People's Choice Voting: Queensland Regional Art Awards 2019
13aug(aug 13)9:00 am20sep(sep 20)5:00 pm
Event Details
Vote now for the People’s Choice Awards in this year’s Queensland Regional Art Awards.
The Queensland Regional Art Awards (QRAA) is an annual visual arts prize and exhibition for established and emerging artists living in regional and remote Queensland. The theme in 2019 is ‘State of Diversity’:
Queensland is a state full of diverse ecosystems, wildlife, places, people and personalities. This year, artists are encouraged to explore the diverse elements and qualities that make up their own communities and locations within Queensland.
The theme was to be addressed in an accompanying artist statement of 100 – 150 words.
People’s Choice Award Voting Process
There are two categories within the People’s Choice Award. Your votes determine the winners of the following prizes:
Adult – $1,250 Ironlak art materials voucher
Youth – $750 Ironlak art materials voucher
Thanks to Ironlak
All entries that meet competition requirements are eligible for the People’s Choice Award.
Voting Process
1. Voting is restricted to one vote each for adult/youth per person.
2. To vote you must provide your real name and email address for confirmation.
3. A confirmation email will be sent to your nominated email address to confirm your vote. You will need to reply to this email to validate and confirm your submission. If you do not reply to this email your vote will not be valid
Voting Now Closed
Adult Category
Diffraction (view detail)
Artist: Alinta Krauth
Artist Location: WITHEREN
Medium: Digital mixed-media, 2019
Dimensions: variable
Artist Statement:
Drawing on the artist’s experiences as a digital-practitioner and nocturnal mammal surveyor in rural Queensland, ‘Diffraction’ is an interactive experience for mobile touchscreens that fosters playful aesthetic engagements between the user and nocturnal wilderness environments. In order to interact with the artwork, it requires the user to perform often surrealist, creative, or humorous tasks while outside in the dark, in order to allow for new understandings of nocturnal nonhuman others that they may come into contact with (animal, plant, and dark place).
Through this interactive artwork that includes animation, text, interaction, time, place, light, and sound, the artist hopes to question how we interact with diverse nonhumans in Queensland. Animals/plants in Queensland are currently experiencing an escalating extinction rate, and as such, it seems increasingly important to change our way of thinking about ‘diversity’ from human-centric, towards multi-species sociality, where the diversity of our animal/plant kin is celebrated and protected.
Photographer: Alinta Krauth
Splash
Artist: Grace McClymont
Artist Location: DICKY BEACH
Medium: Mixed media on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 80 x 118 x 3 cm
Artist Statement:
Places of natural beauty provide a setting for diverse groups of people to gather and embrace life side-by-side. In our area Currimundi Lake is one such location. Throughout the year the lake fills with people from all walks of life enjoying the many activities that it has to offer in the water, on the water, under the water, and around the water. New Australians who are daunted by the surf beaches, families with toddlers exploring sand and salt water for the first time are able to relax while confident swimmers drift on currents near the lake’s inlet. People in twos and threes planted serenely in the landscape talking, playing, building, resting. A beautiful oasis bursting with life and still peaceful. A place to be ourselves. Together.
Photographer: Grace McClymont
Heart Reef Love Birds
Artist: Maureen Riggs
Artist Location: BURNSIDE
Medium: Oil, oil pastels, oil wax glazes on 100% cotton canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 100 x 120 x 3.5 cm
Artist Statement:
Theme ‘State of Diversity’
Heart Reef is a heart shaped coral bommie located in Hardy Reef 60 kms from the mainland, Whitsunday Islands QLD. The funny thing is Heart Reef was only officially discovered 1975. Since then this diverse formation of living coral colonies has become world famous and is an iconic tourism marketing phenomena. Many people have taken wedding vows standing in the sand in the centre of this fascinating reef structure.
For me personally Heart Reef resonates as the very heart of the Great Barrier Reef the largest living organism on our planet.
The Red Tailed Tropic Birds spend most of their lives at sea. The male and female mate high in the sky just as I have depicted these two courting above Heart Reef. They can be found nesting on remote coral caye islands scattered all over the Great Barrier Reef system.
Photographer: Maureen Riggs
Opalus
Artist: Michelle Kennedy
Artist Location: CABARLAH
Medium: Acyrlic and aerisol on canvas, 2018
Dimensions: 76 x 101.5 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
Having lived in remote western Queensland, Opalus was inspired by the amazing colour of the the western red hills, white gums, pebbled riverbeds & vastness ~ the diversity of environment & landscape of our state. Named Opalus, as much of the opal deposition is a conglomeration of vastly diverse volcanic product, and formed by water, silica from sandstone, decomposing fossil and other earthen sediment, formed over a longtime and deeply affected by wet and dry periods. It strikes me that the opal is a visual metaphor for Queensland, representing the diversity of colourful environments, climates, landscapes & peoples particular to each area of our beautiful state. Each opal, recognisable as such yet unique in its colour, personality and origin, yet non the less a Queenslander.
Photographer: Michelle Kennedy
Shed of all Trades
Artist: Julie Purcell
Artist Location: KIPPA-RING
Medium: Oil on board, 2019
Dimensions: 50 x 70 x 0.3cm
Artist Statement:
I painted this scene because it reflects the diversity of problem solving skills Grandad used while living in a back to basics way in Beebo, Queensland. His shed, once a piggery built by hand, is a still life arrangement revealing a suite of skills and techniques required to solve issues, mechanical and otherwise, that arose on the isolated property. It is a time capsule of agricultural and industrial objects and methodologies – there’s a forge, a lathe, old tractors and earth moving equipment and the incidentally sculptural form of a large wooden gantry. This site is like a personal museum of ingenuity and determination. Recording some of its details over multiple plein air sessions enabled me to feel close to Grandad again because his activities are evident everywhere. The rugged board I painted on is a found-object, its imperfect surface suggests an intergenerational spirit of making and making-do.
