Exhibitions

Exhibitions: Overview

The financial period 2013/2014 saw 88 exhibitions presented by Gallery Services at Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Pinnacles Gallery, The Galleria (Riverway Arts Centre), Townsville CBD, The Strand and YourSpace (Thuringowa Civic Centre).

A further exhibition was presented in a venue not operated by Gallery Services, namely the presentation of To the Islands at Cairns Regional Gallery.

Perc Tucker Regional Gallery presented 14 major exhibitions on its ground and first floor in the reporting period, commencing with the final weeks of VRROOOM, the highly popular automobile themed Children’s Exhibition. Throughout the year Perc Tucker Regional Gallery exhibitions would provide increased access to the City of Townsville Art Collection, through curated shows such as Tim Maguire: The Douglas Kagi Gift, and the military themed The Line of Fire

A range of exhibitions – both curated in-house and toured from other institutions – would present content that was relevant to our region, topical, or challenging.

Such exhibitions included Life in Your Hands: art from solastalgia, a Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery project curated by Robyn Daw, which addressed the deeply personal and emotional impacts that result from our changing environs.

Of particular interest to the Townsville region was a work by contemporary mixed media and installation artist Janet Laurence addressing the current plight of the Great Barrier Reef off the Townsville coast.

Quite separately though no less relevant, Renegades: Outsider Art celebrated the achievements of those artists in our midst who are untrained, and at times disengaged with society - makers with intellectual disabilities, others in community care centres, psychiatric settings, outer geographical reaches and, simply, the free spirits.

Of course, exhibitions at Perc Tucker Regional Gallery also celebrated our home grown talent and those artists who have had a strong connection with our region over a period of many years.

Whether it be the annual group exhibitions presented by the Townsville Art Society, James Cook University, or the Barrier Reef Institute of TAFE; major curated shows surveying the careers of artists such as Carolyn Dodds, Bonney Bombach, or Uli Liessmann; heavily researched exhibitions charting important periods in our arts history such as To the Islands; or any of the 31 exhibitions by local artists, organisations, or the 21 school group exhibitions presented in the Niche, Access, Showcase, or Stairwell spaces. Our region delivered more than its fair share of stunning works in 2013/2014.

Experiencing a similarly successful year in 2013/2014, Pinnacles Gallery presented 11 major exhibitions, an increase from the 9 major exhibitions registered in the previous reporting period.

The exhibitions at Pinnacles Gallery again showcased our local talent, such as in the major collaborative installation project Glide developed by Robert Crispe, Michelle Hall, and Jo Lankester, or the 22 minor exhibitions delivered through satellite spaces The Galleria, and YourSpace.

The delivery of the annual Creative Generations and ArtNOW exhibitions continued to encourage the development of our student artists and emphasised the importance of high quality visual arts education.

For the first time, a joint publication of all finalists’ works was produced; a lasting keepsake for the participants, and one that can be used to assist them in the early stages of their careers when marketing their work.