environments and moments, detailing costumes and evoking the mood of the space. In Only Pink in Here! FullARTon and Hammond capture the preparation for Painting the Town Pink! Beauty is always at the forefront of their making; they explore and play – and Hammond captures ‘that’ moment through the eye of the lens.
Photographer: Lee Fullarton
Tallulah, Vote Now
Artist: Gayle Fleming
Artist Location: GOODNA
Medium: Acrylic on Paper, 2021
Dimensions: 29 x 0 x 21.5 cm
Artist Statement:
I am the vase on the table.
My name is Tallulah and I have a wild side.
Much like the flowers in me.
By day I am content, quietly reflecting on my role to display myself.
Tonight I dance on the table, celebrating my freedom.
I don’t need an audience, I am totally me.
When I put on my dancing shoes, I am the total surprise package.
Again energised, I dance till exhausted.
Happy to slip into my vase, secretly content.
This ritual I love and wait till darkness approaches.
To again be, wild Tallulah.
Photographer: Gayle Fleming
Bird on a wire,
Artist: Andrea Baumert Howard
Artist Location: Ipswich
Medium: Digital Print on Handmade Paper, 2021
Dimensions: 29.8 x 0.1 x 21 cm
Artist Statement:
For me celebrations are an everyday thing. Finding quiet moments to celebrate the beauty of an ordinary life.
The joy when you witness a magpie serenading the sun and, for a moment, you are the one being serenaded. Listening with closed eyes to their incredible and haunting songs.
Remembering that there are a million reasons to smile throughout the day and opening your heart to finding them.
This piece is a further exploration into my experimenting with handmade paper. The image is a digital photograph printed onto a sheet of handmade paper. The multilayered paper is made from the pulp of junk mail, hand dyed office discards and cartridge paper.
As a small-batch artist I am constantly trying new things and I am celebrating the joy that working with paper can offer me.
Photographer: Andrea Baumert Howard
Painting Aaron
Artist: Catherine Boreham
Artist Location: Yeppoon
Medium: Acrylic and Oils, 2020
Dimensions: 120 x 5 x 77 cm
Artist Statement:
Whilst getting to know Aaron in the last few years I reaslised he gives everything 100% effort. Much later I discovered that his skill set includes actor, writer, director and he has performed in numerous Australian and American stage and screen productions. Aaron is a graduate of QUT’s Acting Strand and some of his roles were in sea Patrol, Harrow and Hobson’s Choice just to name a few.
He wrote, produced, directed and starred in an Australian film Talking Back at Thunder. His outstanding achievements go further than I have space to mention here.
In this portrait there are no balloons, no confetti, no festivities. There is however, a lot of quiet gratitude, reflection and sentiment.
For me painitng a portrait is a joyous activity and a special opportunity that has the potential of bringing a whole community together to celebrate alongside me. It may be an achivement, or a person’s admirable character, a life that was well lived, or a life full of generosity, but also the forgotten, or the poorly esteemed.
In an age that vaidates fame, fortune and followers, what a blessing it is to bring people together, to “paint the town with the colours of an “ordinary, or an “extrordinary” person’s life. Not always necessarily for what they have done, but for who they are.
Photographer: Catherine Boreham
Liberation, Vote Now
Artist: Liz Celegato
Artist Location: Eatons Hill
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas, 2020
Dimensions: 91 x 4 x 91 cm
Artist Statement:
As an artist, utilising bright, exciting colours definately evoke feelings within me of enjoyment, euphoria, contentment, optimism, and celebration. They often conjure a sense of pure and utmost joy! I have attempted to combine free flowing bright colour along with stylised, patterned birds in order to seek the true meaning of the title of this work, ‘Liberation’. Liberation is the action of setting someone or something free – it is a release – and that is what I felt when I created this artwork during this new era of Covid. Our modern world, right now, can often feel so negative, strange and daunting but we all need to keep the positivity happening. Everyone should be encouraged to ‘paint the town’……however they see fit. To live in the moment and appreciate the good things that life still has to offer. To be reminded of feelings of happiness, joy & contentment. To feel liberated and to be thankful…..
Photographer: Liz Celegato
Jimmy and Denis – its in his jeans
Artist: Melaine Doheny
Artist Location: Blackbutt North
Medium: Photographic work, 2021
Dimensions: 45 x 3 x 30 cm
Artist Statement:
Isolation, long work days, climate change and globalization are just some of the many pressures that make farming a vulnerable occupation in addition to stock gates.
