From the Director - April 2024

We are truly into the year, with one of our favourite exhibitions, Local Contemporary Art Prize 2024, up and open! And what a night, with conversations left, right and centre, and people voting in the People's Choice Award. The exhibition has such treasures to discover, so if you haven’t been in yet, come and experience the show and end by voting for your favourite. With this being the prize’s tenth year, LCAP24 (formally known as Local Artist – Local Content) never disappoints.

A big thank you to our partners, the Friends of the Gallery, and our sponsors, Mary Henzell Investments, Localvolts and Geoff Lyons Solicitors. With their help, this prize continues to grow and, given the Best in Show is acquisitive, so do the holdings of local artworks in the Sunshine Coast Art Collection.

We have some amazing public programs and events running in conjunction with LCAP24. Walk and talks with the finalists every second Sunday starting 7 April – always a joy to hear artists talk about their works, Slow Art Day on 13 April, and a paint out at Bankfoot House on 27 April.

Finalist Judith Laws with Rosanna Natoli and Rex Backhaus-Smith | Local Contemporary Art Prize 2024 Launch and Winners' Announcement | Caloundra Regional Gallery | Photo by Patrick Want

We do love to celebrate all things local in April, so wander into the gallery’s Artroom and be awed by the region’s up-and-coming artists in the Local Student Art Prize 2024. This wonderful exhibition, sponsored by Friends of the Gallery and gallery patron, Marie Pigott, has 38 amazing works on display along with folders of works we couldn’t fit on the walls. A total prize pool of $1500 in art supplies vouchers has been awarded across a range of categories to winning entrants and their schools. The works are inspiring and joyful, a definite must-see.

The gallery has wood artist extraordinaire, David Suters, as the featured Pop-Up exhibit in the Gallery Store, along with the usual fabulous artisans. With over four decades of experience and a love for the raw beauty of wood, David has created sculptural forms that flow, as well as intricate boxes to hold your treasures or just display as beautiful objects - such great works and all for sale.

As usual, there is a Kids Art Trail and a self-guided hands-on art activity in the Artroom. Kids Art Attack is scheduled on Saturday 6 April, for kids four to ten years – mark the date in your calendar.

If you are down Maroochydore way, don’t forget to drop in and see Art Snack, on show until 25 May. This collaboration with Open Studios, an initiative of Arts Connect Inc., provides a morsel of what’s on view during the annual Open Studios weekend. With work by seven artists, all with their own distinct styles and mediums, the exhibition gives you a taste of the diverse blend of local creative talent.

I also wanted to prompt all artists out there to enter the Sunshine Coast National Art Prize 2024. You have until 19 May but don’t leave it till the last minute to get your entry in.

Adult programs

Kids programs

Look forward to seeing you in the Gallery…

Jo Duke
Director