Tuesday, December 8, 2020

Wild/Flower Women @ Gympie Regional

Next on my gallery tour is a visit to the grand exhibition, Wild/flower Women III: Women Walking Country - this show was at the Gympie Regional Gallery last month ( November ) - I didn't get to see it until the second last day and so wasn't able to promote it earlier - but here is a "retrospective" of the exhibition for those who didn't get there ...


Perched high on the hill in Nash Street and over-looking the township is the beautiful and original old School of Arts building - built in 1905 - now home to the Gympie Regional Art Gallery ...  a community-oriented gallery, celebrating its own professional and amateur artists, as well as displaying a range of high quality exhibitions from around Australia.

 

The exhibition celebrates the work of Kathleen McArthur, who was an artist and conservationist who specialised in painting Queensland wildflowers. She is also well-known for being one of the founding members of the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland along with her friend, poet Judith Wright.

Together they began the campaign to establish Cooloola National Park, working with conservationist Arthur Harrold, the Cooloola Committee, the Noosa Parks Association, and many other allies.

To profile the living legacy of women, art and Queensland wildflowers, contemporary artists from Gympie, Noosa and Sunshine Coast created new work ranging from paintings, prints, works on paper, and jewellery to textile works using natural dyes, recycled textiles, and wall vinyl.

 



Zela Bissett - Garment Stories - felted textile wraps




Barb Hart - Grasstree Spikes, 2020 - waste material sculptures

 
Kathleen McArthur - Cooloola Wildflowers -  
watercolour on paper
 
 
Ulrike Sturm - Hovea clavata -   
vinyl wallwork  

 
Meaghan Shelton - Floral revelrie -  
various media

 
Judy Barrass - Floral Teasets -  
reflex copy paper & laser print



Judy Barrass - Paper Dolls - laser print on paper

 
Barb Hart - Spots for Iris - mixed media book


Zela Bissett - various Wild/Flower Women -   
water & ink on handmade paper

" ... This exhibition draws inspiration from the heritage of women who have walked Cooloola country from Traditional Owners as well as ‘wild/flower women’ Kathleen McArthur and Judith Wright, including their campaigning to establish Cooloola National Park. The exhibition profiles contemporary female artists from Gympie, Noosa and the Sunshine Coast  who re-energise heritage and history with their own responses to our wildflowers, natural heritage and walking together on country. Wild/flower Women III creates a sense of the different perspectives, scales and scope of the wallum and Cooloola ecologies, the relationships between humans and the more than human world, and ways of seeing inspired by art and nature ... "


Maree Prior - The Interface -  
charcoal on paper

Sandra Ross - Wallum Wildflowers - mixed media on paper



Anne Harris - Re-Membering / all that I am - 
mixed media installation



 
Anne Harris - We Are All That We Are - natural plant dye on silk



Nicole Harper - Boundaries, watersheds. Landmarks - 
mixed media on wood panels



Nai Nai Bird - Butchulla Bush Food - acrylics on paper


Melissa Stannard - come go walk and care for country
 mixed media - vintage pianola roll with Yuwaalaaray verse



 
Joolie Gibbs - Impermanence - 
hand-made inks on Arches paper




 
Love this gallery and really looking forward to my solo show here early 2021 ...

The Wild/flower Women III exhibition was supported by Cooloola Coastcare and the Regional Arts Development Fund, a partnership between the Queensland Government and Gympie Regional Council to support local arts and culture in regional Queensland.