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state library of queensland

Meet the artists

Picture of the artist Luke Roberts, 2022

PAST EXHIBITION

Meet the artists

From the James C. Sourris AM Collection of Artist Interviews

25 February 2023 - 9 July 2023

slq Gallery, level 2
#slqmeettheartists

Hear their words, see their work.  

We invite you to experience the James C. Sourris AM Collection of Artist Interviews, a series of in-depth and intimate video interviews with some of Australia’s most acclaimed contemporary artists, and see the work of selected artists.

The exhibition will feature selected contemporary works by Vernon Ah Kee, Luke Roberts, Fiona Foley, Judith Wright, Leonard Brown, Anne Wallace, Sandra Selig, and Eugene Carchesio. 

This is your chance to Meet the artists.   

Learn from some of Australia’s best artists

Uncover the motivations, inspirations and tribulations from the career’s of leading visual creatives in a series of stunning video interviews. Take inspiration from their processes and what drives them to create impact through art.

About the collection

The James C Sourris AM Collection of Artist Interviews consists of interviews with significant Australian artists and figures in the art world. It is a growing collection that provides insight and context to the practice of some of our most respected artists.

Each artist is profiled via three distinct recordings: a full-length interview between the interviewer and the artists, a 30 minute version, optimised for education purposes and a shorter version, generally 5 to 9 minutes in length that gives a quick taste of that person's artistic practice.
 

proppaNOW in conversation

A conversation with Vernon Ah Kee and Gordon Hookey, two members of the Brisbane-based innovative Aboriginal artist collective proppaNOW. Cheryl Leavy leads the conversation delving into the collective’s residency plans and upcoming work.   

The collective is off to New York later this year after winning the 2022–2024 Jane Lombard Prize for Art and Social Justice. The prize was awarded following the OCCURRENT AFFAIR exhibition which was originally held at the UQ Art Museum in 2021, currently touring Australia in partnership with Museums & Galleries NSW.   

Filmed onsite at State Library of Queensland on Thursday 29 June 2023.

Anne Wallace Poptones

Teaching resources

These education resources encourage students to delve into the lives and works of contemporary Australian artists.

View resources

Shop the exhibition

Take a piece of the exhibition home with you and browse the official publication plus an array of books, items and gifts connected to Meet the artists.

Cover of Meet the Artists

Meet the artists

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Cover of Exploring Giant Molecules by Sandra Selig

Exploring Giant Molecules

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Cover of Union with reality by Leonard Brown

Union with reality: art of Leonard Brown

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Cover of Alphastation/Alphaville by Luke Roberts

Alphastation/Alphaville

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From the blog

Judy Watson in studio, Meanjin Brisbane, Australia. 2022.
Portrait of an Artist - Judy Watson
Judy Watson, photographed by Richard Neylan-NolanJudy Watson is a Waanyi woman, born in Mundubbera in 1959, who has lived and worked in Queensland most of her life. While the stories passed down to her by her grandmother formed the foundation upon which all her work has been based, a visit in 1990 to Riversleigh Station in the heart of Waanyi country in north western Queensland and the place where her grandmother grew up, was pivotal in cementing Judy's connection to her family and their ancestral sites and stories - becoming a touchstone for her art practice from then on. Riversleigh Station, courtesy of Tomas Maltby & Encyclopaedia BritannicaJudy's work often tackles difficult subjects, inviting viewers to contemplate images layered with meaning and messages of concealed histories, including uncomfortable truths about Aboriginal massacres or desecration of sacred sites. Judy has been quoted as saying she hopes the message "leaks in like a deadly poison dart and implodes in the viewer, leaking its contents slowly".While Judy trained as a printmaker, her practice now spans a variety of media including drawing, painting, video, installation and public art commissions. She is now one of Queensland's, and Australia's most renowned artists. Her work is held by many major Australian galleries, including National Gallery of Australia and the Museum of Contemporary Art, and internationally by institutions such as the British Museum, Tate Gallery and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 2006, she was one of eight Aboriginal artists whose work featured in the Musee du Quai Branly project in Paris, and just last year, her work 'Tow Row' was installed at the front entrance of the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane. State Library of Queensland also holds some of Judy's work. in our collection.On Friday, 10 August 2018, Judy will be a special guest and the focus of State Library's 'Portrait of an Artist' series, featuring the screening of an extended interview recorded as part of the James C. Sourris AM Portrait of an Artist Collection and followed by a Q&A session with the artist. This is a free event, open to everyone. Bookings via our website.
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Portrait of an Artist featuring Anne Wallace
Anne Wallace, That was long ago (detail), 2005, oil on canvas.The Queensland Library Foundation invites you to the James C. Sourris AM Collection: Portrait of an Artist featuring Anne Wallace. Anne Wallace is one of the most recent additions to the James C. Sourris AM Collection of contemporary Australian artist interviews, which are part of the Australian Library of Art at the State Library of Queensland.Anne's work is influenced by a number of factors including the differing Queensland architectures she observed in her grandparent's houses, the time periods before she was born and when she was growing up, books and films for example those about mid-century America and music such as "The Smiths". A lot of Anne's works refers to something, such as a poem, and although you can appreciate the painting without knowing the reference, knowing the reference allows you to fully appreciate the painting. Many of Anne's works have alluded to crimes and scenes of crimes and she is currently interested in witches and historic "old crones". Anne hopes that each of her paintings is recognisable as hers but that each is "unique" with a different image and feeling.Following the screening of Anne’s interview, she will be available for discussion with the audience.The event takes place on Friday the 30th of September between 6:30-7:30 pm in SLQ Auditorium 2, level 2, State Library of Queensland. Book now at https://www.eventbrite.com... We look forward to seeing you there. Bec Kilner, Published Content Technician
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Madonna Staunton ‘Pennant’
Inspired by the QAGOMA exhibition Madonna Staunton : Out of a Clear Blue Sky, our guest blogger artist Normana Wight reviews Pennant an artists' book from the collections of the Australian Library of Art.This is a book of some size and weight; in timber and paper, it is a sculptural ‘objet d’art.’The shape suggests the pennant of the title. If it were in your own house, it would probably sit upright and open on your mantelpiece, so that you would experience its poetry and message as you walk past – from left to right(.?.)As happens with some artists’ books, it arrives in a box, then opens out into a small scale complete exhibition. Just for you to view.It strikes me as a good idea to include in this blog, the artists own description of the works’ evolution.“Books often evolve as a response to found material chosen to act as covers, sometimes sourced from derelict furniture. This adds a sculptural element to the concept. In the instance of Pennant the inner folds mimic the profile of the boards, playing with the theme of reverie in repose. Pennant perhaps refers to a Dream Ship.”Viewer/readers can not only experience this enigmatic and exciting book, at the State Library, but over the road at The Queensland Art Gallery there is a new exhibition of Madonna’s work in which she has returned to painting which, like all her work, is rich in poetry, mysticism, and the world of the mind.Madonna Staunton interview: The James C Sourris AM Collection
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