The Royal Queensland Art Society would like to congratulate all finalists who were accepted into the 2025 Hidden Gems exhibition.
Please see below the winner of the People’s Choice Award, thank you to everyone that voted in this exhibition.
Expectation
by Soroor Behbahani
Although art was one of my best subjects at school, I didn’t commence oil painting until 2021, so I am a newcomer to the art world! My Mum, who was an accomplished artist in her time, handed me some old oil paints one day. I was immediately hooked on the buttery, forgiving nature of oils.
I love to paint scenes of my surrounding environment, trying to find light and shadows in my subjects. I consider myself an impressionist artist and I love to use both brushes and palette knives in my work.
I try to enter many art competitions around Brisbane and learn as much as I can from attending galleries and educating myself on art processes and the art world.
Although I work full time as a WHS Officer across 3 Primary schools, I am passionate about dedicating my spare time to painting and improving on my artwork.
The Royal Queensland Art Society would like to congratulate all the winners in the 2024 Small Art Show.
Although there are no monetary prizes for this exhibition, these prizes were awarded to acknowledge the talent of some of the artists who entered the Small Art Show. Please scroll down to view the winning artworks.
Wildflowers and Bugs
by Hemi Kim
Of St Malo
by Susan Joyce
My Country 620
by Max Butler
Another Rainy Day
by Christine Groh
Buttercup
by Christine Boulsover
Tigers
by Nicola Cowen
I am a largely self-taught glass artist using lampwork techniques and have been practising for over 30 years in Townsville, North Queensland.
Lampwork is a relatively obscure art that is not blown but is built up by layering glass that allows me to create tiny worlds within a glass bead. People often ask me “how did you get those tiny animals and flowers inside the glass”.
I studied chemistry and zoology, which is reflected in the fact that I use chemical reactions to produce certain effects. Much of my fascination with glass has been to adapt the qualities of glass to produce ever more intricate pieces.
I produce pieces that are based on my life experiences and my love of art. Many pieces have marine themes as I have a love of the sea and the beauty of the flora and fauna of North Queensland.
The Royal Queensland Art Society has so many exciting exhibitions and opportunities for artists coming up in 2025.
Click the Exhibition Titles below to find out more about the entering the exhibitions and important dates.
Exhibition on show: Thursday, 23rd January – Sunday, 16th February
Entries forms due Thursday, 9th January by 3:30pm
Exhibition on show: Thursday, 27th February – Sunday, 23rd March
Entries forms due Wednesday, 29th January by 3:30pm
Exhibition on show: Thursday, 17th April – Sunday, 11th May
Entry forms due Wednesday, 19th of March by 3:30pm
Exhibition on show: Thursday, 5th of June – Sunday, 13th of July
Entry forms due Wednesday, 7th of May by 3:30pm
Exhibition on show: August 2025
Entry form due date TBA
More exhibition details coming soon!
Catherine Anderson
Catherine has always had a deep love for animals, particularly horses, which is reflected in her artwork. After immigrating to Australia from the US in 1980, she competed in rodeos in Adelaide, where she was drawn to capture the vitality and power of animals in motion through sculpture. Her first pieces were commissioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association to commemorate its 40th anniversary.
Since then, Catherine’s work has featured in a number of exhibitions and private collections, and her work has gained recognition through awards and commissions. Her piece “Flow” is held in the permanent collection of the Tweed Regional Art Gallery at Murwillumbah, and she has done public artworks on commission for the Scenic Rim Regional Council, Queensland Emergency Services, Queensland National Parks and Wildlife, and has created a bronze at Wyaralong Dam commemorating the RAAF history of the area.
In 2016 Catherine was chosen to create a life-sized sculpture of an Australian Navy sailor as commemoration of the Far East Strategic Reserve corps which was unveiled by the Chief of Navy at Memorial Park in Brisbane’s Southbank Parklands. In 2017 she created a dynamic portrait of a working kelpie dog for the town of Bonalbo, which now forms the focal point of the town’s centre. In 2018 she created a “Key to the Scenic Rim” in bronze to be given by Scenic Rim Shire to distinguished citizens in the future.