Photographer: Julie Purcell
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Artist: Vivienne Bryant
Artist Location: NAMBOUR
Medium: Acrylic, 2019
Dimensions: 31 x 91 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
I first arrived in Queensland from England in 1994.
Everything was so different and I loved it.
One thing that really struck me was the different styles of houses.
In England, large housing estates are filled with houses of only three or four different styles, but in Queensland, the system is totally different.
People buy a block of land and then choose a house to build on it, resulting in a great diversity of house styles made from a range of different materials.
Early settlers built Timber cottages, but in the 1960s, Brick became the building material of choice.
Now, Cement sheet has replaced Weatherboard, and Steel replaced Timber in house frames.
New homes are being built at a great rate, but sadly there still are many people who have no home, and sleep rough each night.
Photographer: Tony Bryant
Serpentine
Artist: Alana Read
Artist Location: CAWARRAL
Medium: Watercolour on Arches cold pressed cotton rag 300gsm paper, 2019
Dimensions: 36 x 51 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Near threatened, the “Pimelea Leptospermoides” shrub can survive only in the Serpentine Rock endemic to the Cawarral and Marlborough areas of Central Queensland, Australia. The opportunity to showcase this rare and uniquely Queensland plant located in my home town inspired me deeply. Through my chosen medium of watercolour, the fluid lines of the plant and accompanying rocks were conveyed in a sympathetic way. The colourful green and orange Serpentinite has distinctly dark textural lines, which I painted using my fingers and nails, by scratching and smoothing the wet paint across the paper. This cohabitants’ scene reflects the marriage of the lines and colour shared by the two in the artwork and also in the real life relationship between plant and its host in its natural environment. Endangered; Endearing; Enduring.
Photographer: Alana Read
In the Shallows
Artist: Christine Grubb
Artist Location: Monto
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 41 x 51 x 1.5 cm
Artist Statement:
This piece started out as a simple abstract background that I was experimenting with. I was going to paint over it, but someone insisted I leave it. I left this painting sit for about 4 to 5 months looking at it occasionally wondering if I could use it for something else. The more I looked at the marks in the background, the more I started to cultivate a story and scene in my artwork. I could see calm water in the foreground and rolling mountains in the background. I sometime sit in the mornings watching out into the paddocks of our farm, where I often see egrets at the dam.
This is why I developed my artwork into an egret, adding that extra layer to an otherwise bland painting. The abstract and realistic collide in this piece to represent the diversity of nature and life on our farm.
Photographer: Christine Grubb
No. 10 (Noosa River)
Artist: M.N. Cox
Artist Location: COOROY
Medium: Oil on linen, 2018
Dimensions: 61 x 91 x 3.5 cm
Artist Statement:
My grandparents bought at Noosaville in the 1950s so I’ve been visiting the Noosa River all my life. Now I live nearby. While the area has changed a lot (and the river is under pressure) it still holds a place in my heart.
This picture was painted in oils and is a composite of aspects of river life and things I’ve seen there over the years. I like how everyone comes together and there are so many distinct activities occurring on the river banks and water.
Photographer: M.N.Cox
Looking for a drink
Artist: Debbie Dieckmann
Artist Location: MILLMERRAN
Medium: Watercolour, 2019
Dimensions: 35 x 45 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
I have been a creator all my life being raised in the bush by my mother who was an artist. I began my artist endeavours by painting and then created using different mediums for several years .In the last 6 years I have returned to painting and mixed media but in the last10 months I have found a passion for watercolour and the wildlife in my bush community. For me watercolor best illustrates the fragility and subtly diversity of the bush, be it’s colours, delicacy of birds or fauna. Bush diversity is everywhere and is often overlooked as its subtle and changes with the seasons.
I am intrigued with my co inhabitants and try to record glimpses of their lives in my paintings. There’s over 238 birds, numerous marsupials and reptiles here so it’s going to be a long interesting journey without leaving home.
Photographer: Debbie Dieckmann
In the Check Out Lane
Artist: Anneke Silver
Artist Location: TOWNSVILLE
Medium: Acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 84 x 101 x 3.5 cm
Artist Statement:
I was searching for ways in which I could include many aspects of Diversity. I always enjoy watching the large racial and facial variety in the supermarket down the road; this became the idea to tackle the theme. It occurred to me that we are all in some way in the checkout lane towards shaping this state. There is a wide range of facial expressions and characters, which seem only loosely united, predominantly younger, as we are as a state. Most have their own agenda. They are only united by the predominant colour of the earth in our state –red ochre. I used the most natural and least manufactured drawing material, charcoal, to indicate the early stages of statehood that we are still in. I wanted the overall impression to be optimistic and energetic, regardless of the differences. I hope I managed to achieve that at least a little.
Photographer: anneke silver
Head in the Sky
Artist: Beatrice Prost
Artist Location: TINBEERWAH
Medium: Hand carved unique original print on aluminium ed 1/1, 2019
Dimensions: 76 x 50 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
I am fascinated by the residual pockets of subtropical rainforest that still exist on the hinterland of the Sunshine coast. Those are so fragile survivors of a distant past now surrounded by Eucalypt forest and grazing lands. Using a monochromatic “Willow Pattern” blue design I hope to infuse a sense of attention to protect those remaining green islands of diversity. But above all, “Head in the Sky” glows and enchants us with its complex patterns of extraordinary generous abundant life.
Bridging the gap between the digital and material world, I design images based on my own photographic material. I carve the physical print by hand creating original bold contemporary artworks. Those irreversible marks vary from deep grooves to shallow etches on the surface. I work on paper or in this case on aluminium exploring a surreal often monochromatic world to transport the onlooker into a dreamlike reality.
