OUR PAST DEFINING OUR PRESENT

In 2001 I was very excited at the prospect of developing a major survey exhibition that would showcase the vision and influence of respected Rockhampton based art aficionado, Lal Lanyon.

In the early seventies Lal singlehandedly opened for business what would become the well respected and highly regarded Gallery Up Top. Situated in the heart of Rockhampton’s Central Business District, in East Street, Gallery Up Top would develop a reputation and appeal that would extend far beyond the regional idiom in which it was based and showcase some of Australia’s leading artists such as Arthur Boyd, Gordon Shepherdson, Fred Williams and, local boy made good, Ben Wickham - to name a few.

Gallery Up Top pre-dated any formalised arts infrastructure in the Rockhampton region and was a catalytic project that influenced highly regarded Mayor, Mr Rex Pilbeam, to support and establish a public gallery space within City Hall and ultimately acquire works by some of the country’s finest living artists at that time, thus the Rockhampton Art Gallery Collection was born.

Unfortunately my desire to document and highlight the significance of Lal Lanyon and the role she played in the development of the arts on the Rockhampton region was not shared and the project was shelved at that time. Only a few years later Lal passed away and with my departure from the Rockhampton region the story of Lal’s vision and influence remains untold to this very day.

More than a decade later, after having taken up the post at Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, I was surprised to hear a similar story being discussed within the Townsville region. On many occasions a reference to The Martin Gallery was forthcoming, always affectionate and presented in a manner that reflected striking similarities to that of Lal Lanyon - a visionary concept, the establishment of a gallery, situated in the heart of the city, highly regarded and ultimately influential in the development and support of the arts.

Further inquiries revealed the full story of Ralph Martin and The Martin Gallery and I was determined that such an important historical account not be left untold a second time. Whilst the similarities are obvious The Martin Gallery not only obtained a national reputation - particularly in metropolitan Australia - despite being in a climate whereby the arts in regional Australia in the seventies was considered foreign, it also provided a platform for the region’s aspiring artists of the era to showcase their work, develop their careers, collectively support each other and ultimately become some of the country’s leading regionallybased artists practicing today.

This outcome cannot be overstated. Without the steadfast vision and support of Ralph Martin I believe that the visual arts landscape we enjoy today in the Townsville region would be vastly different.

The development of Images of an Era: The Martin Gallery forms part of Perc Tucker Regional Gallery’s ongoing commitment to showcasing and developing the visual arts in the Townsville region and has been supported by the contribution of many individuals, organisations and private collectors whom I wish to acknowledge.

First and foremost I would like to congratulate Ralph Martin on his extraordinary achievement in the visual arts - yours is a legacy of which to be proud and I deeply thank you for the opportunity to showcase the contribution that you have made to the Townsville region. The experience has been both rewarding and enlightening and I am sincerely grateful for this.

Sincerest gratitude is extended to Dr Anneke Silver, whom has undertaken the development of this project through Gallery Services’ Guest Curator initiative. It has been a pleasure working beside you in the development of this project and I congratulate you on an outstanding outcome - one that I am sure has provided you with renewed fondness of days gone by in addition to an appreciation of the inner workings of project delivery within the gallery environment.

My appreciation and thanks are extended to Ralph’s family, participating lenders whom have loaned works to the exhibition, and Townsville City Council in the realisation of this project. This continuing support and commitment to the arts within our region is highly regarded and appreciated.

Finally, I would like to extend my deepest appreciation to the team at Gallery Services, particularly Co-Curator of Images of an Era: The Martin Gallery, Holly Grech-Fitzgerald and publication designer, Rob Donaldson.

SHANE FITZGERALD MANAGER GALLERY SERVICES PERC TUCKER REGIONAL GALLERY PINNACLES GALLERY

My interest in art started at boarding school in Charters Towers. One of the school’s benefactors had donated bound copies of an art magazine to the library, covering from early prehistoric to the present art and architecture. This was in the 1940s. I spent a lot of time in the library reading and these books were so full of interest to me.

At home from school I looked at all the magazines I could find showing art and framed several for my bedroom - I was fascinated by Australian Surrealism.

While in Brisbane for my final year of pharmacy studies I had the opportunity to see the Queensland Art Gallery and spent quite a lot of my spare time visiting and revisiting it and several commercial galleries operating then.

Back home in Townsville and in my own pharmacy, it was suggested that I put a painting or an Oriental rug in the window to get people interested to come in for a chat, which worked very well and I met some wonderful people very interested in art.

Then came Cyclone Althea, which lifted the roof off two premises – my pharmacy, and the optometrist next door – both part of a row of long thin Victorian shops.

The optometrist moved out because his roof was still leaking - I had the key to the property and was soon pacing and measuring, seeing whether I could fit the pharmacy into the front space and use the large back room for a gallery.

It already had two fanlights giving the room great natural light. Two carpenters, in town to help with post-cyclone repairs, were able to transform the space for me and see all my ideas become reality.

As well, they made a wonderful divan and a hanging fixture from the high ceiling to carry long neon tubes to flood each wall with good light; and so the Martin Gallery was born.

RALPH MARTIN

Image Opposite: Ralph Martin in the Martin Gallery

Image Overleaf: Ralph Martin in the Martin Gallery