In 2020 Catherine completed a series of native wildlife pieces entitled “Sharing Space” depicting local fauna which was installed throughout the public spaces in Boonah. In 2024 Catherine was commissioned to create a series of endangered and indigenous wildlife bronzes which feature in the redeveloped Davidson Park in Beaudesert.
Catherine’s sculptures are cast using the traditional lost-wax method of bronze casting, chasing and patinizing each piece by hand in her studio, situated in Boonah’s Old Butter Factory. Catherine is a regular participant in the Open Studios program, when she welcomes visitors to her busy studio.
Awards:
Australia Day Cultural Award 2004
Winner, sculpture section, Just Nudes Exhibition- 2005 and 2006
Finalist, Lexus Mortimore Art Prize 2007 Finalist, Moreton Bay Regional Art Awards 2014
Finalist Stanthorpe Art Prize 2018
Finalist Moreton Bay Regional Art Awards 2019
Grand Champion Sculpture Royal Queensland Brisbane Art Show
Exhibitions:
Swell Sculpture Festival, Currumbin 2005 2006 2023-invitation only
Linden Gallery, Gold Coast-joint exhibition with Harold Lane Boonah Regional Art Gallery-“Quintessence”
Rotary International Art Show-invitation only
Old Courthouse Gallery-inaugural “Just Nudes” Exhibition 2005 and 2006 Boonah Regional Art Gallery “Factory Girls”(four artist exhibition) Queensland Sculpture Society Mt Coot-tha exhibition, 2014, 2018, 2022, 2023
Winner, 3D section, Ipswich Art Show 2021
Queensland Royal Brisbane Art Show 2015 and 2019
Paquita Fadden, a former accountant and IT professional, finally allowed her creative side loose. She happily paints in watercolours wherever she happens to be travelling the world photographing wildlife and landscapes, playing with her identical twin granddaughters and new grandson in Canada, boating and fishing around the Broadwater, or just hanging out in her art studio on the Gold Coast.
She recently won the 2024 WSQ Avant-garde Award and previously was awarded Highly Commended for her artwork in the 2021 and 2023 Watercolour Society of Queensland (WSQ) annual exhibitions. In addition, as both author and illustrator, her first children’s book, Chicky Chases was published in 2022.
The Royal Queensland Art Society would like to congratulate all the winners in the 2024 Biennial exhibitions: The Queensland Figurative and Young Artist Award.
Thank you also to our judges Jenny Rodgerson, Zoe Porter and Peter Hubbard (FRQAS). Please scroll down to view the winning artworks and judges’ comments.
Sleep Tight
by Dylan Jones
JUDGES COMMENTS
There is a strong energy in this painting which displays the artists love of paint. It is competently handled with perfect foreshortening, tone and proportions whilst displaying vibrancy and the strong marks of the maker. The soul of the sitter is evident as you feel the weight of the body and the dreams of the subject. This painting is alive.
Reading in the Drop Sheets
by Lara Cooper
JUDGES COMMENTS
This small painting has echoes of Vermeer. A delicacy of brushwork with tone and proportion making the painting sing.
In the Studio
by Glen Gillard
JUDGES COMMENTS
Very competent self portrait displaying the skills of the artist.
The Edge of Seventeen
by Catherine Maticka
JUDGES COMMENTS
Strong composition and technical use of colour and tone to create mood. Reflects young adult’s use of technology and captures an intimate scene. The colour is somewhat eerie and exaggerated – the reflection of the phone screen fills the room and highlights a young adult fixation on phones.
Ladies in the Garden
by Lou-Anne Clancy
JUDGES COMMENTS
This watercolour displays a playful and expressive approach to watercolour. A somewhat recognisable domestic scene, the gardens and chickens have movement and energy. A sweet and lively narrative work.
