From the Director - February 2025

Hello Everyone,

We're continuing the Sunshine Coast Art Collection takeover with an exhibition of new acquisitions from the last two years — Latest & Greatest III. Jo will be back next month with more gallery news. Now, if you're curious about how an art collection actually works, let me take you behind the curtain...

The Sunshine Coast Art Collection is a community asset, so essentially it belongs to the local residents. Latest & Greatest is an ongoing series as part of the gallery’s exhibitions program, which aims to share these acquisitions with the community on a more regular basis. Generally, public collections are stored out of sight and held behind closed doors, only occasionally coming out for display. We like to do things a little differently here!

The works in our collection do come out for exhibitions every now and again, but we aim to rotate works from the collection in our public spaces at least once a year. With seven libraries across the region, we are very fortunate that we can display more works from the collection, as well as at Sunshine Coast City Hall and other Sunshine Coast Council administration buildings.

The other thing about our collection is that it doesn't just include indoor works, it also incorporates art works outdoors, our public art collection. As an example, we have one of our oldest public artworks located out the front of the gallery, New Leaves by Roland Nancarrow, which you can see on the Caloundra Public Art Trail.

We have over 1300 artworks in the collection altogether, with a combined value of around $8.5 million. So it's pretty impressive! Most of the public artworks we've acquired have either been commissioned by Council, developers or local community groups, like the Montville Village Association who commissioned Finn Cossar's The Monts. On a more significant scale, Chorus by James and Eleanor Avery was commissioned by developer Stockland, situated on the pedestrian bridge over the Bells Creek Arterial Road in Aura as another gateway to the Sunshine Coast.

There's a lovely little story I'd like to share with you about Chorus. The project manager for the commission told me that the son of a friend of his insists on driving along that road from Brisbane to the Coast specifically so he can see the sculptures every time he makes the journey. So public art can make such an impression and it's a great way of creating connection and identity.

The collection works are primarily acquired as donations. About 90% of the works are outright donations or gifted through the Cultural Gifts Program (a tax incentive program offered by the ATO). Another means through which we acquire works is our art prizes — the Local Contemporary Art Prize (2025 entries now closed), and our prestigious Sunshine Coast National Art Prize, which opens for entry this week. The winning works of both prize exhibitions are added to the collection, enabling us to build our holdings of contemporary Australian art and local art. 

Another means of building the collection holdings is through commissions by other Council departments. Our Liveability and Natural Assets team have commissioned an artwork to represent the projects they work on, and also the First Nations Partnerships team commissioned work to support the Reconciliation Action Plan. We've been building those partnerships throughout the organisation to help build the collection.

This exhibition comprises of ceramics, sculpture, paintings, mixed media, photography, printmaking, drawing and public art, and there is digital media in the show as well. Last year was the first time that we started to acquire digital works, with the winning work of the Sunshine Coast National Art Prize 2024, No use crying over ripped lace by Todd Fuller, added to the collection. We also received a gift from local composer, Tyson Illingworth aka DJ TyDi, collaborating with Melbourne-based digital artist Jake Stollery. The work, Unfinished thoughts, is a soundscape with visual elements. Another digital highlight is the First Nation's Partnerships team's commission, Sacred Stories of the Sunshine Coast, by Kuku Yalanji/Torres Strait artist Luke Mallie. So three digital works in our first year of collecting in that medium, which is pretty good I think.

Latest & Greatest III continues until 6 April, giving you plenty of time to see the show. We also have a range of public programs running alongside the exhibition, for both adults and children. And you can read a digital copy of the catalogue, which details the new acquisitions, or pick up a hard copy from the gallery.

Thank you for your support and see you in the gallery!

Nina Shadforth
Senior Curator, Collections