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
Granite Country
Artist: Jennifer Redmond
Artist Location: Highvale
Medium: Acrylic on board, 2021
Dimensions: 70 x 100 cm
Artist Statement:
The Tablelands and the Granite Belt portray a ‘sense of silence’ a ‘sense of beauty’ and a ‘sense of place’ where the trees and boulders stand before you reaching for the sky.
There is an essence which is magic.
Photographer: Jennifer Redmond
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
Marco Della Valle The Wisdom of Times, Vote Now
Artist: Donna Beningfield
Artist Location: Townsville
Medium: Acrylic, Gold leaf and charcoal on canvas, 2020
Dimensions: 100 x 3 x 76 cm
Artist Statement:
The spirit of celebration is something far greater than us mere mortals inhabiting this earth. There is a wisdom and energy that connects all things and beings in this amazing celebration of life. The mystery of our universe gives wonder to the unknown as we contemplate our position in this cosmos of eternity. However, it is in the earthy realm that we witness mankind’s desire to find purpose and meaning to our lives.
My sense of celebration is best felt in the creation of a new body of art work. As a portrait painter I endeavor to find that connection to another which is experienced in our collective consciousness. As I delve more into the area of “Expanded Portraiture” the physical representation of the person dissolves into a sense of who they are in this life and who they may have been in a past or future life.
Photographer: Donna Beningfield
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
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
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
Stolen
Artist: Darren Blackman
Artist Location: Nambour
Medium: Acrylic, enamel on linen, 2021
Dimensions: 97 x 30 x 120 cm
Artist Statement:
Stolen’ is an indigenous perspective of ‘Paint the Town’. Stolen isn’t a controversial subject or a resistance statement but a simple truth.
Australia is a young, immature nation that is coming to terms with history in all its entirety. Pre Native Title, Australian history was politically worded, hand picked articles that ignored indigenous sovereignty while reinforcing Eurocentric conquest. As the nation matured, and global human rights evolved, the less heroic stories of genocide, separation, deprivation and survival were recognised, as accounted by First Nation people’s, early pioneers, explorers, government officials, missionaries alike. These were presented to a whole new generation, as well as those Australians willing to acknowledge and reconcile with Australia’s past.
True history supports reconciliation and a harmonious relationship between contrasting cultures.
As every town in Australia has a story of settlement, every ‘traditional owner’ has a story of loss an dispossession. Discovery is a partisan story, while stolen is a shared truth.
Photographer: Darren Blackman
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
Topography, Vote Now
Artist: Barbara Pierce
Artist Location: Townsville
Medium: acrylic & collage on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 76 x 3.5 x 91 cm
Artist Statement:
A celebration can be described – and shaped – by its’ location in the landscape. The landscape where I live has been the inspiration for this painting. Collage and acrylic paint have been used to make reference to a hillside – its’ rocks and pathways – and a celebration at day’s end as night falls.
Every day I connect with the surrounding environment and notice the changes – subtle or dramatic – depending on the time of day, the season or whatever is happening at the time. All sensory stimuli have an effect or leave an impression. Every day I quietly celebrate ‘my’ landscape.
In this painting I have reinterpreted the landscape surroundings and played with the idea of the possible appearance of a celebration at day’s end in the imagined topography of this environment. Every celebration – like every day – is unique. A celebration takes on a life and shape of it’s own.
Photographer: Ed Pierce
Flaming Trolley, Vote Now
Artist: Julie Purcell
Artist Location: Kippa-Ring
Medium: Oil on salvaged board, 2020
Dimensions: 42 x 0.29999999999999999 x 47.5 cm
Artist Statement:
My family celebrate by burning things. Most days spent working on our Beebo property south-west of Brisbane conclude with a fire in our ready-made brazier. We warm our feet on “foot rocks” pulled up from the stone ringed cacti garden nearby, crack a bottle or two of home brew and yarn till the stars come out. With the idiosyncrasy of our pastime flickering formally in my plein air brushwork, this painting presents the bush as a backdrop for contemporary family life.
