Past exhibitions

FOCUS ON ARTISTS' BOOKS V

2010 Libris Awards: Australian Artists' Book Prize Exhibition

9 April - 23 May 2010
The Libris Awards are Australia's premier national artists' book prize. An initiative of the Mackay Regional Council through Artspace Mackay, these biennial awards seek to develop the collection further through the acquisition of new works by leading Australian artists working in this field. This exhibition of selected finalists' works forms part of the overall Artspace Mackay program FOCUS ON ARTISTS' BOOKS V.
5th Australian Artists' Books Forum: Saturday 10 & Sunday 11 April

Also showing in the foyer:

Assimilated Rhythm No. 4 Bint Trembuckey: Recent works by Deanna Hitti

Deanna Hitti was the recipient of Artspace Mackay's Libris Awards National Artists' Book Award in 2008. Assimilated Rhythm No.4 Bint Trembuckey combines collographs and watercolour to create a large music score - a rhythmic palimpsest of Arabic and Western words generating a lyrical flow of pattern and thought.

Habitus-Habitat

McAleese Gallery
5 February - 4 April 2010
Featuring a selection of works created during artist residencies throughout Queensland in 2005 and 2006, Habitus-Habitat showcases some of the finest contemporary art practice currently taking place in Queensland. 

Also showing in the foyer:

Who minds the shells: Lesley Kane

Lesley Kane’s fascination for sea shells extends to prehistoric times. Is enough care taken of fossil shell deposits from the inland sea during the relentless search and mining of coal?
Free exhibition floor talks from 11am, Saturday 6 February

Fiona MacDonald: Local studies

From the early 1990s to today, Fiona MacDonald's major creative focus has been the archives from her hometown of Rockhampton.

Download the Artspace Mackay Floor Talk mp3 file: Floor talk by Fiona MacDonald and curator, Jo Holder.

Fiona MacDonald Floor Talk > Download the Artspace Mackay floor plan of Fiona MacDonald: Local Studies to accompany the floor talk mp3 and take it with you to visit the exhibition.
In this exhibition, Fiona transforms archival material by recomposing and integrating it with her own invented imagery and techniques - often drawing on diverse print media traditions such as street art and folk traditions such as weaving and collage.

Also showing in the Mackay Mazda Foyer

Expressions of self: An Artspace Mackay Volunteers' Exhibition

An exhibition of recent works by Artspace Mackay Volunteers.

Waters' edge: Creating environments

McAleese Gallery
30 October - 13 December 2009

An environmental art project conceived and facilitated by Cairns-based artist Jill Chism, Waters' edge: Creating environments draws attention to the water as a vital substance for life. The exhibition features photographs of environmental artworks created by nine Queensland artists, at specific sites throughout Queensland, during residencies in 2008. Installations by three Mackay artists involved in the project - Tracey Heathwood, Ashley Holmes and Ngaio Lenz, will also feature in this exhibition.

Also showing in the Mackay Mazda Foyer:

Trace: Recent works by Glen Skien

Trace explores the potential of object, image and surface to retain a sense of the extended flow of experience and gestures of memory and to carry traces of what lies elsewhere.

Recycled library: Altered books

McAleese Gallery
4 September - 25 October

Recycled library is an exhibition of works by Australian artists that incorporate existing/found books as a major conceptual and creative element. The exhibition investigates the symbolism of 'the book' in an era in which the printed page is in danger of being superseded by digital technology. Many of the artists in this exhibition have used second-hand books as a way of questioning the authority of the printed text, particularly as historical records of fact.

Mangrove: Recent works by Irene Coburn

Mackay Mazda Foyer
4 September - 25 October

In this exhibition of prints, created from drawings and photographs, Irene Coburn investigates the strength and power of nature and what happens when nature takes back what we have taken from it. Global warming and the rising sea levels place many coastal communities at risk. What will happen to existing buildings when they are eventually reclaimed by the sea?

Hands on: Rick Wood - A commitment to clay

McAleese Gallery
10 July - 30 August

A retrospective exhibition curated by Artspace Mackay, Hands on celebrates the life and achievements of Rick Wood, a revered local potter. The exhibition features many examples of Rick's early works, which demonstrate his interest in salt-glaze firing following his training with Arthur and Carol Rosser.