Photographer: Beatrice Prost
Fractured Landscape
Artist: Andrea Baumert Howard
Artist Location: EASTERN HEIGHTS
Medium: Junk mail, newspaper, egg carton, office paper, recycled craft paper pulp, 2019
Dimensions: 34 x 50 x 0.3 cm
Artist Statement:
Queensland is a state of enormous potential. We have natural resources we don’t value enough, and getting to the resources that hold value to mega corporations means destroying large tracts of the natural environment.
What has been done to the state in the name of progress and chasing the almighty dollar is shameful.
We are in danger of loosing the very diversity that makes up our home. The coastlines, rainforests, deserts, grasslands, big skies will be swallowed up by pollution, the creatures that live there pushed to extinction.
I have used a variety of recycled papers to create my landscape in paper pulp. Junk mail, newspaper, egg carton, office paper, recycled craft paper make up the body of the scenes.
I want to highlight the fragility of our environments with the fragility of the handmade paper and express my sorrow over what humans have done to our state of diversity.
Photographer: Andrea Baumert Howard
website in my garden
Artist: Tony Alston
Artist Location: RAILWAY ESTATE
Medium: Acrylic on paper, 2019
Dimensions: 54 x 42 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
as well as queensland being a state of diversity; my raggle taggle garden is in a state of diversity – some might say uproar
however I thanks the spider web for its beauty & functionately
Photographer: ANTHONY ALSTON
Honeymoon Bay (Moreton Island, Queensland)
Artist: Elena Suto
Artist Location: Regents Park
Medium: Oil on canvas, 2018
Dimensions: 76 x 91.5 x 3.5 cm
Artist Statement:
Between the rocky Cape Moreton and North Point lies Moreton Island’s picture perfect Honeymoon Bay. Looking like something from a movie, the hidden picturesque half-moon shape beach is about 50 meters wide, making it the perfect spot for a refreshing swim. Honeymoon Bay is the most famous of the four small pocket beaches near Cape Moreton. Honeymoon Bay is hard to miss whilst exploring the island. When my family and I first visited this location in December 2007, we were absolutely taken by this beautiful secluded location.
Photographer: Elena Suto
CRESSBROOK DAM REFLECTIONS
Artist: Bruce Griffiths
Artist Location: KLEINTON
Medium: Watercolour on paper, 2019
Dimensions: 50 x 70 x 25 cm
Artist Statement:
A State of Diversity.
Toowoomba, a short drive to the sea, state capital & often parched farm land. Am I city, country, urban or coastal? Due to modern transport, I can identify with each. Toowoomba, the Garden City, but is that what we are?
Knowledge can only be volunteered; it cannot be conscripted. Knowledge passes from father to son, mother to daughter & in towns & villages. A region is rich that shares knowledge & diversity. Few people withhold knowledge if there is a real need. We tap live into a resource & the knowledge is accessed and revealed. Live knowledge becomes learned knowledge & practiced knowledge. Linking & connecting people is the key. A region is successful as we mix, merge & share our knowledge & skills.
We all unknowingly strive for this in commerce, sport & lifestyle that brings prosperity & self-worth for you, me & the region.
Photographer: BRUCE GRIFFITHS
Toyah loved sunflowers (view detail)
Artist: Moo (sam) Matthews
Artist Location: MOSSMAN
Medium: Ceramics, 2019
Dimensions: 17.5 x 26 x 26 cm
Artist Statement:
Toyah loved sunflowers.
And the colour orange.
And so, you just KNOW, that Toyah Cordingly must have been a sunny, joyful soul.
Not that I actually knew Toyah. Not many of us did.
But now we all know “of Toyah”.
Or we know someone that did know her.
And that is because Toyah went for a walk, with her dog, at her favourite beach, and a person or persons “unknown” , attacked her.
And killed her.
FNQ is not such a big place really. Lots of space, lots of diversity, but not that many people. So, if you didn’t know Toyah – it still feels like you could of.
And when something very bad happens where, when or to something very good, the contrast in extremes is unimaginably shocking.
The far north QLD community will never forget Toyah – it is the very least we owe her.
Sunflowers.
For Toyah.
Forever.
Photographer: Sam Matthews
Embracing Azariah
Artist: Catherine Boreham
Artist Location: YEPPOON
Medium: Oil painting on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 61 x 61 x 3 cm
Artist Statement:
I believe that painting portraits gives me a great opportunity to encourage the viewer to move beyond simple tolerance and really see each individual as unique and valuable. I aim to inspire the viewer to celebrate the rich dimensions of diversity contained within each person they behold on the canvas.
One of Azariah’s favorite verses says, “Kind words are like honey, sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.”
With an attitude such as Azariah’s our differences wether they be gender, ethnicity, socio economic circumstances or religious beliefs would certainly be explored in a safe, positive and nurturing environment.
Azariah was very encouraged that I took the time to paint his portrait. Our states of diversity should be celebrated and this portrait is just one example of how I love to use artwork in a positive way to uplift others.
Photographer: Catherine Boreham
SCRIBBLY GUM WILD LIFE
Artist: Brian Hatch
Artist Location: CLEVELAND
Medium: Oil, 2019
Dimensions: 101 x 76 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
The diversity of Queensland’s flora and fauna is something unique to this state and country. There are many species of variegated eucalypt trees and one variety is called the scribbly
gum identified by the familiar iconic tracks left in the tree trunk by the moth larvae as it zigzags around.
In this painting I have used these scribbles made by the larvae to surreptitiously suggest and enhance images of our unique wild life hidden within the lines. When viewing these gum trees in the native bush it is possible to imagine all kinds of animals and bird images appearing in the diverse scribbles.
The blue background suggests the native blue gum found in many areas of Queensland. The zigzag tunnels on the trunk of a tree inspired this painting using ones imagination to perceive
various animal images hidden within the lines. There is a great diversity in the animal kingdom as suggested in this painting and the scribbly gum is but one species of diverse eucalypts found in the Queensland bush.
