Behind the Art

Hamish Sawyer speaks with Emily Wakeling about the Bayton Award 2023.

Hamish Sawyer is a curator, writer and currently the Artistic Director of NorthSite Contemporary Arts, Cairns.

Anitha Menon talks with Easton Dunne about her practice and inspirations from the RMOA collection during her time as artist in residence at the museum.

Pat Hoffie speaks with Jonathan McBurnie about her involvement in the WrestleMANIA exhibition. Hoffie discusses the biblical influences, as well as that of outsider artist Henry Darger, in her large scale paintings. Touching upon her artistic process, Brisbane’s Festival Hall (once a key venue for pro wrestling for Queensland) and conspiracy theory, Hoffie offers fascinating insight into studio practice.

Locust Jones speaks about his large scale drawings made for WrestleMANIA. Jones’ pieces are made as realtime responses to the global news cycle, and circumnavigate the artist’s sense of outrage, the absurd and tragedy, trying to make sense of the static. Jones discusses his early experiences of televised wrestling during his New Zealand childhood and incorporating its larger-than-life iconography into his larger-than-life drawings.

Erica Gray speaks about her textile installation exhibited in WrestleMANIA. Gray plays with the theatrical, performative aspects of Wrestlers and their audiences to create a vivid representation of the (melo)drama of wrestling.

Bruce Reynolds discusses his work for WrestleMANIA. With an enduring interest in the antiquity and remix culture, Reynolds reflects upon his limited childhood experience with television and, through it, wrestling.

Peter Hudson in conversation with Jonathan McBurnie

Euan Macleod in conversation with Jonathan McBurnie

Euan Macleod was featured in the exhibit WrestleMANIA at Rockhampton Museum of Art during 2022-2023. This episode explores MacLeod’s experience and thought process on creating his work, particularly diving into his personal connection to wrestling and how it inspires him to create.

Ed Luce in conversation with Jonathan McBurnie

Ed Luce was featured in the exhibition WrestleMANIA at Rockhampton Museum of Art during 2022-23. This episode explores his artistic and personal journey with wrestling, taking a look at the inspiration for his art, Jim ‘The Anvil’ Neidhart, and the process of making a work for WrestleMANIA.

Claudia Husband in conversation with Emily Wakeling

Claudia Husband is Registrar at the Museum of Brisbane. She discusses her role as a registrar, caring for the collections, and installing collections with Emily Wakeling. This episode dives into the history of art and collecting in Brisbane, on the occasion of RMOA hosting Museum of Brisbane’s Easton Pearson Archive.

Join us for a conversation with Cutler Footway, this conversation discusses the inspirations behind his practice as well as art that he has seen on his travels, most recently on a trip to Europe.

From a Burdekin Studio: Works by Cutler Footway

Audio Guide Part 12: From a Burdekin Studio: Anders S as Christ at the Column

From a Burdekin Studio: Works by Cutler Footway surveys more than two decades of work by Cutler Footway, the former art critic Bruce James. His painting style demonstrates a love of classical painting, as well as the early Impressionists, combined and reinvented to depict the sights of regional Queensland from the eye of the artist through landscapes, still lifes and nudes. More than anything else, it offers a vision of the body; created in the artist’s studio in his hometown, Ayr, in the Burdekin district (Bindal and Juru Country) south of Townsville.

From a Burdekin Studio: Works by Cutler Footway Audio Guide Part 11: Mark K, in the Burdekin

From a Burdekin Studio: Works by Cutler Footway surveys more than two decades of work by Cutler Footway, the former art critic Bruce James. His painting style demonstrates a love of classical painting, as well as the early Impressionists, combined and reinvented to depict the sights of regional Queensland from the eye of the artist through landscapes, still lifes and nudes. More than anything else, it offers a vision of the body; created in the artist’s studio in his hometown, Ayr, in the Burdekin district (Bindal and Juru Country) south of Townsville.

