Gallery Gets A Heart-Start

September 7, 2021

Wondai residents – and rail trail users – should feel a little bit safer, thanks to the generosity of the Kingaroy Rotary Club.

Wondai Regional Art Gallery curator Elaine Madill was presented with a new portable defibrillator by Kingaroy Rotary’s David Black and Bev Watter at the opening of the gallery’s September exhibition opening on Friday night.

The presentation of the automated external defibrillator (AED) to the Gallery is part of a long-standing program by the service club to make defibrillators widely available throughout the South Burnett.

Elaine told the audience she was very grateful for Rotary’s gift.

To ensure the machine was as widely used as possible, she intended to have it housed in a weatherproof security cabinet mounted on the Gallery’s outside wall. This would allow the machine to be easily accessed by people using Coronation Park or Wondai’s short-stay camping grounds, as well as the Gallery.

Elaine said the location could also be monitored by Wondai’s town CCTV system.

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Friday night’s opening was also tinged with a small amount of sadness as Galley regulars bid farewell to Nanango artist Summer Brook-Jones, whose eclectic works fill the main gallery this month.

Summer has been exhibiting at the Wondai Regional Art Gallery for the past 16 years, but will shortly be moving to Charters Towers.

Summer told the audience she had initially begun pursuing art for fun but as her interest grew she had undertaken professional art studies, and had even taught art at various times.

She agreed her work was “eclectic” because she was constantly drawn to experiment with different media and styles.

This includes a chicken-wire sculpture of a woman on a chair that forms part of her current exhibition, along with several other sculptures and a wide range of pictures in a variety of media covering several themes.

Summer said she had as soft spot for the outback and its landscapes, and was looking forward to moving there so she could continue to develop her ideas.

And while Charters Towers was a long way from Wondai, she hoped she could continue to submit works to the Gallery’s annual competitions in future.

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The Gallery is also hosting this month a collection of nature photography by Carl Hogg in its front gallery, and textile art by The Alpaca Collective in its rear gallery.

Carl’s said his photographs were not as much art as a reflection on the beauty of nature, but they drew a very positive reaction from the many guests on opening night.

And the same applied to The Alpaca Collective’s works, which were spun, woven and sewn from locally produced alpaca wool.

Collective spokesperson Myrie Cobby said alpacas only produced a small amount of wool each year, but what they lacked in quantity they more than made up for in quality.

Alpaca wool was much lighter than sheep’s wool, but it held heat much better. This made it ideal for producing clothes worn in cold climates, such as its native habitat in the Andes mountains of Peru, Western Bolivia, Ecuador and Northern Chile.

• “Reflections on Nature’s Natural Beauty”, “Eclectic Me” and works by The Alpaca Collective will remain on show at the Wondai Regional Art Gallery from 10:00am to 4:00pm daily until 3:00pm on Saturday, September 25. Admission to view them is free.

  Arts, Wondai