Volunteer Gallery Assistant Positions Available – INTAKE EVERY JAN, APRIL, JULY & OCTOBER .
The Royal Queensland Art Society, Brisbane Branch are looking for passionate, proactive people to join our team at Petrie Terrace Gallery.
About us:
The Petrie Terrace Gallery is owned and operated by the Brisbane Branch of the Royal Queensland Art Society (RQAS). The RQAS is a not for profit organisation and was born in 1884, formed by a group of like-minded artists and was formally established in 1887.
The objectives of the RQAS are to encourage and promote the cultivation and appreciation of the fine arts, and provide an artist hub for artists of all genres and encourage the visual arts, provide support to artists, networking opportunities and present exhibitions.
The following volunteer positions are available:
Library and Cataloguing Assistants.
Short Term 3 – 6 months, Volunteer Position.
The historic and important collection of rare books and exhibition ephemera of the RQAS Library is being digitalised and re-catalogued. We are seeking art history students, art history enthusiasts and research students to assist us in this task. This project will be a rewarding and valuable experience for anyone wanting to work in these fields. Computer and archiving skills would be an advantage though all training will be provided.
Gallery Assistants (Administration and Front of House Gallery Duty)
Casual – Ongoing position, Volunteer Position.
Petrie Terrace Gallery are seeking casual assistants who wish to gain experience in the front of house operations of an art gallery. The role will include administration duties, sales and general enquiries, art handling, and occasional assistance in curating and promotion. An interest in the arts and previous experience in retail and / or administration would be an advantage though all training will be provided.
To apply please complete the following form & we will get in touch with you shortly.
For more information please contact our Gallery Coordinator on (07) 3367 1977 or email her at gallery@rqas.com.au
The RQAS wishes everyone a very Happy Easter with lots of yummy treats and family time.
Please note that Petrie Terrace Gallery will be closed the following days Friday 19th, Saturday 20th, Sunday 21st, Monday 22nd and Thursday 25th for the public holidays and long weekend.
Also due to unforeseen circumstances, our April artist talk/members gathering is canceled.
We hope you all have a lovely break and look forward to seeing you in the gallery soon.
This International women’s day in conjunction with women’s charity – Share the Dignity, the Royal Queensland Art Society’s Petrie Terrace Gallery will be celebrating our legacy of strong female artists by holding the inaugural Women’s Work exhibition and fundraiser.
The RQAS has a long history of strong female artists in our organisation, over the years we’ve been lucky to count Caroline Barker, Vida Lahey, Daphne Mayo, Irene Amos, Ada Richardson, Margaret Olley among our membership. We currently have a female President – Margaret Thomas and two female gallery directors – Rochelle Lindquist and Vashti-Sita Bardsley. If you scroll to the bottom of this post you can see some archival pictures of some of our celebrated female members.
This exhibition will bring together a diverse range of work, more than 100 pieces will be displayed by over seventy artists working across different mediums and disciplines. Our artists will deliver work that responds to the following themes; the female contribution to art, equality in the workplace and the concept of Women’s Work.
The gala opening event will include a speech by the founder of Share the Dignity Rochelle Courtenay, live music and the auctioning off of an artwork by celebrated Brisbane artist Sarah Hickey, all funds raised from this auction will go to Share the Dignity along with half of the ticket sales from both events.
The Auction
This beautiful piece ‘Merged’ by Sarah Hickey was completed following her residency in Tweed River Regional Gallery. This Gaia inspired, mixed media piece balances a raw, passionate technique and palette with subtlety and softness, the juxtaposition of these opposing elements leave the viewer at once confronted and comforted by the work. Sarah has generously donated this piece to be auctioned off at the opening the full proceeds from this auction will go to Share The Dignity.
Sarah Hickey is our featured artist for this exhibition, she has been good enough to donate her time, her expertise and her work to this show. Sarah discusses why this show is important to her below.
“I am passionate about women reaching parity in a number fields, including the Arts. Women are central to my practice – their images in the contemporary world of painting, their depiction throughout history, the mythology and archetypes surrounding them, an understanding of myself as a woman in the world and an exploration of female empowerment and strength dating back to Pagan times. On the one hand, gender is a flexible, fluid concept and shouldn’t restrict creative expression, success, equality and respect. However when you read about the statistics particularly in regards to pay and working conditions, it is glaringly obvious we still need to do the work under the gender category of ‘Women’.” Sarah Hickey.
You can get your tickets for the opening night here.
The Panel Discussion
Our Panel Discussion Women in the Arts will bring together key figures in the Brisbane art world to discuss the multi-faceted issues faced by women in the art world. Panelists include Sarah Hickey and Emily Devers, there are still a couple of panelists to be confirmed await our updates.