Photographer: Julie Purcell
Reflecting on Family, Vote Now
Artist: Colleen Helmore
Artist Location: Burnett Heads
Medium: Watercolour, 2021
Dimensions: 54 x 0 x 34 cm
Artist Statement:
Covid has interrupted many family gatherings and when your only granddaughter who lives in Perth comes to visit for the first time in nearly two years the joy is indescribable. My ‘Paint the Town’ moment comes with a quiet reflection on the joy of having nurtured a family who want to visit us and share the joy of their family. Every single moment with them is a celebration and when they leave and go back to their own lives, I can quietly glance at this painting and smile at the memories.
Photographer: Colleen Helmore
‘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
PAINT IT YOURS, Vote Now
Artist: Jodi Bowen
Artist Location: Ipswich
Medium: FREE-STANDING CERAMIC- hand built and painted with 18 carat gold detail. Works are finished with either a gloss or matte finish, 2021
Dimensions: 40 x 20 x 20 cm
Artist Statement:
Everyone likes to celebrate differently. Whether it’s partying, picnicking or a pot of tea- celebration is a personal experience. PAINT IT YOURS invites the viewer to make their own experience. You mix and match from the following ‘pots of colour’ to design your own celebration.
‘Paint it red colour pot’ : champagne, a new party dress, heels, handbag, some long lashes, sparkly jewellery and a red lippy (followed by a taxi home and a few Panadol before bed)
‘Paint it yellow colour pot’ : a day at the beach, a picnic, a sun-bath, a ball game and a spot of surfing
‘Paint it blue colour pot : ’ a cosy night in, a good read, a pot of tea and a comfortable chair or bed.
Select your options from the 20 available and add to the ‘Paint it Yours’ pot to create your ultimate personal celebratory experience.
THIS WORK IS MADE UP OF 4 ‘POTS’ AND 20 OPTIONS. ALL PIECES ARE HAND BUILT AND PAINTED CERAMICS- SOME WITH 18 CARAT DETAIL. The second photo is an example of the options available.
Photographer: Jodi Bowen
Corroboree, Vote Now
Artist: Cholena Hughes
Artist Location: Mt Mellum
Medium: Cyanotype with Jinibara ochre, Jinibarra clay, Jini (lawyer cane) and raffia, 2021
Dimensions: 80 x 9 x 80 cm
Artist Statement:
My artwork is symbolic of corroboree. Depicting our strong connection to country and celebrating all that Country provides. The cyanotype was made exposing plants from Jinibara Country and the ochres which decorate the cyanotype are from Jinibara Country. The figures are made of clay from Jinibara Country. The weaving on Jini (Lawyer Cane) depicts time, creation and connection to Country. The shape of the work depicts the bora ring where ceremony took place. Celebrating our land, our people, our spirit – Corroboree.
“Paint the Town” I believe is a celebration – to celebrate with community.
A corroboree is a generic word for a meeting of Australian Aboriginal peoples. It may be a sacred ceremony, a festive celebration or an event of cultural importance.
Photographer: Cholena Hughes
A Nature in the Self., Vote Now
Artist: Julia Skye Higgs
Artist Location: Bowen
Medium: Canvas Print, 2021
Dimensions: 30 x 5 x 100 cm
Artist Statement:
This work is a series of puppets and body extensions that evoke the spirit of celebration through colour and self-expression as sculptural forms on the body. 9 people stand in one frame, each wearing a different body piece. Each of these are different from the other and express aspects of a bush turkey, a pet dog, and human elements in both recognisable and abstracted ways through their disproportions, amalgamation of human and animal and use of colour. They are bright and bold and combine papier-mache, wire, recycling, acrylic paint, and second-hand fabrics to create a series that celebrates and evokes play, the body, and self-expression by recreating and altering familiar forms into vibrant wearable art.
Photographer: Brooke Miles
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
Out and about, Vote Now
Artist: Jennifer Wright (Summers)
Artist Location: Toowoomba
Medium: Woven Chir pine needles, cotton threads, metal ear ring, 2021
Dimensions: 20 x 17 x 17 cm
Artist Statement:
This work reflects the joy of going out on the town to connect with friends or celebrate at a festival. During the past year going out to ‘paint the town’ has become even more precious.
The base of the piece is an urn in which treasures could be placed.
The pine needles are from a heritage Chir pine planted in 1850 at the opening of the first Royal Toowoomba show. The tree stands at the entrance of much beloved Cobb & Co Museum 171 years later.
