YOURS TO KEEP! AUSTRALIA’S REGIONAL PUBLICATION OF THE YEAR FINALIST APRIL 2016
THE GET ACTIVE ISSUE
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Image 1 Anneke SILVER Low sun reflections 2015 Mixed media on canvas 61 x 61 cm
Manager Gallery Services
Shane Fitzgerald
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TOWNSVILLE CITY COUNCIL
Rivers un-cut
Key to any thriving arts community is, of course, its artists. Given Townsville is amongst the most vibrant regional arts and culture centres in Australia, it should come as little surprise that living amongst us are many talented artists and craftspeople.
TOWNSVILLE’S regional galleries, Perc Tucker Regional Gallery and Pinnacles Gallery, continue to strengthen the Townsville region’s visual arts sector through the delivery of exhibitions and programs that link to various strategies, perhaps none more important than the development and promotion of our homegrown talent. In recent years, the Galleries’ aim to develop curatorial content that promotes North Queensland artists and artsworkers to local and national audiences has resulted in popular major exhibitions for artists such as Peter Lawson, Jo Lankester, Richard Lane, Sandi Hook and Donna Foley; approximately 50 exhibitions annually by local artists or organisations presented at various community spaces; and the inclusion of leading local talent in major national touring exhibitions such as
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Country & Western: Landscape Re-Imagined. In 2016, the year of the city’s T150 celebrations, Perc Tucker and Pinnacles proudly continue this commitment to the region through exhibitions that explore our rich cultural history, such as Picturing Townsville and Images of an Era: The Martin Gallery; a deserved retrospective for popular
Image 2 Anneke SILVER Patterns around the mouth of the Bohle 2015 Mixed media on canvas 61 x 61 cm
Image 3 Anneke SILVER Trickle running wide 2014–16 Mixed media on canvas 90 x 90 cm
cartoonist, the late Robert Hebden; and most immediately, a body of new work by acclaimed painter, Dr Anneke Silver, entitled Rivers un-cut. Painted over the course of three years, the river provides not only a unifying theme for these new works, but also a fitting metaphor for the artist’s practice. The river in its most beautiful form – un-cut, without interruption or diversion by human interference – finds its own way. It majestically sweeps through the landscape, searching towards something bigger than itself; no two rivers are the same. And so it is with the works within this exhibition. No two works are the same. While distinct series are evident, Silver’s passion for exploring the landscape extends to the canvas, where she exuberantly veers from a single stylistic channel, following the natural course of her artistic instinct. While the exhibition contains works that have been treated in a great diversity of styles, they all flow in the same direction towards a celebration of our landscape, its shapes, “immense patterns and aesthetics”. Most interesting is the artist’s chosen perspective. The paintings are largely midflight and complete aerial depictions of North Queensland river systems, which allow us to begin to comprehend the shapes and contours of the land and its relationship with the flow of water. Many of us have fleetingly appreciated such perspectives while sitting in the window seat of a plane, while such visions have long been understood by Australia’s Indigenous peoples. By breaking with the traditional or dominant landscape view of our culture, the artist invites viewers to contemplate their view of the land and our interaction with it in a broader sense – not only aesthetically, but environmentally. Silver’s new exhibition, Rivers un-cut, is a welcome and long overdue solo exhibition of new work by the artist, ten years since the staging of her last solo show at Perc Tucker Regional Gallery. Silver’s love for painting is perhaps only matched by her affection for the North Queensland environment, and this exhibition is a splendid union of these great passions. Rivers un-cut is on display at Perc Tucker Regional Gallery from 1 April to 1 May 2016. Admission is free.
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Biennial NQ Ceramic Awards Showcase Leading And Emerging Ceramic Artists
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Image 1 Alice COUTTOUPES Untitled 2015 Porcelain 10 x 53 x 36 cm Image 2 Kris COAD Indigo Blues #2 2016 Porcelain 30 x 50 x 30 cm
THROUGHOUT April, Pinnacles Gallery presents the 2016 Biennial North Queensland Ceramic Awards, which has been developed and delivered by the North Queensland Potters Association Inc. in collaboration with Pinnacles Gallery, Townsville City Council. The North Queensland Ceramic Awards have a rich history, with competitions having been organised by the North Queensland Potters Association Inc. since 1973. Works acquired from these competitions form the major part of the City of Townsville Art Collection’s impressive ceramic sub-collection, which is
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amongst the best public ceramic collections in the country. With the establishment of Perc Tucker Regional Gallery in 1981, the community has provided regular access to these works via rotational Vault and Showcase exhibitions, and major curated shows. Throughout the 40 ceramic competitions that have been staged over the years, the intent has remained the same; to increase public exposure to a high standard of pottery from around the nation. Not only has the competition been successful in attracting entries from well-known potters showing their current work, but it has also
provided a showcase for emerging ceramic artists. Damon Moon, a revered ceramicist and also Creative Director of the innovative Ceramics Studio at JamFactory Contemporary Craft and Design, was engaged as this year’s esteemed judge, casting his eye over the 91 works selected as finalists in 2016. To see what Damon selected as this year’s major $10,000 acquisitive prize winner, make sure you head to Pinnacles Gallery before the show closes on 1 May.