Sarah Hickey – artist and art teacher.
Bio: Hickey’s series of female idols are inspired by images of women from a variety of contexts, histories and worlds. The complex layering of imagery and patterns depict beauty, spiritual iconography and the feminine.
After completing bachelor degrees in fine arts and education, and then five years of teaching art in Queensland high schools, Sarah Hickey started to produce art professionally after a long hiatus from her own creative practice.
Hickey has held eleven solo shows and participated in over thirty group shows. A finalist in the Redland Art Awards, Xstrata Percival Portrait Award, Clayton Utz Art Award, Marie Ellis OAM Drawing Prize, The Mandorla Art Award, Kenilworth Painting Prize, Lethbridge 10000 Art Award and $20, 000 Metro Pearls Competition; her work was featured in Curvy magazine.
Emily Devers – Gallery Director and Artist.
Emily Devers is a Brisbane based contemporary painter who develops pertinent and timeless concepts through both her gallery work and large scale murals. As well as a painter, she is the Director of annual public art festival Sea Walls Australia, Facilitator on the Flying Arts Touring Team, and Owner / Director of contemporary Art gallery The Third Quarter. After graduating from a Fine Arts degree at QUT, Emily has been participating in the Brisbane Arts scene for 10 years as Artist, Facilitator, Mentor, Industry Professional and now Curator. You can see Emily’s large scale artworks across Australia in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Tasmania, and internationally in San Diego, Mexico, Hawaii, Morocco and New Zealand.
You can get your tickets for the panel discussion here.
Make sure you get along to these events and support this fantastic cause!
And now for your enjoyment here are a few archival photos of some of the best and brightest women to grace the RQAS with their presence.
An article in Queensland Newspaper featuring several members of the RQAS
Exhibition Dates: Tuesday 22nd January till Sunday 24th February 2019
Opening Event: Wednesday 23rd January 7pm for a 7:30pm start.
Current Fellows: Moreen Neil, Joanne Heath, Joan Cooper, Graham W Smith, Irene McKean, Don Hamilton, Esther Austin, Glen Gillard, Penelope Gilbert-NG, Max Butler, Dr Kay Kane, Peter Hubbard, Greg de Silva, Beverley Tainton, Frances Rowland-Wregg, Ruby Eaves, Dr Christine Kirkegard.
Past Fellows: Dr Irene Amos, Margaret Olley, George D. Williamson, Ada Ludlow, Marry Norrie, Charles Ludlow, Audrey Gibbs, Phyllis Scheider, Dr Grahame Readshaw, Win Robbins, Brian Williams, Margaret Raymond.
Petrie Terrace Gallery is proud to be hosting the RQAS Fellows Exhibition! Fellowship with the RQAS is a prestigious honor bestowed upon those who’s professional talent and personal commitment have made a significant contribution to the arts!
The RQAS would like to acknowledge those who have graciously lent us work from private and public collections to enable us to show our past fellows.
With special thanks to The Ipswich Art Gallery for the loan of “Still Life, 1986” By Margaret Olley.
Please join us on the opening night or get along to Petrie Terrace Gallery to see this fantastic show!
Christmas time is here and at Petrie Terrace Gallery we have the perfect picture, print or painting for you. Come by the gallery until Friday 14th December to see our last member’s show of the year “All I want for Christmas is an Artwork” and pick up the perfect gift for that someone special.
Exhibition Dates: 5th till 14th December
Petrie Terrace Gallery (Home of the Royal Queensland Art Society)
Unit 3, 162 Petrie Tce, Brisbane Qld 4000 Phone: 07 3367 1977
Please note Petrie Terrace Gallery will be closed for the holiday break from the 23rd December until the 22nd January, from everyone here at the Royal Queensland Art Society Brisbane Branch and Petrie Terrace Gallery we wish you a happy and safe holiday season and an arty new year!
Petrie Terrace Gallery is thrilled to be hosting “Brisbane Secrets” a solo exhibition of paintings and drawings by Robyn Bauer.
Brisbane Secrets follows on from her 2016 exhibition “Brisbane Stories” and delving deeper into the life of the river city. Bauer’s colourful paintings lead the viewer to hidden spots around the suburban landscape. These Brisbane scenes though sometimes unknown to the viewer conjure a familiarity and sense of nostalgia, capturing perfectly the sleepy humidity and lingering summer light of Brisbane’s inner-city suburbs. Bauer’s work translates this mood so perfectly that when gazing upon the paintings you can almost smell the petrichor.
