2025 Past Exhibitions
Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery
Big Sculpture | Cairns Indigenous Arts Fair
The Cairns Indigenous Arts Fair's Big Sculpture touring exhibition is a captivating showcase, presenting the cultural talents of emerging and prominent artists. The exhibition promises an immersive visual journey through the diverse narratives woven by Indigenous artists, transcending boundaries and embracing a rich tapestry of perspectives.
At the heart of this exhibition are large-scale commissioned works that stand as testaments to their artists' profound connection to culture, land, and heritage. Through the masterful use of modern and repurposed materials, the sculptures not only reflect artistic prowess but also echo a commitment to sustainability and innovation.
Viewers are invited to explore a kaleidoscope of stories, each sculpture telling a unique tale deeply rooted in Queensland's cultural landscape. The juxtaposition of traditional and contemporary elements allows for a nuanced exploration of Indigenous identity and the evolution of artistic expression over time, highlighted by the resilience and creativity of Queensland's leading contemporary First Nations artists like Brian Robinson, Shirley Macnamara, Mavis Benjamin, Toby Cedar, Dr. David Jones, Alma Norman, Marlene Norman, Hans Ahwang, Ian Waldron and Rhonda Woolla.
From the striking layering of Brian Robinson's work to the powerful narratives of country conveyed by Shirley Macnamara's piece, the Big Sculpture touring exhibition promises a thought-provoking and visually stunning experience, celebrating the richness of First Nations artistry in Queensland.
Image: Alma Norman, Marlene Norman, Mavis Benjamin, Jumping Barramundi, 2022, ghost net, rope, twine over steel frame. Photo Credit: Michael Marzik
Wallam Whispers | Nicole Jakins
Wallum Whispers by multidisciplinary artist, Nicole Jakins, explores the delicate, often unnoticed dialogue between the elements of nature, embodied through sculptural works crafted from a limited palette of silvery hues.
The inspiration for this exhibition is the Wallum country, a coastal heathland where land and water coalesce in a dynamic, fragile harmony. This series of sculptures draws on the subtle whispers of nature, the quiet movement of its inhabitants, the gentle flow of tannin-rich waters, and the slow, steady erosion of time.
Nicole has had her work curated into many environmentally themed group exhibitions held in Queensland, NSW, and ACT, and in 2024, completed Quiet, my soul, an artist in residency program researching the botanical diversity surrounding the Maroochydore Botanic Gardens Arts and Ecology centre. Wallum Whispers is Nicole's first solo exhibition with Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery, and she draws on her extensive arts practice to deliver an installation that invites the viewer to form a deepened awareness of the natural world, and its quiet, yet powerful, presence.
Image: Nicole Jakins, Wallum Pool, 2025, embossed aluminum (detail)
Neon Coral Confetti | Lisa Ashcroft
Neon Coral Confetti by artist, Lisa Ashcroft, explores environmental stewardship and the artificial regeneration of the Great Barrier Reef.
The artworks in this exhibition encourage the viewer to consider their responsibility as the guardians of the environment for future generations. The bittersweet irony is evident: while human actions have contributed to the destruction of the Reef, those same hands are now crucial in using scientific advances, such as synthetic cloning to restore it. Lisa's use of a bright texture-rich palette in an abstract expressionistic style, draws the viewers inside the painting's intricate pattern and details in a deliberate act to open critical conversation about the Reef and the importance of sustainable practices and the ongoing battle against climate change.
Image: Lisa Ashcroft, Coral Confetti, 2024, oil on canvas.
Dr Egmont Schmidt Memorial Collection: A Contemporary Lens
The Dr Egmont Schmidt Memorial Collection is an historically important and culturally valuable collection of artworks by early 20th century painters and printmakers. Acquired by the Bundaberg physician, Dr Egmont Theodore Carl Schmidt (1886-1956) during the first half of the 20th century, the works were formally donated to Bundaberg City Council by his estate trustees in 1956, with the understanding that an art gallery befitting the city would be established and these works would form the nucleus of its collection. Under the custodianship of the Bundaberg Arts Society, of which Dr Schmidt was the inaugural president, the collection was maintained in the School of Arts building until 1995, when the new Bundaberg Arts Centre, now Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery, was opened, and the Bundaberg Arts Society generously reverted the care for the collection back to the city.