The cap of this piece is reminiscent of going on the Merry-go-round at a Show in childhood and with friends, children and grandchildren.
The coloured cotton threads were selected by a process similar to dressing up – and thinking a colour theme for an outfit or selecting ear rings that suits a mood.
Photographer: Jennifer Wright (Summers)
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
Talchum (The Mask Dance), Vote Now
Artist: Jooyun Lim
Artist Location: broadwater
Medium: clay, 2020
Dimensions: 10 x 7 x 15 cm
Artist Statement:
This work uses slip casting to create plates and bowls using moulds. I chose the Korean traditional dance called Tal-chum (mask dance) as a pattern. There are many different types and colors of Tal (mask) to represent different themes, also different costumes and dance moves. There are tears, laughter, happiness, sadness, jokes, love, anger, wisdom and life in the performance. When my ancestors hoping and celebrating for something or console people, they gathered together in the ceremony and danced. I used traditional rhythmical humming in the Korean language to maximize the dance movement. I also wanted to give texture by carving patterns and then inlaying colour on the surface and I wished to show the five traditional colours of Korean patterns: red, yellow, blue, black and white.
This remote peaceful town is quite different to where I was born and raised .
This town has unique environment which you get to meet people from all over the world for traveling and farm work.
I was hoping to share my culture in this diverse town through my work .
Photographer: Jooyun Lim
Grasses of Diamantina, Vote Now
Artist: Karen Stephens
Artist Location: Winton
Medium: Acrylic on polyester, 2021
Dimensions: 19.5 x 1 x 80 cm
Artist Statement:
I live in Channel Country and ‘Grasses of Diamantina’ was painted on site at Diamantina National Park. The ‘Diamantina River’ that can be up to fifty kilometres wide when waters flow inward is surrounded with unique grasses and textures of soil. The river was named for the late Lady ‘Diamantina’ Bowen, the wife of Sir George Bowen, the first Governor of Queensland. Because of the areas abundance from life giving water, this region was also a thriving trade route for many First Nations people living in Channel Country.
‘Painting the Town’ conjures up the idea of noisy celebration. Waiting for water, the Diamantina landscape is so quiet it becomes unquiet. I hear myself breathing in and out and find joy spectating and painting little pathways of grasses that gently come to a close. ‘Grasses of Diamantina’ is a window for quiet contemplation and a celebration of remote Queensland landscapes.
Photographer: Mick Richards
Palm Cove
Artist: Mark Skelcher
Artist Location: Cairns
Medium: Oil on canvas, 2020
Dimensions: 40.6 x 2 x 50.7 cm
Artist Statement:
How do you celebrate? Simple, I visit Palm Cove! It is the most beautiful beach village I have painted time and time again in an attempt to capture its beauty, tranquility and natural vibrancy, its warm tropical light that is so fresh and bright.
It is such a special place for me and my family. From our Wedding Day here to the simple pleasures of playing with our children on the beach, it holds past times of joy and memories of connection and togetherness. Warm summer days, walking the esplanade and jetty, the sea breeze, palm fringed shoreline, sound of birds gently singing and conversations in the busy cafes and restaurants, celebrations of birth and remembrance of those gone.
For some time, I have been capturing the mesmerizing landscape of Cairns and the Northern Beaches that I am honoured to now call home, I celebrate and ‘Paint the Town’.
Photographer: Mark Skelcher
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
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
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
A Woman’s Work Is Never Done, Vote Now
Artist: Laurie McLeod
Artist Location: Bundamba
Medium: Digital created image on Paper or screen, 2021
Dimensions: 39 x 2 x 66 cm
Artist Statement:
Pick yourself up, put yourself together and start over again. In a dystopian world, many feel discarded. No longer competent. Their former beliefs are no longer useful. Only hope reignites former talents in new ways and the struggle to survive begins again. The recovery road can be barren, but small joys bring delight. As the spiritual path and friends provide sustenance a true reason to celebrate a better triumphant life presents itself.
