Image credit for header: Joolie Gibbs (2020), 'Impermanance' hakea benthamii detail.
Latest news and information
A new exhibition in process - Wild/flower Women III
We are working towards our next 'wild/flower women' exhibition - this time for the northern end of the Cooloola region. To begin the process a group of women artists from Gympie and the Sunshine Coast spent a weekend on country with Rainbow Beach as our base. It was a joyful time of wandering, wondering, experiencing and imagining. We look forward to sharing more of the process in the lead up to the exhibition!
Wild/flower Women III: Women Walking Country
8 October - 28 November 2020
Gympie Regional Gallery
This exhibition draws inspiration from the heritage of women who have walked Cooloola country from Traditional Owners as well as ‘wild/flower women’ Kathleen McArthur and Judith Wright, including their campaigning to establish Cooloola National Park. The exhibition profiles contemporary female artists who re-energise heritage and history with their own responses to our wildflowers, natural heritage and walking together on country. Wild/flower Women III will create a sense of the different perspectives, scales and scope of the wallum and Cooloola ecologies, the relationships between humans and the more than human world, and ways of seeing inspired by art and nature.
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the Cooloola region the Kabi Kabi and Butchulla peoples, and generations of elders past, present and emerging who continue their connection with and custodianship of country.
We are working towards our next 'wild/flower women' exhibition - this time for the northern end of the Cooloola region. To begin the process a group of women artists from Gympie and the Sunshine Coast spent a weekend on country with Rainbow Beach as our base. It was a joyful time of wandering, wondering, experiencing and imagining. We look forward to sharing more of the process in the lead up to the exhibition!
Wild/flower Women III: Women Walking Country
8 October - 28 November 2020
Gympie Regional Gallery
This exhibition draws inspiration from the heritage of women who have walked Cooloola country from Traditional Owners as well as ‘wild/flower women’ Kathleen McArthur and Judith Wright, including their campaigning to establish Cooloola National Park. The exhibition profiles contemporary female artists who re-energise heritage and history with their own responses to our wildflowers, natural heritage and walking together on country. Wild/flower Women III will create a sense of the different perspectives, scales and scope of the wallum and Cooloola ecologies, the relationships between humans and the more than human world, and ways of seeing inspired by art and nature.
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the Cooloola region the Kabi Kabi and Butchulla peoples, and generations of elders past, present and emerging who continue their connection with and custodianship of country.
Image credits: Wild/flower Women III weekend field drawings by Meaghan Shelton, Judy Barrass, Zela Bissett, Susan Davis, Barbara Hart, Sandra Ross & Ulrike Sturm..
The 'Wild/flower Women III' exhibition is being supported by funding from the Gympie Regional Council's RADF program and Cooloola Coastcare.
The 'Wild/flower Women III' exhibition is being supported by funding from the Gympie Regional Council's RADF program and Cooloola Coastcare.
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Online exhibition
Fryer Fellowship Lecture (Link to article about the presentation) "Kathleen McArthur: Wild/flower Woman" by Associate Professor Susan Davis, CQUniversity (was held at the Fryer Library University of Queensland, 27 March 2019) |
Articles
Davis, Susan (2020. Wildflowering culture: Kathleen McArthur and creating a popular wildflower consciousness’, The Australasian Journal of Popular, Culture, 9:1, pp. 67–82. Davis, Susan. (2019). Wandering and Wildflowering - Walking with Women into Intimacy and Ecological Action. M/C Journal, 22 (4). Davis, Susan. (2019). "Hidden women of History: Kathleen McArthur, the wildflower woman who took on Joh Bjelke-Petersen". The Conversation. 31 January 2019. The Conversation, 31 January 2019 |
The Wild/flower Women projects and initiatives
The 'Wild/flower Women' initiatives have been inspired by pioneering artists and environmentalists Kathleen McArthur and Judith Wright. Their 'wild' passion, artistry and activism deserves to be revisited and celebrated, while also prompting us to consider anew the ways we learn about, nurture and protect our native wildflowers and environments.
Specific activities started in 2016 with a symposium at CQUniversity Noosa and an exhibition at Noosa Regional Gallery. An exhibition at Caloundra Regional Gallery in 2018 extended upon the 2016/7 exhibition through inviting contemporary Sunshine Coast artists to respond to the work and artistry of Kathleen McArthur as well as to the wallum, the wildflowers and environments that inspired her. A smaller symposium was also convened and 'lunch-hour theatre' style script created for an Anywhere Theatre performance. The work and inspiration continues, with initiator Dr Susan Davis being awarded the Fryer Fellowship for 2018-19 and working on related publications, exhibitions and presentations. Others also continue enacting the living legacy of the wild/flower women who have inspired us!
Specific activities started in 2016 with a symposium at CQUniversity Noosa and an exhibition at Noosa Regional Gallery. An exhibition at Caloundra Regional Gallery in 2018 extended upon the 2016/7 exhibition through inviting contemporary Sunshine Coast artists to respond to the work and artistry of Kathleen McArthur as well as to the wallum, the wildflowers and environments that inspired her. A smaller symposium was also convened and 'lunch-hour theatre' style script created for an Anywhere Theatre performance. The work and inspiration continues, with initiator Dr Susan Davis being awarded the Fryer Fellowship for 2018-19 and working on related publications, exhibitions and presentations. Others also continue enacting the living legacy of the wild/flower women who have inspired us!