From a Burdekin Studio: Works by Cutler Footway

Audio Guide Part 10: A Young Sculptor, Jack Betteridge Costumed as an Elf: Don't F. With Me, Fellas!

From a Burdekin Studio: Works by Cutler Footway surveys more than two decades of work by Cutler Footway, the former art critic Bruce James. His painting style demonstrates a love of classical painting, as well as the early Impressionists, combined and reinvented to depict the sights of regional Queensland from the eye of the artist through landscapes, still lifes and nudes. More than anything else, it offers a vision of the body; created in the artist’s studio in his hometown, Ayr, in the Burdekin district (Bindal and Juru Country) south of Townsville.

From a Burdekin Studio: Works by Cutler Footway

Audio Guide Part 9: Large Still Life with Vase, Fruits, and Frangipani

From a Burdekin Studio: Works by Cutler Footway surveys more than two decades of work by Cutler Footway, the former art critic Bruce James. His painting style demonstrates a love of classical painting, as well as the early Impressionists, combined and reinvented to depict the sights of regional Queensland from the eye of the artist through landscapes, still lifes and nudes. More than anything else, it offers a vision of the body; created in the artist’s studio in his hometown, Ayr, in the Burdekin district (Bindal and Juru Country) south of Townsville.

From a Burdekin Studio: Works by Cutler Footway

Audio Guide Part 8: Life Drawings

From a Burdekin Studio: Works by Cutler Footway surveys more than two decades of work by Cutler Footway, the former art critic Bruce James. His painting style demonstrates a love of classical painting, as well as the early Impressionists, combined and reinvented to depict the sights of regional Queensland from the eye of the artist through landscapes, still lifes and nudes. More than anything else, it offers a vision of the body; created in the artist’s studio in his hometown, Ayr, in the Burdekin district (Bindal and Juru Country) south of Townsville.

From a Burdekin Studio: Works by Cutler Footway

Audio Guide Part 7: Painting on an Easel II From a Burdekin Studio: Works by Cutler Footway surveys more than two decades of work by Cutler Footway, the former art critic Bruce James. His painting style demonstrates a love of classical painting, as well as the early Impressionists, combined and reinvented to depict the sights of regional Queensland from the eye of the artist through landscapes, still lifes and nudes. More than anything else, it offers a vision of the body; created in the artist’s studio in his hometown, Ayr, in the Burdekin district (Bindal and Juru Country) south of Townsville.

From a Burdekin Studio: Works by Cutler Footway

Audio Guide Part 6: A Brush with Landscape - between Ayr and Townsville

From a Burdekin Studio: Works by Cutler Footway surveys more than two decades of work by Cutler Footway, the former art critic Bruce James. His painting style demonstrates a love of classical painting, as well as the early Impressionists, combined and reinvented to depict the sights of regional Queensland from the eye of the artist through landscapes, still lifes and nudes. More than anything else, it offers a vision of the body; created in the artist’s studio in his hometown, Ayr, in the Burdekin district (Bindal and Juru Country) south of Townsville.

From a Burdekin Studio: Works by Cutler Footway

Audio Guide Part 5: Rain Coming - My Father

From a Burdekin Studio: Works by Cutler Footway surveys more than two decades of work by Cutler Footway, the former art critic Bruce James. His painting style demonstrates a love of classical painting, as well as the early Impressionists, combined and reinvented to depict the sights of regional Queensland from the eye of the artist through landscapes, still lifes and nudes. More than anything else, it offers a vision of the body; created in the artist’s studio in his hometown, Ayr, in the Burdekin district (Bindal and Juru Country) south of Townsville.

From a Burdekin Studio: Works by Cutler Footway Audio Guide Part 4: Boy from the Bottoms Up Bar

From a Burdekin Studio: Works by Cutler Footway surveys more than two decades of work by Cutler Footway, the former art critic Bruce James. His painting style demonstrates a love of classical painting, as well as the early Impressionists, combined and reinvented to depict the sights of regional Queensland from the eye of the artist through landscapes, still lifes and nudes. More than anything else, it offers a vision of the body; created in the artist’s studio in his hometown, Ayr, in the Burdekin district (Bindal and Juru Country) south of Townsville.