Photographer:
Landscape
Artist: Hannah Parker
Artist Location: HOLLOWAYS BEACH
Medium: Etching, 2019
Dimensions: 53 x 39 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
This work is a print of a series of etching plates. I am exploring how line, colour and shape tell the story of our environment. Thinking about land, sky, water and sea; our interaction and interference with our environment; and the history it created by us and by natural forces.
Photographer: Hannah Parker
FESTIVAL FOOTHILLS WOODFORDIA
Artist: Deann Cumner
Artist Location: VIA MALENY
Medium: Tar shellac and oils, 2018
Dimensions: 50 x 100 x 5 cm
Artist Statement:
This Dyptch represents a wonderful festival Woodfordia , held twice a year , literally just down the mountain from my farm at Booroobin.
The music festival is a vibrant , colourful and fantastic event where everyone just has fun !
This work is my interpretation of this amazing time in our local area……. the Sunshine Coast Hinterland.1750
Photographer: Deann Cumner
Ghosts of Forest Fallen
Artist: Shannon Macdonald
Artist Location: BLACK MOUNTAIN
Medium: Acrylic on board, 2019
Dimensions: 60 x 90 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
Queensland certainly is the State of Diversity and whether I am close to home or exploring places near and far I find myself touched by the limitless beauty to be found in our many and diverse environments. From the “picture perfect” beaches and lush rainforests of the coastal fringes to the vast expanses of the outback – red dirt and blue sky. The greatest shame is to find those spaces where diversity is being lost to development and to witness the degradation and feel the sense of loss in the shadows of what once was.
“Ghosts of Forest Fallen” is a reflection of an area in which I walk daily where huge trees have been cut or fallen leaving ghostly spaces amongst the re-growth – where light filters through the remaining tall Blue Gums to forest floor, creating a mosaic of texture, colour and light.
Photographer: not applicable
The Great Barrier Reef Bio-diversity – Pisces (view detail)
Artist: Buck Richardson
Artist Location: Kuranda
Medium: Photography/Digital Art on aluminium composite, 2019
Dimensions: 100 x 120 x 25 cm
Artist Statement:
Tropical North Queensland has two hot spots of bio-diversity, both World Heritage listed: the Wet Tropics and the Great Barrier Reef. In The Great Barrier Reef Bio-diversity – Pisces I have used many of my original images of fish, including sharks, taken at the wonderful Cairns Aquarium to create a 3D wall hanging. The foreground has line and swivels to make the suspended individual fish move with every zephyr of air caused by the viewer moving in front of the work creating the illusion of fish swimming and darting. While the Cairns Aquarium gives a preview of the myriad diversity of the wonders of Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef for able swimmers, for those who must stay out of the water, it provides an exciting and immersive experience. Persistence is the key to achieving presentable images of the fish as they are usually in constant motion. But what an exhilarating challenge!
Photographer: Buck Richardson
Journey Through The Playground (view detail)
Artist: Debbie Chilton and Mieke Den Otter
Artist Location: IPSWICH
Medium: Textile, 2019
Dimensions: 8 x 40 x 50 cm
Artist Statement:
Debbie is an artist living with disabilities. She uses the Image of a’scarecrow’ to explore themes of difference, varying abilities and diversity. The theme of diversity was prominent in the work both artists explored during the term. The collaborative textile book is reflective of the themes explored by both artists during their residency.Mieke is a textile artist who drew on the playground environment to develop her work and threading the images into felting. The felt characters which were created at kindy representing the diverse cultural backgrounds of the children. The themes of diversity were drawn from the children at play, their dress, gardens, trees and leaves and ‘rooms’ are depicted in the book. The characters can be moved from page to page to paper, which is reprehensive of the movement in the kindy environment during the artists session times.
Photographer: Debbie Chilton
Dusty Cattle Yards
Artist: Lynelle Urquhart
Artist Location: Southwood
Medium: Digital photography, machine stitching & pastels, 2019
Dimensions: 21 x 28.5 x 0.3 cm
Artist Statement:
The old – cattle in the yards stirring up the dust, with the new – me on my mobile phone taking photos, checking for messages & looking at emails. Running a farm business office whilst doing cattle work on our mixed grain & cattle farm at Moonie on the Western Darling Downs. Queensland and Queenslanders are a diverse lot, comfortably mixing traditions with new ideas and just getting on with it!
This image mixes digital photography, edited & printed at home on fabric, sewn on my machine to highlight the steel yards, then drawn on with pastels. Trying to capture the incredible light of the afternoon.
Photographer: Lynelle Urquhart
Rubric
Artist: Ann Fitzgerald
Artist Location: CROWS NEST
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 61 x 61 x 3.5 cm
Artist Statement:
My artistic goal is to create intellectually, fascinating and visually, stimulating art that challenges the viewer perception. Rubric is a conceptual, geometric abstraction and has a historical context of Australian, post-colonialism. The title is derived from the square constructs that cover most of the painting. The individual squares with their own colour identity connect to create a regenerating oneness. These central open-ended forms have less chroma intensity as they overlap in the mid-ground, metaphoric of a mellowing, maturing culture and the hard edge, its resilience. The land of the first nation is the brown monochrome ground and imposed colonisation the coloured squares invading the balance of the ground. The blue denim glaze for universality and unity, the unglazed triangles, remnants of the past and the brown ground a constant. The foreground’s layered, blue denim, glazed triangles are metaphoric for leafing through pages of time creating a State of Diversity.
Photographer: Ann-Maree Fitzgerald
Baby Lady Apple
Artist: Esmae Bowen
Artist Location: HOPE VALE
Medium: Screen printed ink onlinen, 2019
Dimensions: 120 x 100 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
My artwork is inspired by the forms and colours I see in the environment and my love of plants. When you see plants and you’re so down and out the beauty of that plant can lighten your day. A flower can put a smile on my face for the whole day. My favourite flower to paint is the baby lady apples (also called bush apples) at the time just before the flower grows into fruit. Lady apples only fruit in the early part of the wet season, and I love to paint them so much because they remind me of my childhood Christmases spent down at the beach with my family, where we used to like to eat them with salt.