There is a bond that is made through the love of horses that can be a way of connecting members of community who otherwise would not meet through social events, meetings or networking programs.
From as far back as the human memory reaches, people and horses have always had a special relationship. People form an inexplicable bond with their horses, built on trust, loyalty and love.
Dennis is a paint horse. Jimmy is the custodian of Dennis – or is it the other way around.
Photographer: Melaine Doheny
Celebration of the bridge, Vote Now
Artist: Tarja Ahokas
Artist Location: Ninderry
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 45.200000000000003 x 3.7000000000000002 x 45.700000000000003 cm
Artist Statement:
Artwork is often projected onto bridges for various celebrations.
My new bridge, built over a ditch, leading to my studio is not as grand as the Brisbane Story Bridge but it also has its own story and I wanted to “paint the town” by celebrating my bridge with my own colours and imagery.
Photographer: Tarja Ahokas
Gateway
Artist: Kym Barrett
Artist Location: Chatsworth
Medium: oils, mixed media on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 120 x 4 x 120 cm
Artist Statement:
I’m not a party girl. Never have been. What makes me feel most alive and uplifted is the simplicity of being in Nature, alone. No painting the town red for me.
I live in open hilly bushland beside a rainforested creek. That fact is cause for daily celebration, and especially during Covid 19 restrictions, it was a source of emotional and spiritual sustenance.
GATEWAY emerged as an abstract expression of the animating and sustaining life-force that flows at my place, and in all of Nature. In all our busyness and distractions, it is a reminder of our need to connect with and celebrate the green places. When we pay attention, listen and just be there, it can be a portal to slowing down, breathing deeply and feeling joy. Our hard edges soften and our difficulties subside.
Photographer: Kym Barrett
Ode to Victorious II, Vote Now
Artist: Rachel Wolfe
Artist Location: Redlynch
Medium: Watercolour on paper, 2021
Dimensions: 76 x 0.10000000000000001 x 56 cm
Artist Statement:
I am a survivor of domestic violence and a post traumatic stress disorder warrior. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, ‘Ode to Victorious II’ is a symbolic celebration of my new beginning. For I am a wolf who cannot be tamed or controlled and I embrace my life transformation. I will no longer hide in shame or fear as I now celebrate every day of my beautiful and peaceful life.
Photographer: Rachel Wolfe
Bushwalk
Artist: Jasna Spiranovic
Artist Location: Hollywell
Medium: Oil on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 93 x 4 x 77 cm
Artist Statement:
I celebrate the little things in life by going for walks in nature.
This painting depicts a walk I did one morning where I felt I was walking in clouds one moment and then the forest the next moments. These Spaces of nature not only calm my mind but make me feel appreciate nature .
Photographer: Jasna Spiranovic
Ignite
Artist: Michelle Kurth
Artist Location: Cooran
Medium: Plastic Food Packaging, Metal Fan Case, Cotton Warp, 2021
Dimensions: 54 x 13 x 52 cm
Artist Statement:
My memories of fun and celebration always have a brightness about them. Thoughts
re-ignited and brought back to life with feelings of joy, the images bold and full of colour.
Growing up in an English seaside resort, a special outing was often focused around the fairground. The amusement arcade with it’s coloured lights and brash signs.
The carnival that preceded it with it’s balloons, streamers and everything that sparkled.
With these events there were always treats. Food or novelties that came in bright plastic wrappers. Overwhelmed by the choice as a child, yet wanting to have it all.
In adult years the contents of the event changed. Bright colours came from lights in a nightclub, or behind the band. Later still; the observation that celebration and fun doesn’t always need to be an external source, and learning how to create that sweet sparkle within.
Photographer: Michelle Kurth
TOWN AND COUNTRY
Artist: Brian Hatch
Artist Location: Cleveland
Medium: OIL on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 76 x 4 x 100 cm
Artist Statement:
The theme ‘Paint the Town’ leaves an artist with many options. My interpretation is to do just that, namely paint a town as perched on a hill in the countryside using a contemporary approach. The blocks of colour represent shops and buildings stretched along a ridge with fields suggested by the larger yellow shapes below. The theme suggests painting the town red but instead I painted what can be interpreted as sky in orange/red to indicate the heat of an Australian summer.
