Gallery doors open with artistic flair

Art lovers rejoice! Your favourite galleries and museums are back in business across the Moreton Bay Region and there’s plenty on display to make your heart sing.

Caboolture Regional Art Gallery, Redcliffe Museum, Bribie Island Seaside Museum, Pine Rivers Heritage Museum, Bribie Island Community Arts Centre and Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology have reopened in recent weeks, after COVID-19 restrictions forced them to close in March.

We’ve put together a must-see list of the exhibitions and displays to check out in the coming months. Just remember to observe social distancing and follow the directions of gallery staff and volunteers when visiting.

Artistic Endeavour

Redcliffe Museum - now to September 6

Showcasing new works by members of the Botanical Artists’ Society of Queensland, the exhibition is an innovative exploration of the artistic, scientific, environmental and cultural significance of this chapter in Queensland’s botanical heritage. It marks the 250th anniversary of the HMB Endeavour’s voyage along the east coast of Australia. Scientists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander, together with illustrator Sydney Parkinson, gathered and recorded many “curious plants (they) met with on shore”.

Image credit: Anne Hayes, Banksia serrata, Old man banksia, watercolour on paper.

Goodnight, sleep tight

Pine Rivers Heritage Museum – now to October 11

From sleepwear to chamber pots, nightcaps to coconut mattresses, discover the history of sleep, how we sleep today and how people might sleep in the future through this exhibition curated by Moreton Bay Regional Council.

Robert MacPherson: Boss Drovers

Caboolture Regional Art Gallery – now to September 12

View a selection of 200 individual drawings from Boss Drovers 1996–2014, all deliberately created as if by the hand of a 10-year-old. During a 20-year period, Robert MacPherson made these in the guise of his alter ego, Robert Pene, a Year 4 student at St Joseph’s Convent, Nambour, Queensland. Don’t miss this touring exhibition from Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art.

Image credit: Courtesy the artist and Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art.

War on our shores

Bribie Island Seaside Museum – now to November 22

This year, marks the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. During that conflict, the Moreton Bay Region and its people were forever changed. Bribie Island transformed into a military installation and throughout our region, mainland areas became locations for soldier training and recreational camps. This exhibition explores the unforeseen changes for locals as Australia prepared for the unknown and what life was like for the soldiers stationed here, ready to defend when the battle reached our shores.

Image credit: Four A.I.F. soldiers at the Coastal defenders mortar post, Bribie Island, 1942. Picture Sunshine Coast. Sunshine Coast Council.

Minibeasts

Redcliffe Museum – now to November 29

Minibeasts highlights the spectacular realm of insects and celebrates all things that creep, crawl, wriggle, squirm, buzz and flutter. Enjoy a myriad of fun and interactive activities including examining and classifying specimens using magnifying glasses, creating patterns with natural materials, decorating three-dimensional bug templates, contributing to a collaborative bee hive, posing in front of a butterfly wing mural and observing a live insect display.

Artist demonstration: Lindsay Watts

Redcliffe Museum – August 1, 10am-1pm

Join Lindsay Watts at Redcliffe Museum as she builds her exquisitely-detailed watercolour paintings using a dry brush technique.

Hydro-Power: Barbara Vivash

Stage Door Gallery, Redcliffe Entertainment Centre – now to August 30

This exhibition showcases the work of Barbara Vivash, reflecting a life-long fascination with water. It aspires to capture the essence of hydropower observed in Queensland rain forests, beaches and rivers using acrylic and watercolour on multi-media.

Retired: 5+1 group of retired artists/printmakers

Stage Door Gallery, Redcliffe Entertainment Centre – September 1-27

Discover the work of Ellie Nielsen, Maureen van der Zalm, Malcolm Cassidy, Neen Burton, Margaret Barnett and Trudy Stephens in this exhibition of work by a dedicated group of retired artists.

Down Time

Matthew Flinders Gallery, Bribie Island Community Arts Centre, now to August 8

Don’t miss this exhibition, which is a collection of work from the centre’s artists who have been busy during the COVID-19 shutdown period creating and broadening art experimentation and experiences. Many have reinvented their style, discovered new mediums and tried new techniques. The exhibition is the perfect show to celebrate the arts centre’s long-awaited reopening.

Want more creative inspiration? Head to our blog.

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