Over the years, Wood's work evolved and was inspired by bushwalking, windsurfing and scuba diving and also incorporated the forms of seed pods, bark patterns and island profiles. His later work exploits glazing techniques from ancient China. Rick's work has been included in several significant group exhibitions such as The Queensland Gift 1988, for the Queensland Potters Association and Decorated clay at the Queensland Art Gallery in 1991.

Listen to the ink: A Printbank Mackay exhibition

Mackay Mazda Foyer
10 July - 30 August

An exhibition of linocuts, collographs and etchings by local printmaking group Printbank Mackay.

On the edge: Visions of a tropical coastline

McAleese Gallery
15 May - 28 June 2009

An intimate connection to the lush and culturally diverse coastal edge of far North Queensland inspired twelve established artists to produce an exhibition exploring their commonality. On the edge features artists who live along the coast, from Cairns to the Torres Strait Islands, and explores their shared affinity for this unique tropical region

Fire glyphs and spirits: G.W. Bot

Mackay Mazda Foyer
15 May - 28 June 2009

Much admired Australian artist, G.W. Bot has described her latest body of work as a "dialogue between silences and spaces and the landscape of glyphs". Like a sequence of visual poems, the series of work maps a spiritual terrain as much as a physical landscape. Gestural marks and rhythmic notations are threaded sparsely through the prints, reminiscent of ancient pictographs or hieroglyphics, and describe a winding trail from the known landscape toward a psychological hinterland that lies somewhere between the sensorial and the visual, the abstract and the real.

Talking Tapa: Pacifika Bark Cloth in Queensland

McAleese Gallery
27 March - 10 May 2009

A national touring exhibition showcasing the diversity of Islander cultural practices through tapa bark cloths. Tapa is synonymous with the Pacific Islands. It is made from the inner bark or bast of, most commonly, the paper mulberry tree. Its physical qualities and uses vary throughout the Pacific. Tapa designs include clan patterning, plant, bird, animal and fish motifs, geometric and personal designs, and contemporary and historical events.

Donna Marcus: Colour Studies

Mackay Mazda Foyer
7 February - 22 March 2009

Donna Marcus is a Queensland-based artist who is best known for her use of everyday domestic objects, particularly aluminium kitchen-ware that she incorporates into her sculptural work. This exhibition coincides with the launch of the sculpture by Donna Marcus commissioned for the new Lanai Luxury Apartments in Mackay, who are sponsoring the exhibition.

Myth to Modern: Bronzes from the Queensland Art Gallery Collection

5 December 2008 - 1 February 2009

Showing in the McAleese Gallery

This exhibition draws on the Queensland Art Gallery's collection of figurative bronze sculptures to explore the application of this enduring medium across a variety of subjects and themes. Myth, legend, portraiture and modernism feature in a selection of works, dating from c. 1700 to the emerging modernism of Auguste Rodin, and early twentieth-century works by Jacob Epstein and Henry Moore.

This intimate focus exhibition, comprising 14 works by predominantly European artists, also includes works by Australian sculptors Daphne Mayo, Bertram Mackennal and Harold Parker, who were directly influenced by the rich tradition of Western myth and history.

Also showing in the McAleese Gallery

Making it Modern: The watercolours of Kenneth Macqueen

5 December 2008 - 1 February 2009

A Queensland Art Gallery Travelling Exhibition of Kenneth Macqueen's (1897 - 1960) watercolours, 'Making it Modern' highlights his importance as a key Australian modernist and reveals him as a complex and highly individual artist.

Also showing in the Mackay Mazda Foyer

Correspondence: Ngaio Lenz

5 December 2008 - 1 February 2009

Frame by Frame: Asia Pacific Artists on Tour

24 October - 30 November 2008

Showing in the McAleese Gallery

An exciting new Travelling Exhibition from the Queensland Art Gallery. Photography and the moving image were integral to The 5th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT5), from Ai Weiwei's iconoclastic Dropping a Han dynasty urn to Rashid Rana's dissection of the photographic image through the use of the pixel. Frame by Frame showcases a broad cross-section of photography and the moving image by artists from the Asian, Pacific and Australian collections. The exhibition includes many acquisitions from APT5.

