SEPTEMBER 2023

September Activity Highlights

2023 QRAA officially launches!

We were thrilled to officially launch the 2023 Queensland Regional Art Awards!

We welcomed a capacity crowd at the Judith Wright Arts Centre. Artists, publicists, and the media mingled with members and the atmosphere was buzzing! Check out our photo gallery here. Auntie Delmae Barton gave a beautiful acknowledgment of country. Our Chair, the Hon Anthe Philippides, thanked the sponsors who have joined to create a record $140,000 prize pool and introduced the 2022 Art for Life Award winner Kellie O’Dempsey.

Kellie took to the stage to speak about how career-changing winning the Art for Life Award has been. She was joined by Rosella Namok, the 2022 First Nations Artist Award, and Helen Dennis, the 2022 Remote Artist Award.

All in all, it was the perfect way to kick off the 2023 QRAA. Thank you again to all who attended as well as to our wonderful sponsors that make all this possible!

Past QRAA Touring Exhibitions

Reframe the touring exhibition opens in Cairns

This month we celebrated the opening of Reframe the touring exhibition of the winners of the 2022 QRAA in Cairns. We were delighted to have our patron the Governor of Queensland, Her Excellency Dr Jeanette Young AC PSM attend the event. 

 

The evening boasted a fantastic networking opportunity for creatives and it was fantastic to see the winning works breathe new life into the Cairns art scene!

Above:  Guests at the QRAA launch

Image courtesy: Josef Ruckli

Paint the Town  touring exhibition opens in Roma

Above: Exhibition view of Paint the Town displayed at Cairns Courthouse Art Gallery in 2021. Featuring Libby Derham, Celebrating the Colours of Coolum (2021) Watercolour on paint chips. Winner of The Annie Tan Memorial Watercolour Award, 2021.

Image courtesy:  The Social Impact.

Paint the Town toured Roma on Bungil Gallery from 4 August to 23 September. Patrons had the opportunity to view the artworks of award-winning artists across Queensland in the 2021 Queensland Regional Art Awards exhibition outcome.

 

Evoking the spirit of celebration, of all things jubilant, artists were invited to respond to the question –how do you celebrate? The result is a uniquely Queensland hyper-local response to the public, or sometimes intimately personal, ways and reasons we choose to celebrate.

Flying Arts collaborates with the

Queensland Symphony Orchestra

Above:  Attendees at the QSO Concert.

Image courtesy: Steph Dorozario

Internationally acclaimed didgeridoo virtuoso William Barton and Queensland Symphony Orchestra performed in Cairns/Gimuy under the baton of world-renowned Chief Conductor Umberto Clerici this past September. The concert program featured Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece Symphony No. 5, and Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe’s famous Earth Cry.

Digitized versions of stunning artworks of Cairns-based First Nations artist Rosella Namok, winner of the First Nations Artist Award category of the 2022 QRAA, featured on large screens during the concert. 

Above:  QSO Concert.

Image courtesy: Steph Dorozario

Flying Arts' partnership with QSO was a special collaboration for the concert, with Chair The Hon. Anthe Philippides SC saying Rosella’s art was providing the missing piece making for a unique concert experience. “Rosella’s visuals are elemental and very powerful, perfect as an image companion experience when the Orchestra performs the equally as powerful Earth Cry. We are thrilled that four pieces will be featured throughout the concert, all chosen by QSO Chief Conductor Umberto Clerici,” she said.

Artist Rosella Namok said that while her artworks are hung in major buildings around Australia and internationally, having them on a big screen while the full QSO performs on stage may well reduce her to tears.

Above:  The Hon. Anthe Philippides and Rosella Namok

Image courtesy: Josef Ruckli 

By Request travels to Stradbroke

A proud highlight for Flying Arts Alliance from the By Request program! Artist facilitator Cynthia Copley, a previous winner of the Mervyn Moriarty Landscape Award traveled with students and teachers from Coomera Anglican College on an art trail excursion to Strad. Students experienced their first taste of plein air painting with an experienced landscape artist and later that evening worked with oil paints in a second workshop. 