From a Burdekin Studio: Works by Cutler Footway

Audio Guide Part 3: Marcus Leutscher with Cane Fire, Figurine, Flowers, and Skull

From a Burdekin Studio: Works by Cutler Footway surveys more than two decades of work by Cutler Footway, the former art critic Bruce James. His painting style demonstrates a love of classical painting, as well as the early Impressionists, combined and reinvented to depict the sights of regional Queensland from the eye of the artist through landscapes, still lifes and nudes. More than anything else, it offers a vision of the body; created in the artist’s studio in his hometown, Ayr, in the Burdekin district (Bindal and Juru Country) south of Townsville.

From a Burdekin Studio: Works by Cutler Footway

Audio Guide Part 2: Introduction

From a Burdekin Studio: Works by Cutler Footway surveys more than two decades of work by Cutler Footway, the former art critic Bruce James. His painting style demonstrates a love of classical painting, as well as the early Impressionists, combined and reinvented to depict the sights of regional Queensland from the eye of the artist through landscapes, still lifes and nudes. More than anything else, it offers a vision of the body; created in the artist’s studio in his hometown, Ayr, in the Burdekin district (Bindal and Juru Country) south of Townsville.

From a Burdekin Studio: Works by Cutler Footway

Audio Guide Part 1: Welcome

From a Burdekin Studio: Works by Cutler Footway surveys more than two decades of work by Cutler Footway, the former art critic Bruce James. His painting style demonstrates a love of classical painting, as well as the early Impressionists, combined and reinvented to depict the sights of regional Queensland from the eye of the artist through landscapes, still lifes and nudes. More than anything else, it offers a vision of the body; created in the artist’s studio in his hometown, Ayr, in the Burdekin district (Bindal and Juru Country) south of Townsville.

Join us for a conversation between international artist, Joachim Froese, and Emily Wakeling, Curator at Rockhampton Museum of Art, during Froese's recent exhibition of photographic work at RMOA, "Echoes of Process". 

Queensland photographer Joachim Froese’s technical expertise of the varied mechanics of photography inform a conceptual approach to the medium, often dealing with the role of photography in shaping the known world. The exhibition features several key series that raise environmental concerns, amongst them ‘Entangled’, his recent series of salt prints that depict close-ups of seedlings he grows in his garden, and a new photographic installation that re-interprets panorama visions taken by NASA’s Mars rovers.

Raised in Germany and based in Brisbane and Berlin, Joachim Froese has been a practicing artist and educator for over three decades. He holds a PhD from RMIT University, Melbourne, and has lectured in photography at the Queensland College of Art and other tertiary institutions in Australia and Germany. His works are held by the National Gallery of Australia, the National Portrait Gallery of Australia, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, and several regional Queensland galleries.

Join us for a conversation between artist, Karen Stephens, and Jonathan McBurnie, Director of Rockhampton Museum of Art. 

Stephens is an Australian-born artist based in remote Queensland. Working predominantly in the field of Australian landscape painting, her immersion in the environment informs a sustained investigation of the outback landscape, and she uses its inner regions as fertile ground to explore the personal as the universal.

She was one of three artists selected to exhibit in Here We Meet, which illustrated and celebrated the region’s connectedness and long history of cooperation and collaboration, bringing together works by Karen Stephens, Belynda Waugh and Veronika Zeil. Each artist lives and works in regional Queensland with their work exploring concepts of place, the environment and celebrating what Central Queensland as a community represents.

This project was made possible by the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund, provided through Regional Arts Australia, administered in Queensland by Flying Arts Alliance.