Photographer: Melanie Gibson
Timepiece (view video)
Artist: Bianca Tainsh
Artist Location: WEYBA DOWNS
Medium: Video, 2019
Dimensions: variable
Artist Statement:
Bianca Tainsh is a socially-engaged artist based on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland. Through a process of research and reflection Bianca’s projects explore the existential and biospherical dilemmas of contemporary life, creating works in a variety of media that often invite interaction, and audience or community participation.
In her video Timepiece Bianca merges the diversity of natural and human histories that weave together to create the unique and captivating cultural landscape of Lake Weyba on the Sunshine Coast. By recounting these histories, and her own experiences, Bianca hopes to inspire people to consider how their lives effect the lives of other current and future Queenslanders, and the incredible diversity of creatures who also inhabit this sacred landscape.
Bianca holds a 1st Class Honours Degree from RMIT University, and studied Arts & Community Engagement at the VCA. She has exhibited in solo and group shows, and participated in international residency programs.
Photographer: Bianca Tainsh
SWEET LOVE AND THE BULLOAK JEWEL 2019
Artist: Lee FullARTon
Artist Location: BLACKSTONE IPSWICH
Medium: Acrylic and collage on wood panel, 2019
Dimensions: 25 x 25 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
Near the Darling Downs town of Leyburn is Ellengowan Nature Reserve a fragile habitat for the ancient Bulloak and the endangered Bulloak Jewel Butterfly Hypochrysops piceata.
It is a nature story of complex relationships of diverse and endangered species only found in Queensland. My favourite part of this ecological story is the exchange of sugary delights for protection and guidance between the Bulloak Jewel Caterpillar and an undescribed ant, Anonychomyrma sp.
Reviewing the work of Entomologist, Dr Don Sands in conservation of this rare and tiny butterfly, led me to an artists expedition to discover the last place of the Bulloak Jewel in paint and paper.
Photographer: Lee FullARTon
Top of Town – Ipswich
Artist: Glen Smith
Artist Location: BUNDAMBA
Medium: Mixed Media – collage, 2019
Dimensions: 90 x 60 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Brisbane Street Ipswich, “Top of Town” precinct has been home to my business for 11 years. With the theme of diversity for this exhibition I couldn’t go past what this street offers. Within 200 metres of my shopfront you can find such a diverse range of businesses, from op shops to high fashion, food banks to fine dining, Tattooist to Art Galleries, barbers to Day Spas and other retailers. Due to this wide range of shops it attracts a diverse clientele. We get every one from those who talk about themselves to those who talk to themselves, the window shoppers, mums dads, fashion icons, people trying to make a quick buck, the unfortunates and the wealthy. All which makes my day interesting and the not knowing of who will enter my door. In this artwork I have tried to capture the diversity of the people that I deal with daily.
Photographer: Glen Smith
Five Shells (view detail)
Artist: Michelle Gray
Artist Location: EMERALD
Medium: Handblown glass, displayed on beach sand., 2019
Dimensions: 20 x 20 x 8 cm
Artist Statement:
Our beautiful state presents us with a wonderous diversity of natural treasures. I have chosen to represent the delicacy and diversity of nature in our sunshine state by creating these hand blown glass shells. No two are identically duplicated – such is the cleverness of diversity in nature. There are so many different species of shells in our waters, of which we are lucky enough to be offered a few precious samples onto our stunning and various beaches.
Photographer: Michelle Gray
Mob on the Move
Artist: Margaret Worthington
Artist Location: CALLIOPE
Medium: Watercolour and gouache on paper, 2019
Dimensions: 57 x 105 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
I chose this painting to enter in the State of Diversity competition because it shows an interesting, diverse and rarely painted area of Queensland. Landscapes like the one depicted in watercolours are common and may be seen along much of the Queensland coast where there are mangroves and mudflats. A solitary rocky island is viewed over the salt pans at low tide. Wetlands both fresh and salty are found in these areas. A mob of very young pigs are shown cavorting on the salt pan moving over to the wetlands to feed. A Pied Cormorant is resting after a fishing expedition.
Photographer: M Worthington
Red Natal no.1
Artist: Jenny Neubecker
Artist Location: Waterloo
Medium: Graphite, pastel and collage on archers paper, 2019
Dimensions: 80 x 30 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Queensland’s varied landscapes lay the foundation for a wide range of grass species. One species, common in coastal areas, is Red Natal. As graziers we value it for the contribution it makes to biodiversity on our property. As an artist I am inspired by the structure of the delicately, fine, feathery seeds that form in clusters on the heads of grass. En masse, paddocks of Red Natal swathe the landscape with rich burgundy reds that provide a striking contrast with neighbouring green pastures. Early stages of seeding produce rich, dark glossy red seed heads that fade to a soft pink as the seed heads mature, then are carried away in the wind.
Photographer: Jenny Neubecker
Sun Harness (view detail)
Artist: Joanne Taylor
Artist Location: BARCALDINE
Medium: Paper pulp, iron oxide, cotton thread, gold leaf, paper, cotton rag paper, ink, pencil, pencil, perspex, wood, dye, 2019
Dimensions: 50 x 36.5 x 14 cm
Artist Statement:
Queensland is the state of diversity with its vast coastlines, open flat interior and abundant resources. But one thing that unites us all in the ‘Sunshine State’ is indeed, the sun. It’s the binding factor that makes Queensland what it is. Sunlight energises the productive heart of our state and imprints our landscape such that we all benefit.
The repetition of “suns” in this sculpture represents the numerous but similar solar farms popping up in recent years in Central West Queensland, all doing their bit to power our lives and our future prosperity.
Increasingly, the iconic and quintessential Queenslander home many of us have spent at least part of our lives in, is now being powered by energy harvested from the sun.