Photographer: Laurie McLeod
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
Flicker Sparkle Shimmer Glint, Vote Now
Artist: Sharon McKenzie
Artist Location: One Mile
Medium: Beading and mixed media on linen, 2021
Dimensions: 27 x 3 x 27 cm
Artist Statement:
Celebrations are precious and can happen anytime of the day or night but I always associate them with the sensory experience of light. We effectively “paint the town” with light: the flash of a phone camera, the sparkle of sequinned, beaded dresses, bags and jewellery, the flickering of candle light, small fairy lights twinkling on at tree, colored light bulbs and bright diamond like lights. The clusters of colorfully dressed people that breaks up and reforms during the festivities moving and reflecting light like water.
Photographer: Sharon McKenzie
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
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
LET’S PAINT THE TOWN RED, Vote Now
Artist: BRUCE GRIFFITHS
Artist Location: KLEINTON
Medium: WATERCOLOUR, 2021
Dimensions: 39 x 5 x 27 cm
Artist Statement:
LET’S PAINT THE TOWN RED – 39X27 – Watercolour Bruce Griffiths
As a watercolourist, I paint traditional realism leaning towards impressionism. I paint what I see but more importantly I paint what I feel about what I see. Another detour on another journey, but I concluded that as all roads eventually head in the one far off distance, I put brush aside & sat down to ponder my contribution.
Looking upon my watercolour palette and its permanence of pigments in arrays of warm & cool it had to be an exploration of reds. With a background of wet in wet warms, I teased up paints of deferring ilk to drip off the painting but not from brushes but rather from celebratory flags. It seemed logical & the flags would drip colour like waxing apples oozing over mellow. They align but differ in their strength & vibrance. A celebration of the colour red.
Photographer: BRUCE GRIFFITHS
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
Celebrating the Colours of Coolum,
Artist: Libby Derham
Artist Location: Peregian Springs
Medium: Watercolour on paint chips, 2021
Dimensions: 40 x 0 x 38 cm
Artist Statement:
I have the best job in the world, celebrating my surrounds every day as a landscape painter and my local town doesn’t disappoint. Its colours are majestic, Stumers Creek golden orange, Tickle Park green and famous golden sands of Coolum Beach. Aqua colours emerge beyond rocky outcrops below Point Perry and boardwalk views take in salt and sand. It is the natural beauty that Coolum is renowned for and many flock from near and far to appreciate these great delights. Mt Coolum even puts on its own water show in monsoonal rain! Come together where the community and tourists meet, at the local surf club, where red represents courage and dedication and raise a cold one for Coolum, a celebration of the unspoilt beauty.
Photographer: Libby Derham
Off The Wall, Vote Now
Artist: Cathy Condon
Artist Location: Gympie
Medium: mixed media on plasterboard, 2021
Dimensions: 94 x 3 x 90 cm
Artist Statement:
I created a temporary walk-in canvas in a former office space the owners gave me for three months. The permission to paint on the walls, gave me the freedom to develop an immersive canvas experience. I installed 12 large stretched blank canvases, then worked right to left, painting the entire room stenciling with vintage lace and using paint. The canvases were included as part of the wall. These works sat immersed in the space yet remained individual works. There was no frame, there was no single look, just complete immersion. It was a pure celebration of painting.
Off The Wall is a piece of the wall that was cut down when the three months ended.
“There is a beautiful freedom and a joy to express yourself as an artist in the entirety of a room. I absolutely loved the scale of this project and celebrated it by painting my heart out.”
Photographer: Cathy Condon
Lost but now found, Vote Now
Artist: Ronelle Reid
Artist Location: Cedar Vale
Medium: oil on wood panel, 2021
Dimensions: 60 x 2 x 50 cm
Artist Statement:
Inspired by my love of animals, I create detailed works that explore the relationships between species and their changing habitats.
By combining my naturalist style, quirky compositions and pairing animals who don’t coexist, I invite people to learn more about vulnerable species and to do more to protect them.
When considering the theme of the award “Paint the town” and the question -“ How do you celebrate?” I really had to think about what I celebrate, which led to the composition of my entry for the award.
With Australia leading the way for extinction the rediscovery of thought to be extinct species has to be an event that makes you stop and celebrate. My painting “Lost but now found” depicts two Queensland species listed as extinct and recently rediscovered. The bridled nail-tailed wallaby and the night parrot. Still alive and not relegated to the dusty museum shelves just yet!