Join us as we explore over the next half hour the career of Kim Withers, Rockhampton Museum of Art Business and Development Supervisor.

Bianca Acimovic, Rockhampton Museum of Art Director speaks with Kim Withers about how the coming together of her creative practice and career has laid a path for her recent appointment to the role of Rockhampton Museum of Art Business and Development Supervisor in the later part of 2020.

Kim brings together her extensive experience in budgeting, financial management and strategic financial planning and more recent experience of gallery operations management, visitor engagement and retail management.  For Kim this position is the perfect alignment of her business career and creative practice.  It provides a platform to build a legacy and make a real contribution to the Community where she has grown up. Kim aims to use her skills to be the business person for the creatives and artists and provide them with opportunities to earn a sustainable living from their arts practice.

Join us as we delve in to the history of Rockhampton Art Gallery, through the life and memories of Merilyn Luck, the longest serving trustee for Rockhampton Art Gallery Trust.

Bianca Acimovic, Rockhampton Museum of Art Director speaks with Merilyn Luck OAM.

Merilyn Luck (nee Beak) has made an outstanding contribution to her local community of Rockhampton through her involvement and support of the Arts, the Anglican Church, Central Queensland University and both Grammar Schools. Merilyn’s involvement with the Rockhampton Art Gallery began in the late 1970s when she was one of the inaugural donors to establish an art collection. Her enthusiastic efforts have contributed to the institution now having one of regional Queensland’s most significant and valuable art collections, home to work by significant Australian artists. Merilyn became a Trustee of the Rockhampton Art Gallery Trust in 1994 and was appointed Chair in 2007 before retiring in 2016.

Tess Maunder, Rockhampton Museum of Art Curator speaks with Kaitlyn Sorensen, Rockhampton Museum of Art Business Administration Trainee - Exhibitions.

Growing up in Central Queensland, Kaitlyn has always had a strong interest in the creative hobbies that CQ had to offer. Performing in both Theatre and Dance, she has never been shy of performing, and has set foot on the Pilbeam and Walter Reid stages many times. As she has matured in age she took a different root in her hobbies, and now volunteers her time as a Princess and Superhero to help raise money, awareness and the spirits of sick and disabled children in the CQ area.

Kaitlyn holds a Bachelor of Digital Media Majoring in Graphic Design, Marketing and Minor in Journalism. She also completed a Diploma of Professional Styling. She looks forward to using these skills further whilst moving forward as a trainee with the Rockhampton Museum of Art.

Join us as we explore over the next half hour the curatorial practice of Tess Maunder, Rockhampton Museum of Art Curator.

Bianca Acimovic, Rockhampton Museum of Art Director, chats with Tess Maunder about Tess’ curatorial practice, and her recent shift from Melbourne to Rockhampton to take up the role of Curator with Rockhampton Museum of Art.

Tess comes to the role with over ten years’ experience in the cultural sector with a focus on programming contemporary visual art practice. The conversation explores Tess’ professional practice to date including her projects throughout the Asia-Pacific region where she has championed projects, relationships, and strategic plans between Australia and the US, China, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

Join us as we delve in to the themes and practice of Jon Cattapan, and discuss his ongoing connection to Rockhampton Museum of Art; and how the themes in his 2016 Gold Award winning work Raft City No. 4 (surveillance version) still continue to inform his practice today.

Tess Maunder, Rockhampton Museum of Art Curator speaks with Melbourne based artist Jon Cattapan.

Jon Cattapan is widely regarded and respected senior Australian artist and educator who works primarily in the space of painting, but has also expanded to film and photography. He has been graced with a wide range of career achievements to date including when in 2008 he took up a commission through the Australian War Memorial to become Australia’s 63rd Official war artist and was through this process deployed to Timor Leste. In 2013 Cattapan was the recipient of the Bulgari Art Award; and in 2016 was awarded the Rockhampton Art Gallery Gold Prize, the awarded painting was Raft City No. 4 (surveillance version); to which we will discuss further today.