Now 100 years after the creation of many of the works in the Dr Egmont Schmidt Collection, Bundaberg Regional Galleries, are inviting the community to respond to the artworks with a contemporary lens. A selection of artworks, including paintings, drawings, prose, poetry, photography and digital media have been chosen to kickstart the conversation, but we invite you - the community - to view the artworks and create your own responses.
Image: Henry Hanke, Heidi, Date of Creation Unknown, Oil on Canvas.
A Room of My Own | Shelley Engwirda
A Room of My Own is a collection of fusible glass and textile works by Shelley Engwirda, inspired by the iconic essay, 'A Room of One's Own', written by Virginia Woolf in 1929.
Woolf proposed that if women could lead their own lives, they could achieve equal standing in society. This meant women needed to have financial and intellectual freedom to reach their full potential. Woolf also brought attention to the lack of women’s voices telling women’s stories.
Similarly, in this exhibition, the artist has created art quilts that subvert the narrative of them being a feminine craft, and uses the medium of glass not only for its obvious beauty but also as a contemporary art form that has not been influenced by historical and social prejudices.
A Room of My Own invites viewers to consider Woolf's call to action through the lens of these artworks, and to take responsibility for paving their own life path.
Shelley Engwirda, Domesticity, 2022, fusible glass. Image Credit: Jim Cullen.
Antarctic Reflections | Mick Brennan and Vivien Hillocks
What happens when two artists, their sketchbooks and cameras head off for a once in a lifetime trip to the frozen continent?
Antarctic Reflections is an exhibition detailing just that, as artists Mick Brennan and Vivien Hillocks respond to the awe-inspiring landscape that is our southernmost continent. Rough seas, bitter cold, howling winds, serene stillness - and always the everchanging ice. This is the vista captured in this multi media exhibition that takes the viewer on a journey alongside the artists, as they explored the land first seen by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellinghausen in 1820, and a year later explored by John Davis. Both self-taught visual artists, living and working in the Bundaberg region, Mick and Vivien each bring their own artistic viewpoint to this exhibition, with Mick's use of complex substrates and found objects as a textural base, complimenting Vivien's detailed depictions in ink and watercolour. The inclusion of artist journals and photographic references further enhances the exhibition experience.
Image: Mick Brennan, Heading South, 2024, Acrylic on Canvas.
Childers Arts Space
State of the Art 2025 | Queensland Quilters
State of the Art (SOTA) is an annual juried and judged exhibition of textile art by members of Queensland Quilters Inc. The 2025 exhibition, SOTA 25, was juried by Zara Zannettino, with Lorraine Carthew and Carley Cornelissen serving as judges. The exhibition tours regional galleries throughout Queensland, offering audiences the opportunity to engage with contemporary textile art.
A wide range of techniques is showcased in SOTA 25 including painting, printing, eco-dyeing, collage, and both hand and machine stitching.
Through this exhibition, Queensland Quilters Inc. aims to unite art quilters, celebrate their talents, and highlight the evolving role of art quilts as a recognised art form.
Image: Jan Hutchison, Sunset over Damaraland, Namibia, 2024, cotton fabric, crochet thread, cotton threads, 77 x 53cm
It Hangs by a Delicate Thread | Cate Verney
It Hangs by a Delicate Thread reflects the changing moods of the Wallum Heathlands, through its transformative stages of repair and recovery, its changes through beauty and harshness, and its reaction to human intervention.
Apple Tree Creek based artist, Cate Verney, has a strong connection to the Wallum Heathlands, spending much time exploring and researching this diverse ecosystem characterised by a dense covering of low shrubs, gnarly trees and raggy grasses sprouting from low nutrient sandy soils. Cate's arts practice reflects her connection to this environment, with the works in It Hangs by a Delicate Thread weaving together natural materials and found objects with botanically printed fabrics, fragile silkworm threads and fine embroidery. Regeneration and repair in the heathland is a gradual, many layered process, retaining traces of its loss in the environment, and through this exhibition Cate tells her own story, elegantly interlacing the artworks into the fabric of the narration.
Image: Cate Verney, Patched Up Cocoons, 2024, unspun silk, found objects.