Photographer: Donna Jedras
Islands In The Sun
Artist: Wendy K Ford
Artist Location: MACLEAY ISLAND
Medium: Paints, dyes and resist on silk, 2019
Dimensions: 45 x 61 x 3 cm
Artist Statement:
Wendy paints on silks and textiles as The Silk Maid. After an exhaustive search she found her Utopia on an enchanting island. Dolphins, turtles, dugongs, stingrays and maybe even mermaids frolic in the emerald waters. Rainforests, sandy beaches, swaying palms, rocky foreshores and mangroves create a haven for wildlife and a diverse array of birdlife. Flowers and vegetables grow abundantly in the fertile soil. The ever changing colours of the waters, the glorious sunsets and the moonlight across the bay are an endless artists inspiration. At night the lights glow from boats in the cove as the beacons on the harbour blink red and green. In the far distance the lights of the mainland twinkle like a fairyland. The muse is never far away on this peaceful tranquil island. Nestled amongst a group of islands not far off the coast in this great and diverse State of Queensland.
Photographer: Wendy K Ford
Their Story, My Story (view video)
Artist: Belinda McGrath
Artist Location: ROCKHAMPTON
Medium: Carbon paper monoprint animation, 2019
Dimensions: 0 x 0 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
Their story, My Story is the account of how my grandparents met.
My grandmother was the daughter of a Scottish illegal immigrant who served in the British Army in WW1, and for Australia in WW2. In her early years she lived with her parents in a tent in a small Queensland town called The Willows. When times were more financially stable, they moved to a house in North Rockhampton- next to a train line.
In 1942 my grandfather, the son of an English immigrant mother whose bank book listed her occupation as ‘married’ and listed no financial transactions, just recipes, travelled by train to his training after his enlistment in the Australian Army.
As the troops were transported by rail, the nearby residents would throw them books to occupy them on their journey. My grandmother threw in a book with her name and address inside, my grandfather caught it.
Photographer: Belinda McGrath
The Glimmer of Moonlight
Artist: Lesley Shelley
Artist Location: BRIBIE ISLAND
Medium: Oil on aluminum, 2018
Dimensions: 73 x 58 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
I am fortunate to live at White Patch on Bribie Island, where coastal bush runs alongside
pumicestone passage. This painting depicts an area of bush at night, using an experimental process with a variety of ingredients. Oil paints because they lend themselves to being scraped and scratched with brush and knife; Wax because it gives fluency, Marble dust because it creates texture, plus silver and gold pigments to give luminosity. The challenge for me lies in the elimination and reduction of detail, so I can convey reality strongly, and without distraction. I add my experience as a dedicated artist and observer of nature to take the viewer into the essence of place, and see with fresh eyes, the bush in moonlight.
Photographer: Lesley Shelley
Colours of my soul
Artist: Yvonne Moloney-Law
Artist Location: BONDOOLA
Medium: Intaglio print on Hahnemuhle paper, 2018
Dimensions: 59 x 83 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
‘From my view placed upon the ledge of Capricorn, a place diverse with cyclones, floods & endless days of searing humidity, rich with miles of skies and ancient mountains, framed by afternoon sunsets and rolling thunderstorms fetched by scorching summer glares. My memories gaze toward the lands of my youth, echoing sun-drenched fishing holidays on tropical islands. These are the colours etched to my soul’.
Photographer: Yvonne Moloney-Law
Garden Feast
Artist: Colleen Helmore
Artist Location: BURNETT HEADS
Medium: Watercolour on arches paper, 2019
Dimensions: 35 x 55 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
At any time of day a different bird can be heard in and around my garden. The diversity of their songs is amazing, however it is the magpie that most captures my attention. I wanted to create a watercolour painting, capturing these birds in a diversity of poses to capture their unique character.
I paint mainly with 3 primary colours and don’t use black or white watercolour paint so I have made a great variety of colourful darks to create the illusion of black and white .
Photographer: Colleen Helmore
Wuguulmba
Artist: Dora Deemal
Artist Location: HOPE VALE
Medium: Screen print on linen, 2019
Dimensions: 120 x 100 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
This is my fabric of Wuguulmba – which are sometimes called ‘Saddle Palms’. They grow on the banks of the McIvor River in far north Queensland, which is where my ancestral home of Binthi Warra is. I paint the trees and plants that grow around my homeland, as I find them beautiful and I believe that through drawing and painting the unique plants and flowers that grow on my homeland, I can pass on the cultural knowledge of the land and maintain the cultural connections that my family have to Binthi Warra.
Photographer: Melanie Gibson
A Home for Birds
Artist: Rose Rigley and Barbara Dover
Artist Location: WHITFIELD
Medium: Book-based sculptural assemblage, 2019
Dimensions: 25 x 20 x 11 cm
Artist Statement:
The artist considered the theme ‘State of Diversity’ both geographically and psychologically. The resulting artwork was an exchange between two different individuals, with empathy, trust and an understanding of another’s location, the key to the collaborative outcome. Destruction or preservation became an integral part of creation, as each artist contributed to the beginning or end of the structure. Strategies of how to respond to ‘the object’, to letting go of concrete connections to place, and to the production of a ‘cohesive’ visual language were explored in the undertaking. Collaboration has, at its foundation, the idea of bringing diversity together through compassion.
‘A Home for Birds’ focuses on the impact that human inhabitation has on local wildlife.
Photographer: Rose Rigley
Crazy weather we’ve been having
Artist: Nora Hanasy
Artist Location: ZIZLIE
Medium: Digital collage, 2019
Dimensions: 100 x 100 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
Central Queensland is a land of constant change. One thing that really makes this place I call home extra unique is the weather.’Crazy weather we’ve been having’ is a phrase we use often here as a greeting. It binds all of us together. The heat of summer comes with cyclones and floods and when we are not under water the land is arid and dry with blackened trees as far as the eye can see. The winter fog turns everything eerie and white and the short but severe storms that come out of nowhere definitely get the blood pumping. These extreme and often devastating weather patterns are the cause of our ever-changing colors and textures of the CQ landscape. But it is this diversity that makes every moment here, exciting and beautiful.
