Monday 5 August - Sunday 18 August 2024 Mon - Thurs 2pm - 5pm / Fri - Sun (from 9 - 18 Aug) 9am - 5pm

Fringe Art Trail | Lost and Found

Julie Woodlock, Zerowaste Collective, Zoltan Szirom, Sarah Treadwell, Peter Jackson, Jenni Smith, Andy Frost, Mardi Sakers & Linda Davis

The artworks, writing, and installations of Lost and Found reflect on themes around protecting our environment. As residents and visitors to the island the artists are drawn in by its natural beauty, while they grapple with the impact, they have both directly and indirectly on it.

In the exhibition, the artists use various techniques to explore environmental concerns on the island. Of particular concern is the lost trees (Melaleucas) caused by high tides and increased salination to the nature reserve at Horseshoe Bay Lagoon (visit included in the Yunbenun / Magnetic Island Bus Tour).

Also, Julie, Sarah, and Zoltan are particularly interested in the movement of upcycling art with its critical message regarding excessive consumption and environmental pollution.

Julie Woodlock has been painting for more than 30 years. Her artworks highlight the current threats to the environment both in the ocean and on land. She recognises that her work is sometimes provoking rather than pleasing, but that's her intention. She also plays around by painting en plein air as though it was before colonisation, without the human impacts. http://www.julesartworks.com 

Zoltan Szirom brings together a creative touch from his experiences in building and maintenance, using discarded timber, cement, metal and tiles. His tiles are inspired by the birds that visit his garden and he has a lot of fun refashioning old rags and clothing into designs which can be used as plant holders and vases.

Peter Jackson started writing sixty years ago, but it was only in 2020 that he began writing for other people's entertainment. The en plein air group challenges him to write perspectives about Magnetic landscapes and explore homo sapien relationships with nature.

Jenni Smith works in acrylic and watercolours. Having lived on the island from Cyclone Althea times, she has predominately painted the island landscape. However, she loves occasionally to divert to abstract painting.  She delights in the challenges that present themselves en plein air trying to capture the moods and light with water, granite round forms and all things growing.

Andy Frost has lived many lives on Yunbenun / Magnetic Island and all who know him appreciate his passion and devotion to truth telling of stories from the long past to the present. Several years back he joined the en plein air group and like he approaches everything, it's with his commitment. Since then, he has been recognised for his watercolours which have taken on a life of their own.

Sarah Treadwell is a self-taught artist. She also has a background in science and these concepts and ideas are woven throughout her art. Overconsumption and the subsequent waste created, is a major theme underpinning Sarah’s work.   Using recycled and repurposed objects from her local area, a new light is cast on articles which are often overlooked and discarded.  Sarah invites you to explore the unseen form and beauty of objects through her work.

With Mardi Sakers diverse variety of skills she shows her love for Yunbenun / Magnetic Island, reflecting all its moods in her drawings, relief prints and watercolours when she works en plein air. Without knowing it, the en plein air group has recorded the Horseshoe Bay Lagoon and its slow decline over the past 6 years. However, the advancing sea of white and dead trees in the last year has been dramatic. She is glad that the group have been able to record it but notes how truly shocking it was to walk into the graveyard of melaleucas at the Horseshoe Bay Lagoon earlier this year.

Linda Davis always looks forward to the weekly Magnetic Island Artists sessions at different spots around the island. She is passionate about the beauty of nature and the environment. Linda loves to depict marine and terrestrial scenes in charcoal and watercolour, often including some animal or human forms in her artworks.