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Highlights and achievements
Queensland Art Gallery ANNUAL REPORT 2008–09
7
Children’s Art Centre
A two-day conference celebrated the Gallery’s decade of
programming for young audiences. Art is for Everyone:
Programming for Children and Families in the Art
Museum, on 16 and 17 January 2009, was attended by
local, regional, interstate and international delegates.
Regional services
Regional Queensland communities enjoyed a record
level of travelling exhibitions and public programs from
the Gallery. Five diverse exhibitions were on the road
during the year, and four different public programs were
presented in regional venues. For the first time, regional
programs included a lecture tour associated with one
of the Gallery’s major international exhibitions — in this
case, ‘Picasso & his collection’. 79 363 people visited
this year’s exhibitions in regional Queensland. Regional
exhibitions and programs made a total of 85 venue visits.
Travelling exhibitions toured a range of works from
the Gallery’s Collection: watercolours by Australian
modernist painter Kenneth Macqueen, figurative
bronze sculptures, works by Indigenous artists of the
Hermannsburg School, and works from the contemporary
Asian and Pacific collections. Concluding a popular
12-venue tour this year was the white lego interactive
art work
The cubic structural evolution project
2004, by
acclaimed contemporary Danish artist Olafur Eliasson.
In January, 3908 people took part in Kids: Contemporary
Australia on Tour, a day of free activities for children and
families at 30 participating venues around Queensland.
Public programs
In addition to innovative and engaging public programs
presented across both sites, a new program — My Gen —
was introduced for people over 50.
Up Late programs — with a Friday night mix of talks,
live music, films and art — attracted 23 500 visitors
during ‘Picasso & his collection’ and ‘Contemporary
Australia: Optimism’.
This year, the Gallery’s volunteer guides provided a total
of 2189 guided tours for 21 375 people.
Publishing
The Gallery’s publishing program makes available
research and scholarship about the Collection and
exhibitions to a wide audience, and this year 14 titles
were produced. In addition to
The China Project
, major
publications included
Place Makers: Contemporary
Queensland Architects
, about the state’s architectural
culture;
Tim Johnson: Painting Ideas
(with the Art Gallery
of New South Wales); and
American Impressionism and
Realism: A Landmark Exhibition from the Met
, produced
in partnership with The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, and Art Exhibitions Australia.
Australian Cinémathèque
The Australian Cinémathèque is the only facility of its
kind in an Australian art museum. Highlights of the
year’s program included a major international survey
of expressionist German film, Out of the Shadows; the
exhibition and screening program Modern Ruin; and
curated programs complementing major exhibitions at
the Gallery. A popular highpoint for audiences was
Be Afraid: Fear in North American Cinema (27 February –
22 March 2009). The Cinémathèque presented 438
short and feature films in 651 sessions, and attracted
an attendance of 31 660 visitors.
Members
An expanded and revitalised Members program made
new connections between the community and the
Gallery. A dedicated program of Members events
included special viewings of new acquisitions and
previews of major exhibitions.
Foundation
The Queensland Art Gallery Foundation celebrated
its 30th anniversary in 2009. The special anniversary
appeal raised funds towards the acquisition of a sterling
silver Hunt and Roskell
Presentation vase
1864, an
important addition to the Gallery’s colonial art holdings.
The Gallery also acquired significant works through the
‘Contemporary Australia: Optimism’ exhibition appeal.
ABOVE LEFT
Queensland Art Gallery Director, Tony
Ellwood leads a tour of ‘Contemporary
Australia: Optimism’ for sponsors,
November 2009
ABOVE RIGHT
Xstrata Coal Chief Executive
Peter Freyberg and winner
of the 2008 Xstrata Coal Emerging
Indigenous Art Award,
Gunybi Ganambarr, with his work
Burrut’tji at Baraltja
2008.
This year’s Award was the final in the
successful three-year award program.
Gunybi Ganambarr
Ngaymil people
Burrut'tji at Baraltja
2008
Natural pigments on incised bark
218 x 91cm
The Xstrata Coal Emerging
Indigenous Art Award 2008
(winning entry). Purchased 2008
with funds from Xstrata Coal
through the Queensland
Art Gallery Foundation