VIP's

I went out to Catherine McCue's place this morning to pick up some digital  prints, one of which will go down for the Moreton Bay Art Awards.   I will mail it to a framer and have them deliver it to the Community center on the appropriate day.

It should be a very interesting exhibition.  Looking back on previous years exhibitions, they seem to get some very good works.   Being so close to Brisbane is helpful too I am sure.

It's rather exciting, because Bundaberg  Gallery is to have a visit from  Artsupport Australia 's Queensland Manager Fiona Maxwell, Australia Council for the Arts' Chief Executive Officer Kathy Keele and Artslink Queensland Chief Executive Officer Arthur Frame. Creative Regions have arranged this for Monday afternoon. 

This will be a good opportunity for us to voice our concerns about the many and varied problems of being regional artists, and to find out what sort of assistance is available to us.

One interstate gallery director years ago called me a 'GI'...Geographically Impossible!!!!   He did as much to help me as was possible, but it is very difficult to maintain connections living in the regions.

It is really encouraging to see these 'VIP's making the effort to  come into regional communities, something I haven't seen before in the 20 years plus that I have been in Bundaberg.

There are many very good artists in the Wide Bay region  working away quietly. It would be wonderful to see this recognised and to see some assistance coming their way.

Suburban Goddess-Gatakers Artspace

I commenced my art practice in 1988. I am self taught and my early years were as a painter. After a time though I developed an interest in sculpture with 'junk' and found that this was an area in which I was able to be more playful and inventive.

In 2006 I received an Australia Council grant to produce works in the theme of the 'Suburban Goddess'. The works I produced can be seen on my website at:

http://www.christineturner.com.au/website16may20/sgthumbn.html

At that time I wrote about my work:


'It has been said that the big question for a person in their middle years is a spiritual one. In my quest to find gods and goddesses, I have only found one, and that is Mother. My own, living Mother.
She is my 'Suburban Goddess'…a goddess that reigned in the fifties and sixties- presiding within a ‘Traditional’ family model that actualised what has been called by some a 'Golden Age' and by others an 'abberation'.This was a paradigm that could not sustain itself, but one that still causes today a degree of uncertainty and sense of loss in current familial relationships. The family of today takes many forms and consequently the role of Mother changes to meet contemporary needs.

The chattels of the ‘Suburban Goddess’ have been assembled. These are the objects society is currently discarding, and with them go aspects of her values and standards. These works, exhibit a stacking up of diverse objects, that serve, like totem poles, to preserve social and cultural histories through a process both unique and innovative.

The curatorial rationale of the 'Suburban Goddess" project seeks to investigate these themes in order to open up a dialogue relating to the ever-changing role of women in society.'


I had made a pledge that in the future I would show the works 'en masse'. I acquitted the grant.

The 'Broken Woman' series of digital images that I have been producing will be developed as a digital projection. The digital projection will form part of the Suburban Goddess installation.

I will feature works from this series from time to time.
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GATAKERS ARTSPACE

My friends and I travelled to Maryborough recently to see the fabulous new gallery- Gatakers Artspace. These buildings are valuable historically and were purchased in 2005 by the Maryborough City Council with the assistance of Q150 funding from the Queensland Government.

Gatakers Artspace opened in March 2010.

The galleries are fabulous and we especially were drawn to the Rollo Nicholson Room. Rollo Nicholson was the last owner and a member of the Gataker family. The Rollo Nicholson room seems to lend itself to the display of sculpture. This was a venue that could accommodate my 50 goddesses.

We booked in immediately. My exhibiton was booked for September 8, 2010 - October 10 , 2010. My friends Catherine and Sue, booked the gallery straight after my exhibition. Exciting!!

So that brings us to today. Projects for today are to start on the Powerpoint Presentation of the 'Broken Woman' series and to put a coat of gold paint on my collage canvas.

Till soon.