Holding Blue (Model’s name unknown)
by Jenny Hjertquist
JUDGES COMMENTS
A skilful and highly resolved life drawing using cross-contour line to suggest volume and form. Drawn from life, technically an accomplished drawing and the use of foreshortening is successful.
A Night to Remember
by Amy Miller
JUDGES COMMENTS
An original and energetic artwork reflecting a youthful and imaginative atmosphere. Working from life and photographs the work is emotive through the use of colour, varied scale and perspective. Partly realistic and somewhat dreamlike, this work displays a playful approach to art making.
Still Mum
by Lilah McMahon
JUDGES COMMENTS
A confident and highly resolved drawing that captures the subject. The strong use of detail in combination with less detailed sections creates a contrasted composition. This work suggests competent and highly skilled approaches to drawing the figure.
Rina
by Xeniya Girs’ka
JUDGES COMMENTS
Very proficient artwork. I’m amazed by the effect, unreal.
Defiance
by Peter Fung
JUDGES COMMENTS
Good study from life. I have worked with this particular life model before, the artist has recreated her spitting image.
Beauty in Bloom
by Johnny Huang
Zheng Donald Su graduated from Shanghai Fine Arts School in 1969. His focus is mainly in Chinese paintings. After immigrating to Australia, he has been sketching portraits for some years at the weekend craft markets.
After retiring, Zheng has taken up oil paining, and in recent years also watercolours.
Alison has been an artist for over 30 years and chooses to create vivid colourful garden and tropical scenes using acrylic paints on canvas, she also enjoys drawing character homes, buildings and cottages found throughout Southern Queensland and uses mixed media.
Alison has a website which offers a wide range of quality reproduction prints in Black & White, Sepia and Colour. Below is an outline of past exhibitions and collections she has participated in over the years.
Solo Exhibitions
David Jones Store ‘Floriana Festival’ – both Sydney & Melbourne
Broken Hill Regional Gallery – NSW
Cobar Regional Gallery – NSW
Art of Broken Hill Gallery – NSW
Group Exhibitions
Pro Hart Family Touring Exhibitions – Orange, Frankston, Toowoomba, Victor Harbour
List of Galleries – and Selected Group Exhibitions
Miller & Hart Fine Arts Gallery (Adelaide), Anvil Gallery (Wodonga), Libby Edward’s Gallery (Melbourne), Hart Family Collection – Ant Hill Gallery (Broken Hill), Eastend Gallery, Tamworth Regional Gallery, Rosalie Shire Gallery (Goombungee), White Patch Gallery (Bribie Island), Greenhill Galleries (Adelaide) , Duke Gallery (Melbourne), & Gallery 631 (Brisbane).
Awards
Tamworth Art Affair—2nd Place Award Open Section
Rosalie Shire Gallery—Goombungee Qld.
Teaching Art – Contracts
Mission Australia – Art for Disengaged Youth Program Toowoomba, Qld. Skills Centre Inc. – JPET Youth Program NSW
Morgan Street Public School – Broken Hill NSW
Teen Challenge Drug & Alcohol Rehab Centre -Toowoomba, Qld. Private Lessons – Studio in Toowoomba, Qld.
Collections Represented In
Henry Nineo – Former Lord Mayor – Adelaide S.A.
Broken Hill Regional Gallery – NSW
John Ayers House – Adelaide, S.A.
Jacquie Comley – Author – N.S.W.
National Mutual – Finance Centre – N.S.W.
Association Memberships
RQAS – Royal Queensland Arts Society – Brisbane
NAVA – National Association for Visual Artists
ACA – Australian Counsellors Association
CDAA – Career Development Association of Australia
Study
Regional Arts Administration Training Course – College of Fine Arts (University of NSW)
Cultural Heritage Studies- Bachelor of Arts – CSU
Anthropology Studies- Humanities – CSU
Advanced Major – Creative Therapies – AIPC
Bachelor of Vocational Education – CSU
Graduate Certificate Vocational Education—Communications – CSU
Alison Greenway – 0405 179 479