Join us for the next half an hour as we delve in to the practice of Karen Stephens, and how she sustains a professional arts practice in Remote Australia.

Bianca Acimovic, Rockhampton Museum of Art Director, chats with artist, Karen Stephens about being an artist and sustaining an arts practice in remote Australia.

Karen is an Australian born artist based in far remote Queensland. Working predominately in the field of Australian landscape painting, her immersion in the environment informs a sustained investigation of the outback landscape, and she uses its inner regions as fertile ground to explore the personal as the universal.

Join us for the next half an hour as we explore what is the role of regional galleries, what do they do for regional communities, and why are they important to so many.

Bianca Acimovic, Rockhampton Museum of Art Director, chats with Tracey Heathwood, Director of Artspace Mackay, about regional Art Galleries and their role and contribution to the cultural fabric of Australia. 

In this conversation, we also get an insight into what has led Tracey to the position of Director with Artspace Mackay.

Join us for the next 20 minutes as we explore CQ Shopfront, a program for Central Queensland artists and makers to build sustainable business models and develop commercially viable products in the years of 2020 and 2021. 

Like all that was set to occur in 2020, CQ Shopfront had to pivot to online as social distancing requirement came in to play, forcing the closure of all cultural facilities in Australia.

Kim Withers, Business and Development Supervisor at Rockhampton Museum of Art, catches up with Shelley Pisani, owner and Creative Producer of The Ideas Distiller and the CQ Shopfront project. Hear Shelley talk about her latest project, how COVID19 disrupted the CQ Shopfront and what is next for the Ideas Distillery.

Join us as we explore with Jacob McQuire over the next half hour, for a discussion on recording who we are and what we know now, so that the past is never lost.

Bianca Acimovic, Rockhampton Museum of Art Director, chats with First Nations artist and artworker Jacob McQuire. 

The conversation explores Jacob’s journey as a young first nation’s man, and his skills and interest to recording oral histories to preserve cultural stories.

Join us for the next half an hour as we delve into the practice of Michelle Black, and how she connects her skills as a printmaker, graphic artist and urban designer, to result in successful collaborative projects that speak about people and place.

Bianca Acimovic, Rockhampton Museum of Art Director, chats with artist Michelle Black about her practice as a fine artist. Printmaker, commercial artist – graphic artist and urban designer. In our conversation with Michelle, we delve into ideas of the contribution that artists have to a broader understanding and interpretation of the world around us.

Join us as we explore knowing our history, and investing in young people to navigate our future with Nickeema Williams over the next half hour.

Bianca Acimovic, Rockhampton Museum of Art Director chats with First Nations artist and artworker Nickeema Williams about living with art in your blood, and being born in to a culture where there is no separation between life and art. 

The conversation explores our present world position, and the need to invest in young people to make an impact and to foster change. Working with young people to support them to make their future, Nickeema highlights how art can be a powerful tool of investment.

Join us over the next half hour as we explore access inclusion to cultural content and cultural facilities, and question how to be an advocate to ensure the arts are inclusive, welcoming and safe spaces for all.

Bianca Acimovic, Rockhampton Museum of Art Director chats with artist and arts worker Julie Barratt. They explore ideas and ideas of access, from physical to geographical. 

They ask the big questions around inclusion and what diversity really looks like, and how and how to drive this in art creation and presentation.

Join us over the next half hour as we explore collections, how, why and who forms them. And once they are formed how to present and preserve collections for current and future generations.

Bianca Acimovic, Rockhampton Museum of Art Director talks all things Preventive Conservation and Disaster Preparedness with Christine Ianna, Conservator and Museum Consultant and all things Collection Management with Museum Curator and Consultant Lisa Jones. 

Christine and Lisa both have many years of working with collections and specifically preserving and presenting collections. Today they share knowledge and experiences of working with collections throughout Queensland.

