February 7, 2015
Two Murgon artists have won the backing of the South Burnett Regional Council’s RADF committee for an art project of a kind they say has never been undertaken anywhere in the world.
The “Dual Arts” project by Murgon artist Lee Porter and photographer Sherianne Talon aims to paint and photograph iconic South Burnett scenes – all nominated by the public – to settle a century-old argument about whether photography is really art.
At a media launch held at the Kingaroy Art Gallery on Wednesday, South Burnett Mayor Wayne Kratzmann announced the RADF Committee has decided to back the project with a $25,000 grant.
It is the largest single grant the committee has ever given to any individual project.
He said the committee felt “Dual Arts” had the potential to generate enormous positive publicity for the region, and congratulated the pair on their innovative idea.
Between now and June the pair intend to photograph and paint 20 South Burnett scenes or activities, then mount a public exhibition of the results in July so everyone can cast a vote.
Over a dozen locations or activities have already been nominated and the first of these – the Murgon Christmas Fair – was unveiled at the launch.
Sherianne Talon produced a photograph taken at last year’s Christmas carnival which had undergone 10 hours of processing to produce the final result; and Lee Porter displayed her representation of the same scene in the form of a decorated box.
Both produced their works independently, and intend to do the same for all the other sites in the project.
At the conclusion of Dual Arts, the South Burnett Regional Council will acquire the rights to use some of the project’s output for regional promotion activities.
At present, the following sites or activities have been nominated as potential subjects:
- Murgon Christmas Fair
- Grass trees at Coomba Falls, Maidenwell
- Goomeri Pumpkin Festival
- Boondooma Dam
- Free camp site at Wondai
- Hivesville Christmas Fair
- A working dairy farm – Adlam family of Haly Street, Kingaroy.
- Dairy Museum
- Hankinson’s hay shed
- Skeet’s house
- Peanut silos, Kingaroy
- Boondooma Homestead
- Bunya Mountains
- Hay bales rolled up in paddocks
- Crop dusting planes at Byee
Further nominations can be made on the Dual Arts Facebook page.
[Updated 10-Feb-14]
- Related articles: Nominate Your Top South Burnett Spot
What a great start to the SB Dual Art project what talent, cannot wait to see more, love the Christmas box painting great idea makes you look at the big picture in the SB.