Photographer: Ronelle Reid
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
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
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
Reflections of Anticipation, Vote Now
Artist: Stacey Bennett
Artist Location: Jimboomba
Medium: Pastels, 2021
Dimensions: 60 x 0.01 x 89 cm
Artist Statement:
When I think about celebration it encompasses a night out on the town. The suspense of the lead-up as excitement fills the air. Envisaging what awaits. Getting dolled up and feeling on top of the world.
“Paint the Town” was taken symbolically and literally. The focal point of this piece showcases a gigantic woman towering upon her city. The city is represented in grey tones to highlight how they are typically seen as concrete jungles, yet she is vivid and bold in colour. Speckles of this colour represent how the city is reflective of self and she is reflected in the city. In her anticipation, she is literally on top of her world, applying her war paint of the night while painting the town.
She has the light in her eye and the street at her feet. She looks to the now and the wonder of what comes next.
Photographer: Stacey Bennett
Palette-able, Vote Now
Artist: Warren Richardson
Artist Location: Kuranda
Medium: Photograph, 2021
Dimensions: 38 x 3 x 60 cm
Artist Statement:
I live in the rainforest in Kuranda. On the morning side of the mountain. 90% of my palette is green in all of its variability. However, I have travelled all over tropical Queensland with my entomological mate, photographing the night life of the insect world. One of my favourite locations is Talaroo station, now being developed as a hot springs tourist destination by the Ewamian native-title holders. Not only are the insects great but the sunsets over the dam are to-dye-for. Here the palette holds all the colours of the spectrum to ‘Paint the Town’ with tranquility and reflection. Truly Palette-able.
Photographer: Warren Richardson
Human to Humas, Vote Now
Artist: Kuweni Dias Mendis
Artist Location: Beechmont
Medium: Pastel and Gouache on Hahnemuhle Paper, 2021
Dimensions: 106 x 1 x 77 cm
Artist Statement:
The words Humus ( soil) and Human ( earthly beings) comes from the same source, the Latin origins meaning from the earth. We eventually return to the soil, the earth and to the ground. Death is that humble moment of returning back to the Soil, the pregnant void and the untapped potential.
Celebrating and bidding farewell to a dearly departed in my Sri Lankan culture is to finally take the cremation Ashes to the river. Ashes are taken to that place in the river where the fresh water meets salt water. The spirit of the river takes the soul home to its source. In this ritual these ashes become the sediment of the river, its a beautiful celebration of human becoming the humus. It’s is a sacred moment where we witness the soul weaving its way to the beginning of time, the interconnectedness and interdependerbility between death and birth
Photographer: Kuweni Dias Mendis
Celebrating at Sunset, Vote Now
Artist: Debbie Chilton
Artist Location: North Ipswich
Medium: 3D Artbook / Watercolour, 2021
Dimensions: 10 x 1 x 64 cm
Artist Statement:
My idea of celebrating is to indulge in natural beauty. And what is more beautiful than the picture the sunset paints across the sky? The scenic rim is just a short drive from my hometown of Ipswich. Hot air balloon flights over the scenic rim may be booked to celebrate special events such as engagements, wedding, anniversaries, and birthdays. My artwork Celebrating at Sunset takes audiences on this magical journey.
Photographer: Debbie Chilton
Bouquet, Vote Now
Artist: Sonja Parsonage
Artist Location: Highvale
Medium: acrylic ink and watercolour on awagami paper, 2021
Dimensions: 37.5 x 0 x 55 cm
Artist Statement:
The theme “Paint the town” evoked vibrant colours and a party, a celebratory bouquet, a shared moment of joy. Flowers are natures celebration of the cycle of life and they are used to mark special occasions in our lives. A big bouquet of flowers makes my heart melt! I am known to my local florist for selecting my favourite flowers to make a haphazard bouquet just for myself. It motivates me to make my space beautiful. I use Awagami paper as I enjoy exploring ways to manage how media bleed into the paper. This property of the paper gives my line drawings energy and movement.