Photographer: Nora Hanasy
Hanging out the clothes
Artist: Sharon Hamill
Artist Location: BUDERIM
Medium: Acrylics, 2019
Dimensions: 101 x 76 x 4 cm
Artist Statement:
Winter sun on the Sunshine Coast casts heavily patterns of light and dark. This afternoon sun painting tried to capture the diversity of sun and light with smooth of lawn and texture of the bush. The image tried to impart a snapshot in time in a rural setting in the coast
Photographer: Sharon Hamill
The Alice Hart Portrait
Artist: Joshua Lamb
Artist Location: KARRAGARRA ISLAND
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2018
Dimensions: 91 x 72 x 2 cm
Artist Statement:
As a regional artist living on an island without a bridge, I risk being stranded by missing ferries.
At a mainland portrait workshop last year, a Mother and daughter rushed in just as I was exiting for my homeward bound ferry. My sessions include live portrait drawing. Mum explained that her daughter Alice had sacrificed hockey, and especially dressed for almost four hours making her portrait outfit just right. The sophisticated and complex colour choices of the ‘wardrobe crisis’ further enhanced a compelling subject. Meanwhile, juggling my island life required me to leave almost immediately. I felt terrible!
Quickly taking reference photos, and apologizing profusely as I left, I only just caught my ferry home. Back home in my island studio, the extra reference material presented a special opportunity for developing a detailed, finished portrait that aims to capture the spirit of a lively and creative young person.
Photographer: Joshua Lamb
Magic at the Beach
Artist: Jill McLean
Artist Location: PELICAN WAERS
Medium: Oil on canvas, 2018
Dimensions: 50 x 40 x 35 cm
Artist Statement:
Gender identity has become more openly diverse in Queensland and we can see this in the evolving male parental role and behaviour. Emotional distance, once a common feature of fatherhood, is being broken down as values and attitudes toward being a male parent change. The Queensland seaside provides a wonderful place for fathers to connect, play and build emotional bonds with their children, and of course great memories.
Photographer: Jillian McLean
Country girls
Artist: Mary Mackenzie
Artist Location: YUNGABURRA
Medium: Oil on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 62 x 77 x 3.5 cm
Artist Statement:
Two little country girls dressed in beautiful party dresses appear to grow like flowers out of an unlikely landscape.
Despite the incongruity of their clothing in such a setting, the girls seem happy and relaxed among the spinifex and rocks . . . and does this setting perhaps increase our pleasure in viewing the girls? It does for me, and I recognise how diversity enhances, brings a freshness to an image and to our way of seeing.
“All art is at once surface and symbol . . . It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex and vital”.
Oscar Wilde
Photographer: Murray Anderson Clemence
Street Theatre
Artist: Erin Dunne
Artist Location: THE RANGE
Medium: Hand-stamped lettering and ink on paper, mounted on foamcore, 2019
Dimensions: 76 x 95 x 2.5 cm
Artist Statement:
This work encapsulates a broad selection of the diverse qualities and elements that represent life in Rockhampton from my perspective. Over the past few years since moving back to the area, I have adopted the position of participant-observer of the rituals, routines and rhythms of life here, allowing me to notice and record moments that resonate with a poetic or lyrical quality, as well as encounters with the humorous, surreal, strange, and emblematic. The written imagery and figurative language within this text-based work are a poetic distillation and synthesis of the written, drawn and photographic documentation that I have been collecting, adopting an ongoing and informal phenomenological research methodology. The text was produced by hand using a stamp set purchased from a local op-shop in Rockhampton, creating a free-form poem that can be read horizontally, vertically, in fragments or in its entirety to create an open-ended narrative of place.
Photographer: Erin Dunne
Windy day at the beach
Artist: Charlene Attard-Slack
Artist Location: Mackay North
Medium: Mixed media on canvas, 2018
Dimensions: 20 x 20 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
An important part of my community is beach culture. ‘Windy day at the beach’ depicts my two young children immersed in the sun, and oblivious to the wind as they engaged in play. I recall as a child, special days at the many beaches in the Mackay Region and the immense fun to be had chasing waves, building sandcastles, finding soldier crabs, exploring rock pools and discovering all living creatures I could find. Protecting the ecology of our beaches is more important now than ever and whilst this artwork captures only a brief moment in time for its subjects, I hope that the darkening clouds in the sky and blurring of the dunes serves to remind us all of the preciousness and need for preservation of our beach locations for future generations of children to explore, discover and enjoy.
Photographer: Charlene Slack
Whitehorses and casuarinas on the estuary
Artist: Adrienne Williams
Artist Location: ELLIOTT HEADS
Medium: Ink, watercolour, gouache, gelli print on Washi and Arches papers, 2019
Dimensions: 99 x 70 x 0.5 cm
Artist Statement:
This work originated from printed acrylic impressions made from the leaves of the casuarinas near my home at Elliott Heads. It led on to contemplating this place, taking the consideration of colour away, and instead using a diversity of marks to describe the wild winds and storms that both support and shape these trees and the landforms around them. Bold and abstracted markmaking sits alongside tiny grain-like, representational dots, supporting a conversation between varying hues of mixed blacks. This year the winds blew in off the sea for months and months. Hardy locals wondered when the regular winter calm would arrive. It’s here now and the casuarinas rest. But it won’t be long before the whitehorses stand up on the sea again, and windswept nuts catch us underfoot like discarded lego pieces.
Photographer: Adrienne Williams
Inclusive Diversity
Artist: Leigh-Ann Hargreaves
Artist Location: IPSWICH
Medium: Mixed medium- mostly acrylic, 2019
Dimensions: 80 x 100 x 5 cm
Artist Statement:
In creating Inclusive Diversity I used a diverse range of colours representative of Queensland soils and plants. Deep red fertile soil of Redland Bay and rich black soil of the Scenic Rim. North Queensland is represented in the lush greens and blues of the forests. Ochre reminded me of dry Western Qld and golden yellows for the sandy Coast. Queensland is a state of diversity of climate and conditions.
