July 8, 2013
A near-capacity crowd packed the Wondai Regional Art Gallery on Friday night to see South Burnett artist Dianne Lee Woodall’s latest exhibition and enjoy live entertainment by popular Cherbourg band Muddy Flats.
The queue at the Gallery’s front door stretched almost back to the car park by 6:30pm; inside, all four galleries and the new portico area were packed with visitors for most of the evening.
Dianne’s new exhibition “Best Friends” has taken almost two and a half years to assemble.
It features portraits of pet dogs and cats, and started out almost by accident when Dianne was asked to help illustrate the children’s book “Everyone’s Friend Luci” by author Kerry Dunn.
Dianne began painting local pets for the project but soon found her paintings were being snapped up by many of the pet owners.
“It was a bit embarrassing,” she admitted.
“Every time I had enough works for an exhibition I’d sell another few and have to go back to the easel … I actually had to borrow a couple back from the owners so we could open on schedule.”
The effort paid off with guests travelling from Booubyjan, Murgon, Kingaroy, Cherbourg and Brisbane to see it.
The opening was also a fundraiser for Kingaroy Hospital’s Renal Unit. A copy of “Everyone’s Friend Luci” and one of Dianne’s paintings was raffled during the evening with all proceeds going to aid the Unit.
Three other exhibitions at the gallery also drew positive reactions.
These included a variety of works in acrylics, pastels and pen and ink from members of the Kingaroy Friendly Art Group in the Front Gallery; an exhibition by the “Tangled Threads” quilters group in the Rear Gallery; and a small display of sketches by students of Murgon artist Lee Porter in the Middle Gallery.
After the official opening at 7:00pm, attention quickly refocused on the Gallery’s portico area where Muddy Flats had set up for the evening’s entertainment.
Not long after the band struck up they were joined by singer and elder Aunty Lillian Gray, who wowed the crowd with a stream of torch songs and old favourites that soon had some guests dancing and many more clapping along.
Gallery volunteers said they were “floored” by the number of guests that attended the opening night and Crane Wines – who supplied the evening’s wine tastings – found themselves out of stock by 8:30pm.
“It’s always just a fantastic night when we have Muddy Flats here,” Gallery volunteer Michele Smith said.
- “Best Friends”, “Tangled Threads” and the Kingaroy Friendly Art Group’s show will remain on display at the Wondai Regional Art Gallery from 10:00am to 4:00pm every day until the end of the month. Admission to view them is free.
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