Queensland Art Gallery Annual Report 2001-02

EXHIBITIONS & AUDIENCES Throughout 2001-02 the Queensland Art Gallery provided access to exhibitions, educational services and interpretive programs of excellence for a diversity of cultures and audiences. EXHIBITIONS OF AUSTRALIAN ART As part of the Official Celebration Events for the 2001 Goodwill Games, the Gallery organised and presented three important exhibitions - William Robinson: A Retrospective·, "Northern Journey: Conrad Martens in Early Queensland· and ·Fiona Foley: Piri"ri - Mangrove·. Each exhibition provided the opportunity for audiences to experience a different and unique aspect of Australian culture. The retrospective of work by pre-eminent Queensland landscape artist William Robinson was a highlight of the Gallery"s exhibition program. Featuring paintings and works on paper, it traced the important shifts in Robinson·s work over the last three decades. This exhibition received significant critical acclaim and public support, attracting over 64 ODO visitors at the Queensland Art Gallery and more than 77 800 to its showing at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Interpretive material produced to accompany the exhibition included an education kit, a website produced as part of the Queensland Visual Arts Online initiative, and a 160-page, full-colour publication, Darkness and Light: The Art of William Robinson. This publication won three Gold Medal awards at the 2001 Queensland Printing Industry Craftsmanship Awards, and received an honourable mention in the 2002 American Association of Museums Publication Design Competition. The education and public events program supporting the exhibition was well-patronised, and included floortalks, films and lectures. Interactive activities were also incorporated into the exhibition to engage young children and their families. Responding to Robinson·s early series of paintings that depicted farmyard scenes, a live family of goats was housed in the Gallery"s Sculpture Courtyard, with facilities provided for children to draw the animals. This activity proved extremely popular with visitors of all ages. A themed "Farmyard Funday" for families was also successfully presented in conjunction with the exhibition, attracting over 3000 visitors. "Northern Journey: Conrad Martens in Early Queensland· presented more than 60 watercolours and sketches made by colonial artist Conrad Martens during his travels through 24 Moreton Bay and the Darling Downs district. Significant not only for their artistic merit, the works also form a valuable topographical and historical record of south-east Queensland. A comprehensive website and video documentary were produced, which enabled visitors to discover more about the history and development of the Queensland sites Martens painted. At a special seminar held in conjunction with the exhibition, a panel of historians and experts from various disciplines discussed the work of Martens and related topics. These included the history of the Indigenous peoples of the area, early squatters of the Darling Downs and Brisbane town in the early 1850s. The papers from the seminar will appear in the forthcoming edition of Queensland Review. "Fiona Foley: Piri"ri - Mangrove· presented new work by this distinguished, contemporary Indigenous artist. The installation and sculptural works presented drew on Foley's knowledge of the natural environment of K"gari !Fraser Island] and her people, the Badtjala. An ·In Focus· publication was produced in conjunction with the exhibition, and several public events exploring related Indigenous cultural issues were well received. In 2002, the Gallery presented an Art Gallery of New South Wales travelling exhibition, "Belle- lle: Monet, Russell and Matisse in Brittany'. This exhibition focused on the achievements of Australian impressionist painter John Peter Russell, in the context of his European contemporaries Claude Monet and Henri Matisse. Works from the Queensland Art Gallery·s Collection were included. EXHIBITIONS OF INTERNATIONAL ART In May 2002 the Gallery presented ·Love and Death: Art in the Age of Queen Victoria·, an Art Gallery of South Australia travelling exhibition. This exhibition provided Queenslanders with the opportunity to view over 60 paintings from some of the masters of the Victorian era, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais. Drawn from public and private collections throughout Australia and New Zealand, "Love and Death· also included key works from the Gallery·s own Collection, such as Blandford Fletcher"s much-loved Evicted 1887. The comprehensive range of public programs presented in conjunction with the exhibition enabled visitors to explore further some of the many themes, mythologies and histories behind the works. Elements of the program included music and drama performances, floortalks, lectures and an extensive film program. The work of two expatriate New Zealand artists was explored through the exhibitions "Max Gimblett: The Language of Drawing· and "Len Lye·. The Max Gimblett exhibition revealed the richness and complexity of this New York-based artist"s approach to mark making, drawing and abstraction, as shown through a large selection of works on paper donated to the Gallery by the artist in 1999. The exhibition also offered audiences the opportunity of viewing in-depth the working methods and inspiration of an artist. Gimblett"s journals and workbooks were on display, and audiences had access to the video documentary and major monograph on the artist published by the Gallery. ·Len Lye· was a joint exhibition between the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Gavett– Brewster Art Gallery, supported by the Len Lye Foundation. It featured a selection of Lye·s kinetic sculptures. photograms and films, and was the first major exploration of his artistic achievements to be seen in Australia. EXHIBITIONS AND PROGRAMS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE In July 2001 a newly created position of Access and Youth Programs Officer was established within the Access. Education and Regional Services section of the Gallery. This dedicated position is one of only two such positions known to be in place in Australian state galleries, and demonstrates the Gallery's commitment to providing accessible, engaging and diverse exhibitions and programs for young people. Initiatives included the establishment of a Youth Advisory Group in November 2001. Since that time the Group has successfully achieved its aim of providing an ongoing forum for young people aged 12 to 25 to directly respond to and provide advice and feedback on the direction of the Gallery"s programming for youth. Increased engagement with young audiences has also been reflected in the development of a regular youth section called ·creative and Contemporary· in the Gallery·s quarterly program brochure, Preview. The highlight for young people at the Gallery was the multi-arts event "Prime·, staged on 7 April to celebrate National Youth Week 2002. Targeted programming and a strategic marketing campaign resulted in attendance at the event by more than 4000 people. "Prime· involved emerging and high profile young artists, designers, film-makers, performers and musicians.