Join Umbrella and artist Jan Hynes for a program of discussions and intrigue in conjunction with current exhibitions.  

From 10:30am Sunday 27 April, Jan will deliver a floortalk about the works on display in her solo exhibition Thoughts on the Cross. This will be followed by a conversation about the responsive exhibition Cross Examine, which Jan helped to develop with Umbrella's Deputy Director Daniel Qualischefski and Rockhampton Museum of Art. Jan and Daniel will reveal unlikely connections, wordplay and coincidences they uncovered with her works and those they selected and loaned from the Rockhampton Museum of Art Collection for Cross Examine. Audiences are also invited to cross examine the speakers - to ask questions and learn more about the works by Jan Hynes, Ruth Downes, Nora Hanasy and Carmel Knowles.  

Both exhibitions are on display at Umbrella, alongside Louise Plint's Conversations with Nature, from 21 March - 4 May 2025. 

Cross Examine has been developed in partnership with Rockhampton Museum of Art.

Jan Hynes (b. 1944) is a multidisciplinary artist whose work spans installations, sculptures and paintings. Her work is influenced by social issues and humour, and celebrates found materials, the everyday, and urban landscapes. Hynes grew up in small country towns in Western Australia, later moving to Boorloo / Perth, Papua New Guinea and England, which broadened her appreciation for art and culture. Returning to Australia and settling in Meanjin / Brisbane, Hynes was occupied with raising three young sons before going to art school to study painting in 1984. By 1987, the artist had completed a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in painting, at the Queensland College of Art. This was the catalyst to a professional career, exhibiting at the Roz MacAllen Gallery and in numerous group exhibitions and competitions. Relocating to Gurambilbarra / Townsville in 1996, Hynes enrolled in a Master of Creative Arts at James Cook University and has since been producing art. She has exhibited widely nationally, including the major solo exhibitions Hynesight (2003) and The Strand of Hynesight (2008) at Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, and the collaborative exhibition Work in Progress (2013) with Alan Valentine at Umbrella. Hynes has had work and installations featured in Strand Ephemera / Ephemera: Seaside Sculptures (2001-2023) and PUNQ festival (2021). She has also participated in the Percival Portrait Prize each year. Hynes has been awarded the Logan Art Prize for drawing and the Jacaranda Drawing Prize. Her work has been collected by Artbank and several regional Queensland galleries, including nineteen works in the Perc Tucker Regional Gallery collection.

Daniel Qualischefski (Deputy Director, Umbrella) is a curator, arts professional and artist who has worked in regional and contemporary galleries across eastern Australia. Daniel has delivered a number of significant projects at Umbrella, including co-curating with Kate O'Hara the nationally touring POSTWORLD exhibition, and curating the NAFA-commissioned FORCED PERSPECTIVE. In partnership with Townsville City Galleries, Daniel has also managed four years of the Transitions program, providing mentorship, critique and development for emerging North Queensland visual artists. Daniel was the 2023 recipient of a Museums and Galleries Queensland funded mentorship at the National Gallery of Australia and a participant in the 2021 QAGOMA Art as Exchange program on Girramay Country / Cardwell, North Queensland. He holds a Master of Arts and Cultural Management from the University of Melbourne, a Bachelor of Visual Arts and a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Creative Arts), Honours from the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ). He was the inaugural 2023 UniSQ School of Creative Arts Alumni Fellow. Daniel also creates multidisciplinary work under the artist pseudonym of Danish Quapoor. He has had work, reviews and writing published in the Journal of Australian Ceramics, Art Guide, Imprint and Lemonade Letters.