NORTH QUEENSLAND Ceramic Awards
Pinnacles Gallery 11 March - 1 May 2016
RAINFORD
Image: Jeff Mincham AM Bush Ballard (Forces of Nature Series) 2015 Ceramic, mid-Fire, multi glazed and multi fired 81 x 42 x 27 cm Winner of the City of Townsville Art Collection Award
Pinnacles Gallery Riverway Arts Centre, 20 Village Blvd. Thuringowa Central QLD 4817 Tues - Sun: 10am - 5pm Closed Mondays
(07) 4773 8871 pinnacles@townsville.qld.gov.au www.townsville.qld.gov.au @TCC_Pinnacles PinnaclesTCC
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Director’s Pick The last 24 months has seen the most considerable growth of the City of Townsville Art Collection in living memory. A total of 745 acquisitions, with the vast majority of these works entering the Collection as donations, either directly from artists and collectors, or via the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, now form part of our cultural legacy.
Image 1 Joan PONC Born 1927 Barcelona, Spain – Died 1984 Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France Kafka 20 1974 Etching and aquatint printed in colour (black and brown ink), from two plates on paper Edition 23/75 Sizes variable 2014.0393 – 2014.0417 Gift of Dr Douglas A. Kagi, 2014 Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program City of Townsville Art Collection
Image 2 Donald TESKEY Born 1956 County Limerick, Munster, Ireland Storm Surge 2009 Carborandum and intaglio, printed in colour, from multiple plates on thick cream wove paper Edition 2/25 75 x 95 cm 2014.0504 Gift of Dr Douglas A. Kagi, 2014 Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program City of Townsville Art Collection
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Image 3 Harry MEMMOTT Born 1921 Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; Died 1991 Townsville Army Camp, September 1942 circa 1942 Watercolour on paper 24.7 x 33.5 cm 2014.0068 Purchased from Heiser Gallery, Brisbane, 2014 Funded from the City of Townsville Art Collection Acquisitions Fund, Townsville City Council City of Townsville Art Collection
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PERC Tucker Regional Gallery’s current exhibition entitled Director’s Pick: recent acquisitions from the City of Townsville Art Collection celebrates and showcases this significant achievement through a selection of 75 works that span eight decades and represents artists from around the globe. In 2016, the City of Townsville Art Collection holds around 3,800 artworks valued at $15 million – an important resource for North Queensland residents, including adults, students and local artists, and is a significant tourist attraction for our region – which realises a 40% growth in artwork holdings and an increase in value of 114% from 2013. It was through the Cultural Gifts Program that perhaps the most significant acquisitions were made, including the largest single gift of artworks in the region’s history – and one of the largest gifts of artworks to a regional gallery in Australian history. Donated by Dr Douglas A. Kagi, the gift consists of 454 individual artworks by 66 renowned Australian and International artists, with a particular focus on modern and contemporary works on paper created in the 1960s
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to early 2000s. This extraordinarily generous gift by Dr Douglas A. Kagi is gratefully acknowledged by Gallery Services and Townsville City Council, and is the second such gift by the collector following his donation of 24 digital prints by acclaimed photomedia artist Tim Maguire in 2012. In bestowing these significant bodies of works, Dr Kagi has not only provided the community with access to major artists, but also re-focused the community’s attention on the impressive quality within and significance of the City of Townsville Art Collection. A number of astute purchases were also made over the course of the last 24 months, adding to the Collection’s holdings of works by significant local and national artists, and works that are historically relevant to our region. Amongst these works were fine examples by Townsville-based artists Holly Grech, Richard Lane, Jo Lankester, Gerald Soworka and Marion Gaemers. The largest body of work purchased was a series of 20 photographs by Tim Page depicting the Vietnam War. Recently Page was listed as one of the ‘100 Most Influential Photographers of All Time’
and is the recipient of many awards. This collection of images reflect the imprint left behind after the photojournalist spent time with these Australian troops, some of them not long conscripted into the army. The purchase complements two Tim Page artworks represented in the City of Townsville Art Collection, and the suite is a historically significant documentation of the human condition during the Vietnam War. Further, the purchase recognises Townsville’s position as a major military city. Director’s Pick: recent acquisitions from the City of Townsville Art Collection gives interested viewers some insight into the shaping of Townsville’s unique collection, as well as food for thought on some general collecting issues such as the purpose of collecting, who has a say, the role of gifts, how museums cope with skyrocketing art prices, and what criteria might be followed in determining acquisitions. Further, it demonstrates the reputation and appeal of Perc Tucker Regional Gallery in the national arts sector – an outcome we all should be very proud of.
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