As well as a variety of Brisbane scenes in and around the inner-city suburbs Bauer will be displaying work from her 100 Churches Project which started out as a simple visual record of various local churches but grew into a much more elaborate project combining research and documentation stretching to every corner of the urban environment. Bauer speaks with passion on the project saying “I was fascinated by how each building where people congregated, fit into its individual landscape, with its own topography, vegetation, light and weather effects, and the ambience of urban life and shared experience. I aimed for an honest record of how that location appeared on that particular day, rather than a picturesque depiction of its “best face”. The aim of this approach was to allow a more universal experience.”
Robyn Bauer with one of her iconic Brisbane scenes.
Brisbane based artist Robyn Bauer is an institution in the Queensland Art Scene. Besides being a celebrated artist within her own right, she is also a gifted art historian and educator taking up key positions at Queensland Art Gallery, Queensland University of Technology and the Brisbane Institute of art. Robyn is also active in the artistic community of Brisbane involved with Urban Sketchers, The RQAS and Sculptors Queensland.
Join us for the opening event on Wednesday 21st November 7pm. The exhibition continues till 2nd December and will be open 10am – 4pm every day.
For a private viewing outside of hours please contact our gallery director Rochelle Lindquist on (07) 3367 1977.
John Ruskin (a skilled Victorian water-colourist and art critic ) described it as “that in which the hand, the head, and the heart of man go together.” This definition encapsulates Kay Kane’s approach to her art.
Her paintings and drawings exemplify the skill and dexterity required to create art works which, through composition which combines juxtaposition of shape, line, colour and tone to uncover natural beauty, aesthetic purity, knowledge and truth.
Among other pieces, Kay will exhibit the culmination of her life’s work so far, a mammoth 5-panel piece “The Restoration of Venus” (1.6 m (h) X 8.00 m (w) which shows a panorama of traditional nudes integrated into Queensland’s Springbrook landscape.
Kay Kane studied at the prestigious St Martins School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design in London. She attained her Doctorate Fine Art at the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University where she taught life drawing for 18 years. Her work has been exhibited, in solo and group exhibitions internationally.
Honouring Tradition isKay’s first solo exhibition in Australia after a 45-year career as fine art practitioner and teacher. It will display a collection of representational nudes, portraits, still lifes, Queensland landscape paintings and drawings created over the last decade.
Get along to Petrie Terrace Gallery to see this fantastic show!
Opening event: Thursday 8th November 7pm for a 7:30 start.
Floor Talk: Saturday 10th November 2pm.
Celebrated Australian Artist Kay Kane mounted her solo exhibition “Honouring Tradition” at our own Petrie Terrace Gallery this week, this is Kay’s first solo exhibition in Australia and she’ll be exhibiting works spanning her 45-year career. Among the 49 works on display there will be portraits, still life, landscapes and figurative works including the seminal piece “Restoration of Venus”.
“Restoration of Venus” centre panel.
This 9-metre work comprises 5 panels and fills an entire wall in the gallery. Originally created for her doctorate, this monumental work depicts a series of female nudes in an Australian landscape. Employing exceptional compositional nuance and subtle moments of abstraction within the classical form, Dr Kane evokes beauty and sublimity in the scene rendering a sense of quiet and calm. The position of the subjects and the recurring motifs found in the angle of branches, flow of the figures and the position of hands guides the viewer through this scene with a natural ease not easily achieved in such a large and ambitious piece.
“Restoration of Venus” is underpinned by Dr Kane’s theoretical exploration into the depiction of feminine beauty in light of the attitudes adopted by 20th century modernists and the subversion of the female nude in popular culture. You can flick through Dr Kane’s Exegesis available for viewing during the run of this show. Or find it online here.
This is the first time ‘Restoration of Venus’ has been exhibited since it’s showing in Crane Galleries Philadelphia, USA in 2013. Don’t miss your chance to see this amazing piece in person!
Join us for the opening on Thursday 8th November 7pm for a 7:30pm start or come by on Saturday 10th November 2pm for a floor talk by the artist herself.
Exhibition continues until Saturday 17th November, private viewings and outside of hours appointments available on request please contact our Gallery Director – Rochelle Lindquist (07) 3367 1977.
Our first ever Modernism exhibition opened last Wednesday evening to a packed house at our own Petrie Terrace Gallery. This open exhibition called for artists to create work in the style of their favourite modernist artist or movement and our artists didn’t disappoint. A total of 59 artworks are on display by 38 artists, the ecliptic exhibition includes cubist works, fauvism, impressionism, surrealism and art nouveau to name a few.
Our judge for the exhibition was Vanessa Van Ooyen senior curator at QUT Art Museum and William Robinson Gallery. You can find her judges’ comments and a list of the winners below.