Also showing in the Mackay Mazda Foyer
Ti Parks: Artists' Books

Cuisine and Country: A gastronomic adventure in Australian art

13 September - 19 October 2008

An Orange Regional Gallery Travelling Exhibition, Cuisine and Country is a visually stunning exploration of food as subject matter. Ranging from a sumptuous and festive still life table setting by Margaret Olley, to eel traps expertly woven by Indigenous artists, the exhibition features works by Australia's most noted artists.

Also showing in the Mackay Mazda Foyer
Travailogue 15: Stephen Eastaugh

Painting in a Library: Patrick Pound

4 July - 7 September 2008

Painting in a Library surveys the role of the book in Pound's art over two decades. From paintings to collages and photographs, Pound's work looks as if it were made by someone who, on trying to explain the world and having failed, has been reduced to collecting it. This exhibition unpacks the notion of the library and the artwork as a copy of the world.

Also showing in the Mackay Mazda Foyer
Crossing the Threshold: Ann Williams-Fitzgerald

Brushmen of the Bush

16 May - 29 June 2008

A Broken Hill Regional Gallery Travelling Exhibition celebrating the artistic achievements of five outback artists who have made a valuable contribution to Australian art - Pro Hart, Jack Absalom, Eric Minchin, Hugh Schulz and Mackay resident John Pickup.

Also showing in the Mackay Mazda Foyer

Six Decades Exposed: Photographs by John Pickup

Cage of Ghosts: Jon Rhodes

28 March - 11 May 2008

A National Library of Australia Travelling Exhibition featuring the photographs of Jon Rhodes. Cage of Ghosts represents the search for physical reminders of Aboriginal occupation is south-eastern Australia, where the impact of European settlement has been the longest and most intense.

Also showing in the Mackay Mazda Foyer

The Archie Comic Book Series: Paintings by Archie Moore

2008 Libris Awards: Australian Artists' Book Prize Exhibition

8 February - 23 March 2008

The Libris Awards are Australia's premier national artists' book prize. An initiative of the Mackay Regional Council through Artspace Mackay, these biennial awards seek to develop the collection further through the acquisition of new works by leading Australian artists working in this field.

Also in the Mackay Mazda Foyer

The foreigner in ourselves: Recent works by Clyde McGill

Winner of the 2006 Libris Awards Clyde McGill presents an exhibition of recent works in the foyer of Artspace Mackay. McGill's work looks at the edges, portals, the porous lines and the suffusion that occurs between the inside and the outside.

Coal Face: Looking at life in our mining communities

7 December 2007 - 3 February 2008

Renowned Townsville-based artist Anneke Silver presents a series of large-scale drawings inspired by the harsh, industrial landscape of the mines surrounding Mackay. Local photographer Dean Whitling will exhibit commissioned, large-format portrait's of miners and landscape photographs. Former Dysart resident Pam Bartley shares her drawings of the mining experience from a woman's perspective.

Also showing in the Mackay Mazda Foyer

Collage: An Artspace Mackay Volunteers' Exhibition

Artspace Mackay Volunteers present an exhibition of their work in a variety of media in the foyer.

2007 Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Art – Mackay Region

26 October - 2 December 2007

The Education Minister's Awards for Excellence in Art (EMAEA) aims to promote and recognise excellence in senior visual arts education throughout Queensland state and non-state schools. In this exhibition, selected students from throughout the Mackay region will be displaying their artworks as part of the 2007 Ministers Awards for Excellence in Art.The Education Minister's Awards for Excellence in Art (EMAEA) aims to promote and recognise excellence in senior visual arts education throughout Queensland state and non-state schools. In this exhibition, selected students from throughout the Mackay region will be displaying their artworks as part of the 2007 Ministers Awards for Excellence in Art.

Also showing in the Mackay Mazda Foyer

Reel Heroes: Safe Beaches

A touring exhibition and project developed by Impress Printmakers and Surf Life Saving Australia in recognition/celebration of 2007 Year of the Surf Life Saver.

Marks and Motifs: Prints from the PCA Collection

31 August - 21 October 2007

A QUT Art Museum Travelling Exhibition celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Print Council of Australia (PCA), Marks and Motifs consists of 45 works commissioned by the PCA since the 1960s. The exhibition gives an insight into the historical development of printmaking in Australia, particularly with the recent emergence of new print technologies, (including photo-mechanical and digital processes) and the effects this has had on more traditional methods such as linocut and woodcut.