The painting had three stages. Firstly blocking in the shapes of the town, then altering the colours to free up the image. The last stage was to modify the colours by scumbling lighter tones over the previous colours to unify the whole painting. The under painting was blocked in using acrylics and then overpainting with oils to secure a more intense paint effect.
This then is my version of “Paint the Town”.
Photographer: Brian Hatch
Ode To Streetart, Vote Now
Artist: Kate Roberts
Artist Location: IPSWICH
Medium: 3D – cardboard, copper, acrylic paint, timber and found objects, 2021
Dimensions: 20 x 20 x 20 cm
Artist Statement:
Paying homage to those artists who help us celebrate our town as a blank canvas, and taking so many forms from full wall murals to paste ups and everything in between, adding a splash of colour or an image that stops and makes us take a moment to ponder, on a random wall or a hidden laneway.
From now famous rebel works of Banksy, working in the stealth of darkness, to the graffiti artist who do incredible things with a spray can, to now the very sort after mural artist. Acknowledging my fellow artist in my genre of small scale, this storage shed near my workplace changes often with additions and makes me smile.
I absolutely love and appreciate the effort and toil of our street artist and finally getting the accolades they deserve as they celebrate by literally painting our towns.
Photographer: Kate Roberts
Unabashed Bliss, Vote Now
Artist: Josie Bennett
Artist Location: Mount Coolum
Medium: Archival ink on 300gsm cotton rag, 2021
Dimensions: 20.32 x 0 x 30.48 cm
Artist Statement:
Children remind us of the exquisiteness of every moment, and a playful readiness for anything allows us to feel the joy of such moments and celebrate them entirely.
While walking with a friend and her daughter, I managed to capture her daughter in a moment of unabashed bliss. After the two of them had spent the day apart, they were thrilled to be in each other’s presence once again. Their satisfaction and happiness were palpable and contagious.
Despite familiarity with the subject, my approach was similar to that of street photography in that it was an unplanned, quick response to a candid moment.
This photo serves as a reminder to be playful, to ‘Paint the Town’ and celebrate life’s joyful moments, both big and small.
Photographer: Josie Bennett
Sanctuary, Vote Now
Artist: Ann Russell
Artist Location: Cashmere
Medium: Mixed Media Assemblage, 2021
Dimensions: 30 x 45 x 45 cm
Artist Statement:
Celebration for me happens with and in nature. It is also the reason for celebration, especially when I have encounters like the one that inspired this work, where I came across a nesting swamp hen in the middle of a suburban lagoon. The lagoon is surrounded by houses, but the trees around the lagoon create a quiet sanctuary, within the busyness of suburban life. The work features a sanctuary for the swamp hen’s nest made by ‘painting the town’ on an outer wall, and the trees within. The work is presented in a glass cake dome – cakes are associated with celebration.
Photographer: Ann Russell
The Hug, Vote Now
Artist: Karen Wiz SMITH
Artist Location: Gold Coast
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 91 x 4 x 91 cm
Artist Statement:
As an introverted artistic type, I prefer to keep celebrations low key, no rabble rousing about town for this individual. Hence, this work conceptualises the importance of being grounded and connected to place and loved ones, to either celebrate or commiserate, where the simple hug (although almost taboo) is a favoured means of emotional expression.
Photographer: Karen Wiz SMITH
medicinae crescente de terra I (medicine growing from our earth I)
Artist: Cara-Ann Simpson
Artist Location: Haden
Medium: ink infused metal, 2021
Dimensions: 76.2 x 0.5 x 76.2 cm
Artist Statement:
medicinae crescente de terra I’ celebrates returning to my heart’s home: the joy, fulfilment and healing nature of place. Here I am grounded, deeply connected to the earth and sky.
The specimen is gumbi gumbi (Pittosporum angustifolium) from my family’s farm located on the lands of the Jarowair people of the Wakka Wakka nation. Gumbi gumbi is a beautiful weeping tree – lyrical, medicinal and a peacock within the bush.
In the title, seen within the image as a spectrograph (soundwave), I remind myself that all medicine comes from our earth in some form or another. This work is part of “Furari Flores” (Stealing Flowers) is a vanitas series of one-on-one plant interviews. The titles are spoken in Latin and translated into spectrographs. There is an irony of speaking a dead language to plucked flowers/fruits, now also dying, and leaving only the visual representation, the movement of sound left behind.