Following the workshop Cynthia shared with us "This was an incredible opportunity that I otherwise would not have experienced, but for my relationship with Flying Arts Alliance. This particular residency with Coomera Anglican College provided opportunities outside my area of knowledge such as eco-dying and a visit to Minjerribah which included cultural and historical learning about the Quandamooka people and the history of the island. I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to share my knowledge and experience with the young artists and I was able to freely converse, critique, and share my knowledge over the course of the art trail. I received lovely feedback such as "Thank you for teaching us how to show our perspective of the world through art" and "...it has truly helped me with my technique and knowledge of art".

Above:  Students working en plein air at Stradbroke

Image courtesy: Cynthia Copely

By Request and the Western Downs Regional Council 

Above: Cara-Ann Simpson speaking at the event

Image courtesy: Cara-Ann Simpson

A recent By Request program engaged by Western Downs Regional Council for an exhibition curator from our touring facilitator team has led to a wonderful opening exhibition!

The 2023 Western Downs Regional Artists’ Exhibition: Essence! With the theme of 'Essence,' the 2023 exhibition is a contemplation on what's beyond the surface of a subject.

 

It is an invitation to pause and engage deeply with what is right in front of us.

Cara-Ann Simpson worked closely with Western Downs Regional Council staff to curate and judge their annual exhibition hosted in Gallery 107 @ Dalby. In her curatorial essay, Cara-Ann states: "This exhibition is a celebration of the diversity and wealth of visual arts practices across the Western Downs. The artists involved have responded to the theme with unique, inspiring, and thoughtful interpretations. It reveals much about the relationship artists have with the Western Downs as both a place and community. Collectively, the artworks offer layered meanings that share the stories and experiences of a region."

 

The exhibition will feature Western Downs Arts as a Gallery and a 3D virtual exhibition. It will be on show from 16 September – 10 November 2023 at Gallery 107 @ Dalby.

Above: Exhibition hosted in Gallery 107 @ Dalby

Image courtesy: Western Downs Regional Council

Above: Exhibition hosted in Gallery 107 @ Dalby

Image courtesy: Western Downs Regional Council

Professional Development Program Highlights

Creative Consultations

with Joachim Froese

This September we featured a Creative Consultation with artist and educator Joachim Froese. As Flying Arts' longest-standing tutor, Joachim has been delivering workshops in photography and professional development across Queensland since 2003.

 

Participants had the opportunity to spend 45 minutes online one-on-one with Joachim to discuss their work, receive professional feedback on their concepts and techniques, and get practical tips on how to take the next steps in their career as an artist.

Look out for our next Creative Consultation this year with Kellie O'Dempsey! These sessions are ideal for artists, arts workers, writers, and producers looking for advice, as well as anyone interested in exhibition development and creative project management. 

Above: Joachim Froese presenting

Image courtesy:  Joachim Froese

AI and the Creative Industries Webinar

with Jessie Hughes

We were thrilled to have Jessie Hughes facilitate an in-depth discussion about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its effects on the creative industries in 2023. Participants discovered how fresh evolutions with AI intersect with storytelling, production, prototyping, and artistic processes, as well as how to leverage this technology within workflow. This session provides a balanced exploration of AI’s impact on the industry in 2023, while including live demonstrations of generative AI processes.

 

Jessie gave an overview of current industry impacts as well as practical examples of positive and negative-use cases. She also spoke about Machine Learning and AI in our everyday lives and gave a generative AI live demonstration.

 

If you would like to watch Jessie's webinar you can do so at the video below.

Build Your Business Artist Intensive

with Alex Stalling

Above: Alex Stalling presenting

Image courtesy: Alex Stalling

This month visual artist, designer, and business entrepreneur, Alex Stalling held a a two-day artist intensive that provided the essentials to get art businesses up and running. The intensive gave insight into the arts industry, to help participants identify appropriate contexts for their business, to set long-term goals and objectives, and develop operational and promotional strategies. Alex also provided practical skills aimed at streamlining and developing businesses.