Photographer: Sonja Parsonage
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
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
Meet Lenny, Vote Now
Artist: Suzanne Furness
Artist Location: MONS
Medium: Handwoven with wool and silk, 2020
Dimensions: 120 x 0.59999999999999998 x 72.5 cm
Artist Statement:
I’d like you to meet Lenny. During the day he is Leonard, a CEO wearing a full business suit and highly polished brogues for his ZOOM meetings. At night he transforms into Lenny – freewheeling and colourful.
This weaving was my response to the dismal news cycles about Covid 19
Photographer: Suzanne Furness
The Eye of The Heart, Vote Now
Artist: India Collins
Artist Location: Edge Hill
Medium: Textiles new and recycled, PVC, 2021
Dimensions: 120 x 5 x 105 cm
Artist Statement:
The Eye of The Heart
This woven work speaks to the notion that we must learn to see, think and speak from our heart.
This work is a celebration of letting go, following our dreams, believing in ourselves, taking care of our bodies, learning to say NO when it feels right, learning to say YES even when we’re fearful, questioning our self- doubt and reveling in the knowledge that if we live intuitively, we can achieve a more spiritually fulfilled life. There should be nothing stopping us from reaching our full potential and embarking on a path towards self- actualization. Go for Gold.
Photographer: India Collins
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
River Town, Vote Now
Artist: Kylie Stevens
Artist Location: Pine Mountain
Medium: Bremer River water, copper leaf, charcoal, earth and acrylic paint on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 92 x 3.5 x 92 cm
Artist Statement:
River Town is a celebration of my hometown and the river it is built around. Creating artworks is how I celebrate, in River Town I have I have painted the town, by incorporating the major streets and bridges into the work, and by celebrating my town in paint.
River water thins my paint, allowing it to pool and travel across the canvas. With the addition of hand ground ochres and charcoal the canvas is marked; then, I map the river in copper leaf. Using the natural elements of river water and earth, the work contains the essence of the place it represents.
I am an Ipswich-based artist working with and within the environment. It is my aim to showcase the beauty and alchemy of nature, inspiring in the viewer a deeper respect for and desire to protect our precious natural spaces.
Photographer: Kylie Stevens
Celebrate the World, Vote Now
Artist: Rachel Wolfe
Artist Location: Cairns
Medium: Watercolour, collage and thread on paper, 2021
Dimensions: 76 x 0.10000000000000001 x 56 cm
Artist Statement:
I am an emerging artist in Far North Qld. ‘Celebrate the World’ is my response to the question – How do you celebrate? This artwork is a portrait of my fiancé and his younger sister as children who remain best friends to this day. Together they have supported each other through life and have had many adventures travelling the world together. In this artwork I wanted to celebrate their relationship, their determination to live life to the fullest and their continuing love of travelling. Every day is a celebration for this brother and sister travelling through life together.
Photographer: Rachel Wolfe
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
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
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
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
Lets have music and dance, Vote Now
Artist: Tarja Ahokas
Artist Location: Ninderry
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 40 x 3.5 x 50 cm
Artist Statement:
I grew up with dancing being part of celebrations whether it was birthdays, weddings, New Year Eve or Midsummer Eve…
Always music and dancing…..
Lets celebrate Life…lets paint the town by having music and dancing…..
Photographer: Tarja Ahokas
Seeds of creativity, Vote Now
Artist: Shelley Pisani
Artist Location: Avenell Heights
Medium: gel plate printing, screen printing, hand stitching, acrylic and gold leaf on paper, 2021
Dimensions: 56 x 0 x 38 cm
Artist Statement:
Over the last 2 years I have been delivering a project across Central Queensland that has been building the capacity of visual artists, encouraging new ways of thinking. As I travelled for this project I saw the seed pods of the Illawarra Flame Tree regularly and to me it became a symbol of the fertile collaborations being created. I started drawing the pods in March 2020 at a residency near Baralaba and have continued to explore their shapes through printmaking.
As this project nears its end, I have been reflecting on the joy that the moments of seeing artists thrive has given me. The 7 seed pods represent the 7 regions in Central Queensland where I have been working. They are stitched together embodying the bonds created between artists and regions. Glints of golden moments that have seeded new work, new collaborations and inspiration – a cause for celebration.