Photographer: Cara-Ann Simpson
21st Century Aphrodite, Vote Now
Artist: Ange Venardos
Artist Location: Woorim
Medium: Watercolour, 2021
Dimensions: 80 x 5 x 80 cm
Artist Statement:
21st Century Aphrodite is a simple elegant response to celebrating everything it takes to being a female in today’s world. It evokes a spirit of sensuality, (tulips are said to refer to the perfect lover), fertility, and grace (signified by the magnolia) with a focus on quiet moments of reflection and gratitude, ceremony, tradition and ritual through the choice of Eastern composition and colour.
This is a work rich in metaphor and symbolism. The female form, at one with the landscape, rises from adversity and pain depicted by the thorns embedded in her lower limbs. The Carline Thistle (an ancient remedy for pestilence and plague) to the bottom left, references hope for a natural Covid cure. The traditional shell of Venus has diminished. Today’s female has outgrown the embellishments of history’s expectations. She looks down serenely upon the lily which was once used to enhance natural beauty but often killed more women in the process of pleasing and attracting a mate. This lily recognises the woman’s responsibility to ‘keep it hot’ deferring to the importance of inner beauty and natural glow.
Aphrodite – goddess of love – celebrates the awakening feminine in all mankind.
Photographer: Ange Venardos
Music to the ears, Vote Now
Artist: Katherine Civil
Artist Location: Toowoomba
Medium: watercolour on paper, 2021
Dimensions: 42 x 0.10000000000000001 x 30 cm
Artist Statement:
With music in the background, the subtle tones in this painting, bely the celebration happening
without. In the night air, the notes float and and dance to the rhythm of the occasion. It is a joyous
sound that brings delight to all who hear and celebrate. The character is the pied piper and he
belts out a merry tune. Come dance and sing with me, the colours echo
Photographer: Katherine Civil
Poona Lake Ghosts
Artist: Nicole Harper
Artist Location: Gympie
Medium: Oil on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 91 x 4 x 120 cm
Artist Statement:
Poona Lake is unique perched lake in Butchulla country near Rainbow Beach. Sketching in situ, absorbing the landscape and connecting to the place, as a plein air artist, this gathering of information and feeling is the basis for undertaking this larger work in oil paint in the studio. The ghosts, or remanets, of much and many are present in this work. I acknowledge the Traditional Owners, the Butchulla, their elders past, present and future and the value this place holds for them, gathering. I remember a group of women seeking connection, with place and each other, evoking a spirit of festivity. I reflect on times I have sought solace here, found gratitude, and depart with a feeling of celebration that nature provides in being part of it, even if just for a short time. I dwell upon the future, and the achievements that will be celebrated by the next generations.
Photographer: Nicole Harper
Summer Clover
Artist: CAITLIN BRODERICK
Artist Location: Ironpot
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 61 x 3.5 x 61 cm
Artist Statement:
Where I live, there are many black cockatoos that fly around. They are a beautiful, graceful bird, with a distinct call that can be heard echoing in the coastal breeze. They glide effortlessly in the salty ocean air, calling to each other. They bring an energy that tends to be celebratory, as if they are celebrating their home and their free spirit. I think they perfectly represent our coastal home and the happiness and contentment felt near the beach. I brought in vibrant pops of pinks and blues to bring forth their wild and celebratory energy. Her name reflects her energy and the empowerment she brings. Summer Clover.
Photographer: CAITLIN BRODERICK
Fa La La La, La La La La, Vote Now
Artist: Kym Tabulo
Artist Location: MOOLOOLAH VALLEY
Medium: Digital Photograph, 2021
Dimensions: 16.5 x 2 x 11.699999999999999 cm
Artist Statement:
It’s the season to be jolly, and the decorations are ready to deck the halls. Boughs of holly, Tiggers, stars and feathers will festoon the house, and the Christmas tree will be laden with gifts. Our Christmas is always a family event full of laughter and love. With the focus on Tigger’s nose and then the explosion of colours and textures, I took this photograph because it represents the fun and joy generated every year.
