Gallery celebrates 20th anniversary
LOCAL history, the rich variety of public collections, initiative and imagination, and slick recipes of technique add to a mix of art that finds rapport with a diverse range of tastes and interests.
The Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery is celebrating its 20th anniversary in its present location.
To mark the event the community- curated exhibition, “I know what I like” offered people in the region a unique opportunity to select a favourite work from any of the city’s three prestigious public collections to be featured in the show.
The eclectic nature of this project was a challenge met with aplomb by the dedicated team who have designed an exhibition that honours the richness and diversity of the gallery’s holdings while offering an insight into public taste, and the joy of sharing a passionate interest.
The magnificent Surrealist “Fire fall” by James Gleeson, the portrait of Henry Lawson by Lionel Lindsay, iconic Australian narrative paintings by Ivor Hele, the enigmatic “Final banquet for no eating” by George Baldessin, the totems of memorabilia by Irene Amos, and “The midday rest” by Frederick McCubbin are true gems.
They vie for attention with the brightly coloured globe by Tarn McLean, the piscine elegance in wearable art by William Dowd and Lesley Angus, a classic flower study by Margaret Olley, and Don Featherstone’s watercolour of an almost forgotten landmark, the haunted house, ‘Longview’.
The exhibition offers an enticing soupçon of the impressive collections to be savoured and enjoyed.
Culliford Gallery at the Toowoomba Art Society is hosting the exhibition, “A Mixed Bag” by Stanthorpe artist Graeme Schreiber.
This crowded show would have benefited from a more stringent selection process to make the succession of formulaic repetitions less obvious. Silhouetted birds and domestic fowls present charming contrasts, while dramatic approaching storms and foggy mornings are rewarding counterpoints to bland creek scenes.
The exhibition is accessible and easy on the eye as it fondly documents the familiar.
The Corridor at the Art Society is featuring “Harvest” the work of Miriam Polley.
The earthy warmth of crops ready for harvest is translated into patterns and textures that evoke a sense of season. Polley has distilled the essence of the cycle of agriculture into tactile paintings and mixed media collages.
The Crow’s Nest Regional Art Gallery has liaised with the Carbethon Folk Museum to present “Inventions of the 19th and 20th Centuries”, an intriguing exhibition of curious contraptions and unusual devices. Some of the items were commercially manufactured such as the unnerving ‘travelling dentist’s drill’ and the beautiful wooden glass plate camera. Others, like the cotton reel what-not, reflect ingenious improvisation and inspired recycling.
No Comply Gallery, 6 Laurel St, has a selection of limited edition prints by some of the First Coat artists. These artworks encapsulate the energy and pizzazz associated with this event.