I have represented people of diverse cultures, ages and abilities. In painting the figures, I have used colour to represent diversity, not skin colour. We are richer for our differences. . Inclusivity makes our communities stronger, smarter, safer and richer.
I am promoting a state of tolerance and understanding where marginalisation no longer exists.
Photographer: Leigh-Ann Hargreaves
WE ARE ONE BUT WE ARE MANY
Artist: Sarah Larsen
Artist Location: Thangool,
Medium: Mixed media on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 94 x 120 x 5 cm
Artist Statement:
On contemplation of the theme diversity, I was drawn to speak about the diversity of race and culture so prevalent in Australian society now.
I have chosen to depict the ‘hats we wear’ to portray this statement. They are balanced on a piece of dried timber and supported by the wide red land and our beautiful open blue skies.
Photographer: Sarah Larsen
ars longa, vita brevis
Artist: Meaghan Shelton
Artist Location: IMBIL
Medium: Embroidery on victorian guest towel., 2019
Dimensions: 120 x 60 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Ars longa, vita brevis ( the life short, the craft long to learn ) references the diversity of materials that can be counted as valuable means for art making and also the diversity of experiences required to make a person whole. The vintage, hand crocheted guest towel was gifted to me when a friend’s parents had passed because ‘I would know what to do with it’. I utilise domestic crafting techniques as a form of activism. The work evidences innumerable hours of labour devoted to creating both the original matrix that forms the foundation for this work as well as the more recent embroidered additions. By representing the moulting snake, this iteration more explicitly expresses the existential restlessness that can occur during life’s transitions, a time that can be eased by laborious and meditative making processes that bring calm and resolution. This work unfolds as a trans-generational collaboration between women.
Photographer: Leeroy Todd
Overflow IV
Artist: Michelle Black
Artist Location: ZILZIE
Medium: Unique state intaglio print. Oil-based ink on cotton rag paper, pigment pen., 2019
Dimensions: 76 x 113 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
Queensland is a state of diverse weather patterns. From droughts that cover the majority of this vast state to desert and frosts, drenching rains, tropical cyclones, and expansive floods.
Rockhampton has been subjected to many major floods. After a flood, a sticky, oozing, acrid black mud remains in the low-lying areas of Rockhampton.
Huge quantities of sediment are lost downstream, flowing to the ocean during times of flood. A series of unique state prints has been created using this river sediment in the printing matrix, textures and flows of mud recording environmental processes in ink. A length of the Fitzroy River is over-printed, just a small portion of the vast catchment area of the Fitzroy Basin.
Photographer: Michelle Black
Bluefaced honey eaters
Artist: Debbie Dieckmann
Artist Location: MILLMERRAN
Medium: Watercolour, 2019
Dimensions: 55 x 45 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
I have been a creator all my life being raised in the bush by my mother who was an artist. I began my artist endeavours by painting and then created using different mediums for several years .In the last 6 years I have returned to painting and mixed media but in the last 10 months I have found a passion for watercolour and the wildlife in my bush community. For me watercolor best illustrates the fragility and subtly diversity of the bush, be it’s colours, delicacy of birds or fauna. Bush diversity is everywhere and is often overlooked as its subtle and changes with the seasons.
I am intrigued with my co inhabitants and try to record glimpses of their lives in my paintings. There’s over 238 birds, numerous marsupials and reptiles here so it’s going to be a long interesting journey without leaving home.
Photographer: Debbie Dieckmann
Determination
Artist: Grant Quinn
Artist Location: Bundamba
Medium: Photography, 2019
Dimensions: 55 x 55 x 1 cm
Artist Statement:
Nothing shows more diversity than man-made and natural environments. The diverse elements of the two sometimes collide to make up the environment and communities that we live in. As cities and towns slowly spread out its urbanisation we are losing our beautiful and diverse flora and fauna. However, in some cases, our flora and fauna adjusts and evolves to survive in man-made environments. In this image I have capture a Fig Tree with its roots desperately clinging to the side of a brick wall. It is determined to survive in this cold hard eco system. The sprawling roots, twisted branches and minimalist leaves combined with the painted brick wall and cement edging create a stunning picture telling a story of determination and a will to survive against all odds.
Photographer: Grant Quinn
my father grew roses(Download Artivive to activate augmented reality in artwork)
Artist: Rebecca Lewis
Artist Location: EAST IPSWICH
Medium: Mixed Media, 2019
Dimensions: 29 x 21 x 0 cm
Artist Statement:
“My Dad cleared most of the trees on our block, he disliked gums, they were not English. He grew one hundred and thirty five rose bushes, the postman reckoned he could smell them all the way from the corner.”
Every family keeps stories. These tales are diverse and distinct to each family, they filter down through the generations, tales from every day life, tales of childhood discoveries, of loss, of small joys, of love and friendships that have all helped to shape a family but often go untold outside the family home. This piece aims to share some of these little stories from my own family history.
In the creation of the work itself I have employed diverse techniques to build layers into the story, giving the piece context within my family history and more broadly in the history of South East Queensland.
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Photographer: Rebecca Lewis
The rich and the poor
Artist: Jenny Foxton
Artist Location: HIGHFIELDS
Medium: Oil on canvas, 2019
Dimensions: 61 x 92 x 25 cm
Artist Statement:
My semi-abstract work reflects very diverse Queensland landscapes. ‘The rich and the poor’ symbolises the layers of complexity within any environment – conflict between nature and humans, between conserving and consuming.
I have used colour and horizontal layers to symbolise the verdant rich farming lands and rainforests close to the Queensland coastline, juxtaposed with the ochre and red soils found inland in the South Burnett a