Photographer: Shelley Pisani
Recognition, Vote Now
Artist: Ann White
Artist Location: Pomona
Medium: Acrylic and collage on board, 2021
Dimensions: 45.5 x 2 x 61 cm
Artist Statement:
Many regional towns are competing to be on the map, drawing attention to an identity enhanced through public art. Murals and street art flourish to celebrate events, mark occasions, unite residents with local themes and attract appreciative visitors. This sanctioned art has been agreed by those who commission and those who make it, arguably a celebration in itself that they collaborate on an image to grace a location. Then there are others who paint public statements – bold, shadowy creatives or malcontents with textas and spraycans, demanding to be noticed, expressing their ‘voice’ in a world where being ‘heard’ can be difficult. Across this visual spectrum, all are seeking recognition. Throughout the sanctioned and guerrilla mark-making, marvellous art can be found amongst the less-than and the dross. Categorising which is which is contentious. I wish to credit the guerrilla mark-makers of Nambour and other towns for those elements referenced in ‘Recognition’.
Photographer: Ann White
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
Girl Paints Town, Vote Now
Artist: Milynda Rogers
Artist Location: Barcaldine
Medium: Recycled steel and plastic, 2021
Dimensions: 25 x 25 x 10 cm
Artist Statement:
Girl Paints Town was created in response to the theme “Paint the Town” after I had been experimenting with human anatomy in steel. I was able to incorporate the theme in my sculpture of the a female form for two reasons. Firstly I knew that I had red street sweeper brushes that I could recycle perfectly as oversized paint brushes and secondly I had the whole picture vision of the finished sculpture of a lunging women about to express her feelings through painting. Using recycled bolts, wire, steel rod, sockets and street brushes and welding them together then grinding heating and painting to accomplish the finished artwork. I am very happy with my attempt to convey emotional feeling within cold, hard steel.
Photographer: Aaron Skinn
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
White Rock Blue Sky
Artist: Cynthia Copley
Artist Location: East Ipswich
Medium: Oil, 2021
Dimensions: 50 x 1.5 x 50 cm
Artist Statement:
I explored the concept of ‘Paint the Town’ through my celebration of White Rock; a magnificent landmark of cultural significance located at the Spring Mountain Conservation Park in Ipswich. The short walk to this rock, for me, musters feelings of excitement and anticipation, enlivened by the surrounding scrub, the sounds of bustling birds, scurrying lizards and the watchful gaze of kangaroos. Ascending slowly, climbing stair after stair, I finally stand in the presence of this enormous rock that has stood for eons of time. A feeling of amazement and history washes over me. It’s a humbling experience; I realise I am here for just a short time. I celebrate my feet on the land. I run my hand over the warm sandstone. I am here.
Photographer: Cynthia Copley
Goes to my head, Vote Now
Artist: John Ashall
Artist Location: Townsville
Medium: Oils on board, 2021
Dimensions: 60 x 0.5 x 45 cm
Artist Statement:
At my age I like to celebrate with friends over good wine and good food.
I feel my painting reflects that mood.
Photographer: John Ashall
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
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
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
Number Cakes, Vote Now
Artist: Emma Thorp
Artist Location: Dundowran Beach
Medium: Coloured Pencil over Acrylic on Paper, 2021
Dimensions: 69 x 0.29999999999999999 x 47 cm
Artist Statement:
I love to make cards and cakes for my children on their birthdays. Nothing too tricky, I am no great baker. The kids tell me what colour and flavour they would like and are often involved in the decoration. This image shows an assortment of the cakes I have made for my children over the years. Because my son was born very prematurely, I made him a zero cake on the day he should have been born and went on from there. Some were for my son, some were for my daughter. The last ones were almost identical once they realised that chocolate cake is the best type of cake. They don’t much care for the number cakes anymore, but I miss them. It is so much easier to identify how old they were in old birthday photos!
Photographer: Emma Thorp
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
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
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
Garden celebration, Vote Now
Artist: Ilona Demecs
Artist Location: Imbil
Medium: Handwoven tapestry, 2021
Dimensions: 56 x 1.5 x 68 cm
Artist Statement:
Through the notion of going around the weft with coloured wool, this work honours the craft of tapestry weaving both as a technique as well as an expression. Exploring the possibilities of painting with wool, I crafted a picture that captures a celebration of the land which nurtures us with its prospects in the Mary Valley. The renaissance tapestry design frames the image with a native passionfruit vine border and invites the viewer to come to the party and enjoy the celebration.