Exhibition Development Intensive

with Cara-Ann Simpson

Have you ever had an idea for an exhibition, but didn't know where to start? In our weekend intensive program, Cara-Ann Simpson helped participants master the art of developing an exhibition and pitching proposals to art galleries.

As a curator, consultant, and multisensory artist, Cara-Ann gave her expertise in designing, planning, and managing solo or group exhibitions. 

  Above: Cara-Ann Simpson artistic creation

  Image courtesy: Cara-Ann Simpson

• The essential principles of exhibition concept development, planning, and design.
• An introduction to curatorial principles, with a focus on ‘storytelling’ through artwork.
• Tips and advice for working with exhibition venues to ensure the production of an exhibition is seamless.

As part of the intensive program participants learned:

Participants also received an ‘Exhibition Development Handbook’ developed by Cara-Ann prior to the workshop, which included further resources on marketing and promotion, contracts and legalities, as well as content on artwork packing, handling, and installation.

Regional Arts Fund (RAF)

September RAF Highlights

Above: Lauren Collard, Melania Jack, Nathan Stoneham, and Matt Young at Brisbane Festival.

RAF recipients unite at Brisbane Festival

 

It was a privilege for our RAF Program Manager, Lauren to meet some of the Regional Arts Fund's Quick Response Grant recipients.

 

Melania Jack, Nathan Stoneham, Matt Young (pictured), Zane Saunders and Simona Cosentini (not pictured) were some of the shining stars representing Regional Queensland at the Australian Performing Arts Forum (APAF) run by TNA and held at the Brisbane Powerhouse in association with Brisbane Festival.

Have you heard? It's Better in Blackall!

With thanks to funding from the Regional Arts Fund Project Grants, the 2023 The Better in Blackall festival had an all-new community legacy arts mural, photographic skill development workshops with Chantel Renae, and hip-hop workshops with Geed Up!

The Better in Blackall festival increases community pride and community connectedness, as well as celebrates art and culture while increasing visitation and leveraging regional economic benefits.

 

Pictured is an example of the fantastic mural, with Gill Russell's Blackall Loo Mural - working dogs on wool bales. Russell set out to combine two outback icons, working dogs and wool!

 

Above: Blackall Loo Mural - working dogs on wool bales

Image courtesy: Gill Russell

Our members form a central part of Flying Arts activities. As a financial member, you not only join our creative network but also receive reduced scheduled program workshop fees, voting rights at our AGM, discounts with our retail partners, and more!  

 

For further information visit here.

Flying Arts Alliance is listed in the Registration of Cultural Organisations, and has Deductible Gift Recipient and Tax Charity Concession status.

 

All donations above two dollars are tax deductible and will directly support programs and activities in schools and communities in regional and remote areas.

 

Donate now

Flying Arts Alliance Inc acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands and seas on which we work, live and create. We pay our respects to Elders, past, present and emerging.  We acknowledge the unending connection of First Nations peoples to this country. We support the aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to Voice, Treaty and Truth. We value the contributions of First Nations artists, creatives, artisans, practitioners and communities to the work we do.

 

Flying Arts Alliance is honoured to acknowledge the Governor of Queensland, Her Excellency the Honourable Dr Jeannette Young  AC PSM as our Patron. We also acknowledge Mr Tim Fairfax AC and Mrs Gina Fairfax AC as our Cultural Patrons.

 

Flying Arts is a not-for-profit organisation inspiring the appreciation, practice and professional development of the visual and media arts as a lifetime interest or career throughout regional and remote Queensland.

 

Flying Arts is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland. Flying Arts is supported by the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation and receives funds from Creative Partnerships Australia through the Australian Cultural Fund. Flying Arts is supported by corporate partners and benefactors.

 

Flying Arts is the administrator in Queensland of the Regional Arts Fund (RAF), an Australian Government program provided through Regional Arts Australia.