From the Director - January 2025

Hello and happy new year!

I am so pleased to welcome you to our first issue for 2025, and as I ‘takeover’ From the Director, I would like to express how excited we are about this year, as it is the gallery’s 25^th year! Being our silver jubilee, a hint of silver will be a constant thread throughout our annual calendar, so keep an eye out for special things!

We are enjoying hearing about how much visitors like our current exhibitions, Nature and Culture – animal as object by Deb Mostert and the first Highlighting the Collection exhibition featuring local artist Wendy McGrath-Lakeland's works from the Sunshine Coast Art Collection.

Wendy McGrath-Lakeland | Reclamation Site #1 - Bundanon (installation view) | 2007 | digital inkjet photographic print on aluminium of site-specific installation. Photo by Patrick Want, Volere Studio.

Last week we were treated to a very candid and informal conversation over coffee with Wendy, as she shared her arts practice with insights into her concepts and processes, and the importance of how her research and immersive travels inform her work within the landscape. Wendy spoke of her intuitive experiences in both the physical and spiritual realms throughout her artist residencies and installation projects which had all in the room glued to her every word. The Friends provided a morning tea for the guests where the conversations with Wendy continued.

Wendy McGrath-Lakeland | Site Arrival (installation view) | 2003, printed 2008 | digital inkjet print on aluminium of site-specific installation. Photo by Patrick Want, Volere Studio.

I would also like to add that this small exhibition is the first time we have curated a Collection show of this kind where we put a spotlight on a specific artist or specific genre of art, and hope that this is something we can build upon within the gallery’s annual exhibition calendar in future (when we have a new gallery!) We would love to know your thoughts.

Additionally, the workshops, floor talks and children’s activities from the current exhibitions have all been fully booked and well received! If you haven’t yet seen these two exhibitions, you have until Sunday 2 February to catch them before we pack down and install our next show: Latest & Greatest III, featuring a selection of works acquired into the Sunshine Coast Art Collection over the past two years.

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

Nina Shadforth
Senior Curator, Collections