Photographer: Fine-line Photography Fine-line Photography
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
Waiting for go, Vote Now
Artist: Alison McDonald
Artist Location: Jensen
Medium: Reused anodised aluminium etched, copper, sterling silver, titanium, stainless steel, brass & wood – kinetic sculpture., 2020
Dimensions: 20 x 46 x 47 cm
Artist Statement:
Waking me at night was a list of COVID-19 related words, I wrote them down. I was not sure why, but I wanted to utilise them for an artwork about this current time. Perhaps I was trying to find order amongst the disorder in our current lives. We were waiting for the lockdown to finish, then the distance allowed to travel to be extended and my husband’s cancer treatment to finish. It seemed like forever. All we wanted, was to escape and go camping and celebrate simply amongst the outback bush and birds, where there was no COVID and no clinical hospital reminders.During my ‘lockdown’ clean-up of the studio, I rediscovered some green anodised aluminium that I purchased years ago from my metal recycler as ‘builders’ leftovers’. I combined this with jewellery materials; silver and titanium to reveal our story as we waited for that green light to go.
Photographer: Alison McDonald
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
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
Dinner Date, Vote Now
Artist: Katherine Civil
Artist Location: Toowoomba
Medium: watercolour on paper, 2021
Dimensions: 42 x 0.10000000000000001 x 30 cm
Artist Statement:
What a joy to celebrate dinner and show with someone. However over dinner there is a vase of
flowers set in front of the happy couple. Executed in watercolour these flowers are a living symbol
of their love. With watercolours melting into one another, they display time passing and the end
of life. There is a painting that is pre-empting the night of fun and laughter, together.
Photographer: Katherine Civil
Place, Time and Country, Vote Now
Artist: Rhondda Scott
Artist Location: Tambo
Medium: Oil on Canvas, 2021
Dimensions: 50 x 4 x 40 cm
Artist Statement:
The ochre fields in Tambo are a very spiritual place to paint. The big sky. The travelled earth. Her stories are found in abundance and the colours of the earth release in me something that makes my heart sing. There is a music in the outback that touches everything. I have started using ochre gathered from here to create my own paints and incorporate them into my work to create the truth that is the outback. The effort to crush and mix rocks to create paint here places me even closer to the subjects I paint. This helps me release the song in her soil. It puts the earth into my work and pulls my work back to its origins.
Photographer: Rhondda Scott
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
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
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
My Country
Artist: Netta Loogatha
Artist Location: Gununa, Mornington Island
Medium: Acrylic on Belgian linen, 2021
Dimensions: 91 x 5 x 91 cm
Artist Statement:
This is my Country on Bentinck Island at Oak Tree Point. We call it Lookati in our Kayardild language. I was born here at Bilmee, Dog Story Place. This is the place where the Dingo came on his journey from island to island, we saw him with our own very eyes, half man and half dog. It’s also a place where the love stones are found. They bring lasting and faithful love to the one who owns them.
Photographer: Mornington Island Art MIART
Come Share my Moon with Me, Vote Now
Artist: Lindsay-Jane Conroy
Artist Location: Maroochydore
Medium: Acrylic and pen, 2020
Dimensions: 46 x 2.5 x 61 cm
Artist Statement:
Statement by Lindsay-Jane Conroy
Title: Come Share my Moon with Me
“Come Share my Moon with Me” is a fun quirky look at the little bird called the “Egret” which are often seen following cattle around the paddocks. The work is full of playful things such as houses nestled in a large tree and a magical moon peeking through in which the Egret ask his loved ones to come share his moon. It is just a imaginary take the essence of painting the town can be the Joy of simple things that can give an explosion of happiness when sharing something special with others.
My inspiration of art comes from both farm and family coastal lifestyle which have given me a broad gathering of inspiration. With the last drought of 7 years on our farm followed by the hit, to the family Sunshine coast business, like so many with the arrival of Covid19. It has been important to keep a light hearted attitude to my work. As such I have taken a non-tradition approach to my work being drawn to fantasy with a touch of quirk hoping to leave the viewer with a light-hearted feeling.
Photographer: Lindsay-Jane Conroy