Also showing in the Mackay Mazda Foyer

MySpace: Recent works by Leo Scott
Local artist Leo Scott presents a selection of recent work, which draws upon personal experiences and observations of everyday living in regional Queensland.

Imagining Papua New Guinea: Prints from the national collection

13 July - 26 August 2007

A National Gallery of Australian Traveling Exhibition. Proudly supported by Australian Air Express. Celebrating the rich history of printmaking in Papua New Guinea since Independence - from the '60s, '70s and '80s. Featuring works by iconic artists Mathias Kauage, Martin Morubuna, David Lasisi, John Man and Timothy Akis. With international reputations, these artists are highly regarded for the vibrancy, imagination and strength of their work and the way they respond to their contemporary world. Curated by Roger Butler

Also showing in the Mackay Mazda Foyer 

Margaret Burgess: Memories from a crowded house
Growing up in Mackay as one of eleven children in a three bedroom house during the turbulent '60s and '70s, provided the inspiration for this exhibition. Margaret shares, on canvas, memories of everyday aspects of life in an unstable but exciting era.

Queensland Live: Contemporary art on tour exhibition

4 May – 8 July 2007

Queensland Live is a travelling exhibition of work by eleven major Queensland contemporary artists drawn from the collection of the Queensland Art Gallery. The exhibition, curated by Julie Ewington, includes works in a wide variety of media from oil paintings by Anne Wallace to ceramics by Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, film work by Tracy Moffatt and Judith Wright as well as an installation by Luke Roberts. Five of these leading Australian artists are Indigenous, working outside the traditional forms of indigenous art, tackling the social and political issues of Aboriginality within a wider Australian culture. 

In the World: head, hand, heart  –  17th Tamworth Fibre Textile Biennial 2006
23 March – 29 April 2007

In the World: head, hand, heart – 17th Tamworth Fibre Textile Biennial 2006 curated by Adelaide based curator, Vivonne Thwaites, is the latest Fibre Textile Biennial from Tamworth Regional Gallery. The curator has selected 28 artists from all over Australia who use fibre / textiles to engage with contemporary concerns:  “ The works address themes as diverse as individuality and identity politics, belonging and our place in the world, gender and sexuality, the environment and the increasing insularity and disconnectedness of much contemporary life.”

Also showing in the Mackay Mazda Foyer

Adriaan Vanderlugt: Nature transmogrified. Wildlife in my life
With finely crafted works in wood and stone, Proserpine artist Adriaan Vanderlugt pays homage to the wonders of the natural environment.

Judith Wright: Breath and other considerations

2 February - 7 March 2007

A survey of large scale works on paper as well as artist’s books and video work.

Also showing in the Mackay Mazda Foyer

Eugene Carchesio: ascending descending
A wall installation created specifically for Artspace Mackay and a display of a series of artist’s books recently acquired by Mackay Regional Council.

A rare chance to see work by these two important artists from Brisbane. Both have exhibited widely and their works are represented in the National Gallery of Australia and many State gallery collections. While each is known for their unique vision, both share a passion for unframed paper and both grapple with subjects that are as
essential & diaphanous as the medium of the artworks. In two very different exhibitions they both touch lightly on heavy issues: living, breathing, being, dying.

Recent Acquisitions: Mackay City Council Collection 2004-2006

1 December 2006 – 28 January 2007

New works from Mackay Regional Council's art collection including artists' books, prints, drawings, paintings and pottery. The Mackay Regional Council Collection belongs to the people of Mackay and includes significant donations and gifts from artists, benefactors and collectors who have supported the development of the arts in our region. Showcasing a number of new acquisitions including works by the Lockhart River Art Gang, drawings by Clem Forbes, prints by Robert Moore, Arthur Boyd and Dianne Fogwell as well as selections from special collections such as the Pioneer Potters Collection and the Pat Corrigan Gift.

Also showing in the Mackay Mazda Foyer
Empathy, Works by Raye Williams

An exhibition of recent works by Mackay artist Raye Williams which explores the role of animal carers within the local community, giving an insight into their work, commitment and how they relate to animals. Animal carers protect wildlife or ill-treated domestic animals, and have a special love of animals that will be reflected in paintings and prints by the artist.