And it was a full house for our wonderful opening night on Wed 2 May, 2018.  Here we all are, artists, curators and our inspiration Kathleen McArthur (a present among us courtesy of Ulrike Sturm's hand-cut vinyl work): Marvene Ash, Sue Davis, Ulrike Sturm (Kathleen), Nina Shadforth, Shannon Garson and Anne Harris! 
Image courtesy of 'Your Life Photography'.

It is very exciting to see the new work by our contemporary artists coming together for 'Wild/flower Women'. A treat this week to see the reveal of the gorgeous dresses from Anne Harris - 'Embodied Wallum' . The three dresses are 'Wallum Dress', 'Progress Dress' and 'Wild Wallum Women Dress'. They are made from hemp, organic cotton/silk & natural dyes. We can't wait to see them in the gallery. Anne had some terrific photos done this week in situ in the wallum. Check out her blog and social media feeds for more previews. (Image by Sam Frysteen)

It seemed only fitting for our first meeting to take place at Kathleen McArthur Reserve, so named for the woman whose life and work is the inspiration for this exhibition.  Kathleen loved this area north of Lake Currimundi and this was one of the areas she fought to protect and have established as a nature reserve.  Thank goodness she did as the wildflower plains that she so loved are now covered in houses, roads and shops!  Gathering around a table with food, drinks, books and art it was exciting to begin to share ideas and possibilities. None of us knew or had met all the others so there was lots to learn and discover and connect over. As the sun began to drop we set off to explore the heathland trail within the reserve, and even though it is months past the peak of 'wildflower season' there were still many joys to be discovered.  One in particular was a little orchid that seemed to be growing up out of a clump of curly sedge.  Upon checking out Stephanie Haslam's trusty 'Noosa Native Plants' field guide, we discovered that is was a hyacinth orchid and that in fact, they actually don't have their own leaves.  I hadn't seen these before on my trips to the reserve so it was a special treat for this first special meeting. The artist started to share some of their thinking and ideas for their works, Marvene has already been down to the park before and has begun painting, Shannon wants to play around with cups and saucers, wallum imagery and the rituals of communion over tea, Anne is inspired by the photos of Kathleen McArthur and Judith Wright, out in the wallum in their 50s frocks and hats, she's thinking installation, fabrics and fibres, and Ulrike is thinking of some handout wall vinyls responding to the landscapes, but also playing with printmaking on paperbark... just some initial thoughts but we're already excited... this is going to be one special show!