Join us as we explore the practice of Anitha Menon, and ideas of isolation, culture, domesticity, and the status of ‘the homemaker’; their voice and social status interpreted through still-life objects, over the next half hour.

Bianca Acimovic, Rockhampton Museum of Art Director,  chats with artist Anitha Menon. This conversation that draws out lived experiences of migration, over three continents, and Anitha’s experience of English as her second language changing her career path. 

In a story of migration and making Anitha speaks to how this experience has dually fostered and still informs arts practice today.

Jayne is a family photographer living and working regionally, travelling as required wherever her photography practice takes her. Jayne takes photos of people and nature - particularly people experiencing nature.

Amy Johnston, Rockhampton Museum of Art Curatorial Programs Officer, chats with photographer Jayne Cho about making the leap from photographic practitioner to arts education, as Jayne took on the role of artist educator with Rockhampton Art Gallery in 2019. 

The conversation explores what this leap way like for Jayne, and how the prepared and made this successful career move. Jayne speaks to her passion for documenting people and places, and how this has taken her and her young family to South Korea. With international travel not a possibility in 2020, Jayne tells of some of her create endeavours that are keeping both her and her family engaging with photography in this changing time.

Join us for half an hour as we explore why Janice decided to volunteer at Rockhampton Museum of Art, what keeps her coming back, and the pathways for further education and opportunities volunteering has led to.

Kim Withers, Senior Administration  Officer at Rockhampton Museum of Art, chats with Janice Labbett, one of Rockhampton Museum of Art’s valuable volunteers about her experience.

Join us as we explore What is a conservator, How do you become a conservator, and What is conservation with Lexi Maller over the next half hour.

Bianca Acimovic, Rockhampton Museum of Art Director chats with Lexi Maller, Collections Officer with Rockhampton Museum of Art and they speak about the visual arts collection, and unpack what a conservator is. The conversation speaks about where art meets science and about the conservator and the acts of conservation, highlighting some conservation projects as Rockhampton Museum of Art prepares for a 100% collection relocation.

Join us as we delved in to life after art school and making it as an artist without the safety net of a university through the practice of Keemon Williams over the next half hour.

Rockhampton Museum of Art Director chats with artist Keemon Williams about all things art school. 

Keemon takes us through his journey, from applying the university of his choice, to his arts practice at the end of his study. He speaks to how his time at art school has shaped his practice and thinking, and who and what has been pivotal at this time. 

The conversation considers where to next, the ultimate question at the end of study.

Rockhampton Museum of Art Curatorial Programs Officer chats with Paige Hennessey about teaching the arts and the next generation of artists and arts works. 

Paige is a Visual Arts Teacher and in this conversation we look at her career, and how living by the mantra of still learning and a driven advocate for arts education now sees Paige supporting the arts learning of students at North Rockhampton High School. 

The conversation explores learning opportunities for teachers and students, through placements, residencies and early career employment, and brings to light the value of investing in the knowledge of teacher for the learning benefit of future generations.

In our latest edition of Behind the Art, we chat with Elysha Rei, Public Programs Officer with the Queensland State Archives. We explore Elysha Rei’s arts practice, and how her lived experiences as a Japanese-Australian artist prevails in her arts practice through works on paper as paper cuttings, public murals and installations. The conversation highlighting how nothing happens in isolation, as Elysha’s explorations of historical narrative through symbolism and examining identity through cultural motif reflects back to the records and holdings of collecting institutions like Queensland State Archives.

In our latest edition of Behind the Art, we chat to local visual artist, Easton Dunne about their life as an artist, and the expectations versus reality throughout 2020 and what that has meant being a regional artist. We also get further insight into Easton’s standout solo exhibition, ‘House’ that has been a pivotal moment in their career. Paying homage to the spaces that served as cherished moments in Easton's life, ‘House’ encapsulates a lot of what they aims to achieve through their practice. As well as a practising visual artist, Easton is also an arts educator living and working in Central Queensland.