” I am Van Gogh”, by Gemma Garcia-Roman. Picture by Joanne Heath
1st Prize
“I am Van Gogh” # 58 – Gemma Garcia Roman
“Gemma’s work draws upon the stories surrounding the life of the great Modernist artist, Vincent Van Gogh, cutting his ear off.
Her hand built ceramic work is playful in its exaggerated forms and colour, displaying technical skill across mediums in the hand built ceramic and portrait of Vincent. It’s a unique and witty interpretation of this great artist’s pain.”
Members of Mars Collab from left; Stephen Kelly, Margot Tidey and Cody Robb with their award-winning work “After Balson 1947”
2nd Prize
“After Balson, 1947” # 36 – MarS Collab.
“Clever conceptual work that questions the uniqueness of the art object and ideas of authenticity inspired by one of our great Abstractionists working in this country, Ralph Balson. What will the artwork be in the future if a computer can artificially generate it? What is the nature of creativity in a world where computers are increasing the tool of choice and arbiter of knowledge.”
“Two Sister” By Olga Bakhtina.
3rd Prize
“Two Sisters” # 8 – Olga Bakhtina
“This work reminds me of the exquisite female Modernists working in Paris in the early part of the 19th Century such as Marie Launcerin. There is a confidence in this work with its sophisticated composition, curvilinear forms, use of colour, texture and pattern. I love the balance of boldness and subtlety in this work”.
“It does Look like her Jackson, Just ask Miro” By Greg de Silva.
Highly Commended
“It does look like her Jackson, Just ask Miro” # 58 Greg De Silva
“Melding some of the greats of the 20th century such as Miro, Pollock and Picasso as inspiration this work brings a smile as you comprehend the huge disparity of styles in what is simply termed ‘Modernism’.”
Drop by the gallery before Friday 31st August to see this wonderful exhibition and to cast your vote for the People’s Choice Award!
Image: “Adelaide Nightscape” By Mike White to be featured in the RQAS Modernism Exhibition Opening on Wednesday 8th August 7pm.
We often say now that life moves fast, our world is ever-changing from fashion trends to technology and industry and it can be hard to keep up. If you have ever wondered when western society started to put the pedal to the metal it can traced back to the age of modernity. Following the period of enlightenment in the early 19th century, the age of modernity began and with it the innovations of industry and technology that have lead us to today.
In the art world Modernism as a movement can be traced back to 1860s. The movement began with Manet and proto-impressionism and culminated in Abstract Expressionism and Jackson Pollack’s drip paintings of the 1950s. In a way this timeline can be seen as a gradual flattening of the picture plane and reduction of subject matter. In Clement Greenberg’s famous words “Realistic, naturalistic art had disassembled the medium, using art to conceal art; Modernism used art to call attention to art.” In essence by the time Jackson Pollack was pouring and flicking his brush on larger than life canvas, paintings were no longer of people or places, paintings were of paint.
To understand that progression we must take a step back to the first Modernist painters – Manet and his school of impressionists. These artists rejected mimesis and the idea of the painting as a window into another world, the techniques they used evolved and became painterly. They played with perspective rendering the picture plane illogical. But that was not all, for the first time in art instead of subject matter drawn from mighty Greek mythology or religious rhetoric, they pursued subjects of modern life; the Flaneur on the streets, the gentlemen and ladies strolling in the public gardens or the underbelly of the Parisian nightclub scenes. Their choices in style, technique and subject matter revolutionised the art world and the term “Impressionists” initially coined by a journalist and intended as an insult now reminds us of the subtle beauty of the Monet’s Lilies, or the muted melancholy of Degas’s Absinthe Drinker.
And thus Modernism began with a bang disrupting centuries old traditions and much like the locomotive of the same vintage took off going faster and further than anyone could have predicted. Impressionism was followed by post-impressionism, Art Nouveau, Symbolism, Fauvism, Cubism, Futurism, Constructivism, Dadaism, The Avant Garde, Surrealism, De Stijl, Colour Field Painting and Abstract Expressionism. With the same velocity the world changed and evolved giving way to new technologies and industries. From industrialism to electricity to photography, film and automobiles, aeroplanes and radio, it really was a time of rapid change and with this change shifts to societal perception, attitudes and art.
Modernism is without a doubt one of the fastest shifting and most influential periods of art history and yet each movement contained with the kaleidoscopic sphere of Modernism though fast was not fleeting, the mass appeal of Impressionism, Cubism or Surrealism continues to thrive finding a new audience with each generation of art lovers.
The RQAS’s Petrie Terrace Gallery is holding its first Modernism Exhibition opening on Wednesday 8th August 7pm. Come along and meet the artists and discuss why this period of art is still so captivating today.