Photographer: Kym Tabulo
Festival Of Colours, Vote Now
Artist: Elise Higginson
Artist Location: Ayr
Medium: Acrylic Paints With gold cardboard on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 0 x 0 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
Colour The Town means As The Artist means festival of colours, fireworks explosions of colour & joyful moments of reflection and making memories, traditions, creativity, ceremonies, feasts, rituals, expressed through dancing & signing around a full moon drumming circle with family, friends, the whole community occasionally festival. Celebrating milestones of community spirit, pride Representing your Town, State or Country of Origin. Reflection and remembering where you come from and what you went through to get to what you have achieved in life. My Artwork is called Festival of Joyful Colour. The paintings has Gold throughout and represents celebration, uniting as one nation. Celebration, spirit of the universe soul, mind & body. And loving each other in harmony. Respecting the land and elders past and present among us. Standing tall and proud to be a Queensland.
Photographer: Quinten Swaffield
Reconnected To The Self and The Ancestors Through The Act of Washing My Body
Artist: Sammaneh Pourshafighi
Artist Location: Hollywell
Medium: Digital photograph on archival paper, 2021
Dimensions: 120 x 4 x 85 cm
Artist Statement:
My family and I came to Australia as refugees from Iran. As part of a diaspora, I am constantly trying to find a place as a queer, Muslim and Persian person living on unceded, stolen, indigenous land. For as many moments of struggle that exist in this experience, there are moments of joy, quiet introspection and pride. The Covid-19 pandemic has added more layers of complexity to my experience especially around the importance of nurturing and maintaining connections to my social communities, cultural background, traditional rituals, and my family both living and ancestral.
This photograph was taken in my parents’ Gold Coast garden after being reunited with them. Covid-19 restrictions had prevented me seeing them in over 6 months. My mother and her sister are wearing traditional Persian garments and ritualistically washing my body in an Islamic style. The ritual was equal parts celebration, act of love, and spiritual cleansing.
Photographer: Sammaneh Pourshafighi
Celebration of colour, Vote Now
Artist: Jeanie MacNamara
Artist Location: Benaraby
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 60 x 3.2999999999999998 x 80 cm
Artist Statement:
Border closures, lock-downs and social distancing were terms found in science fiction novels until COVID hit. My joy until then was to go out into this beautiful world that we share and paint it in all its glory, especially when I was able to do so with my friend Gayle – another passionate artist, who showed me the joy of painting landscapes. To my delight, in between lockdowns, my friend and I stole an afternoon at Newstead House when the Poincianna trees were in riotous flower. While this painting most certainly celebrates the vivid colours of the river and the trees, what it celebrates more is the time I managed to spend with Gayle. When artists come together to paint the wonders of this glorious land, either in silent contemplation or joyous laughter, the world is a better place.
Photographer: Jeanie MacNamara
MY HAPPY PLACE, Vote Now
Artist: Christine Holden
Artist Location: Boyne Island
Medium: Marine debris rope, twine and fishing line, 2021
Dimensions: 16 x 25 x 26 cm
Artist Statement:
Life is full of highs and lows and the challenges we face can be overwhelming at times, so for me, creating art helps me to maintain a healthy balance. Simply put, weaving makes me happy. The process of gathering materials from the environment, recycling and reusing what is around me is a very healing activity that quietens the mind and replenishes the sole. Through this journey I have become increasingly aware of the need for everyone to reduce their waste and protect our beautiful planet. This basket reflects my love of the ocean and our unique Australian reef systems that need our help to remain a happy place for future generations.
Photographer: Christine Holden
At the Oak, Vote Now
Artist: Ela Bozek
Artist Location: Healy
Medium: Acrylics on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 77 x 4 x 102 cm
Artist Statement:
The first beats of live music starts the evening at the Oak. Undeniably, there would be no celebration without it. Everyone in the room waited the whole week to come here to the dancefloor. Familiar and unfamiliar faces smile to each other. It always helps to look at that joy.
Visiting the Oak made me feel like me, back home.
Photographer: Ela Bozek
Walking with friends
Artist: Jasna Spiranovic
Artist Location: Hollywell
Medium: Digital photograph, 2020
Dimensions: 90 x 0.5 x 75 cm
Artist Statement:
During Covid lockdowns I like many people in the world was unable to see some friends. This photograph depicts me feeling happy to have seen some friends and celebrating by going for an early morning walk .
Photographer: Jasna Spiranovic
