Exhibition will see birds of a feather flock together

Lovers of art and nature from across the Scenic Rim and beyond are set to flock to Beaudesert when the Feathered exhibition lands at The Centre this month.

Presented by Scenic Rim Regional Council, Feathered incorporates the Bimblebox 153 Birds touring exhibition and Bird Reflections, showcasing works by Scenic Rim artists, and a short film featuring local Indigenous dance.

Scenic Rim Regional Council Arts Reference Group Chair and Deputy Mayor Cr Michael Enright said the exhibition highlighted the natural beauty of the region, which is home to 60 of the 79 families of Australian native birds, and its Indigenous culture.

"With more than 330 species of birds, the Scenic Rim is renowned for the abundance of its bird life and as an important habitat to many rare and threatened species," he said.

"This multi-faceted exhibition will strike a chord with everyone who has ever marvelled at the beauty of our native birds or enjoyed the melody of their birdsong."

Drawing on the Scenic Rim’s connection to its birdlife, Council’s first exhibition of 2022 includes pottery by Monique Quarantini and sculptures of some of the region’s best-known birds by Colleen Lavender.

Monique Quarantini’s passion for her surroundings and her spiritual connection to it is told through her Little Bird Song pottery series, capturing the beauty of birds from her garden and surrounds including the delightfully delicate Fairy Wrens.

Colleen Lavender, whose works have become Scenic Rim landmarks, shares her personal connection with the environment and her love of wildlife through a series of sculptures also displayed in Bird Reflections.

As a legacy of the 2019 Arts Ablaze spectacular, where the First Nations' creation story of Gullunini the Water Hen was shared with the community by poet and political activist Lionel Fogarty, the exhibition features a film which has reignited young Indigenous dancers’ connection to Country.

Assisted by the Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF) and funding from the Regional Arts Services Network (RASN), local artists Brendan Knight and Kim Williams staged the Mununjali Culture Camp in 2020 with young dancers from the region to film the Gullunini performance on Country.

Emerging choreographer Mitchell Currie has produced an innovative retelling of the Gullunini story through dance, in partnership with traditional Mununjali Elders, Beaudesert State High School and dance artists Mununjali Ngari.

The film’s inclusion in Bird Reflections complements the Bimblebox 153 Birds component of the Feathered exhibition, which depicts more than 153 bird species through prints, poetry, prose, spoken word and music.

More than 450 artists, writers and musicians from around Australia and overseas have contributed works that describe the attributes and calls of each recorded bird species found on Bimblebox, an 8000-hectare nature refuge and cattle property in central Queensland which has been under threat from mining since 2007.

Curator of Bimblebox 153, Jill Sampson, said she wanted to use art to create a dialogue about the loss of Australia's natural environment.

"The exhibition creates a space for reflection about the unique grouping of Bimblebox bird species and invites audiences to consider what the destruction of their habitat means," she said.

"Imagine if all we have left of these birds one day is a list of names, a translation of their call interpreted into music, the words of poets and artists' renderings of their images?"

Musicians who have contributed to Bimblebox 153 include Midnight Oil founding member Jim Moginie, saxophonist Sandy Evans and a UK-based chamber orchestra, Ruthless Jabiru.

The music has been mixed with spoken recordings of pieces written for each bird species by authors as diverse as novelist Di Morrisey, Poet Laureate for the City of Victoria BC in Canada Yvonne Blomer and Emeritus Professor Ian Lowe AO.

The Feathered exhibition opens on Tuesday 11 January 2022 at The Centre, Brisbane Street Beaudesert, and runs until Saturday 5 February.

Bookings are now open for the Feathered exhibition open day on Saturday 29 January, when visitors to The Centre Beaudesert will have an opportunity to meet the artists, come face to face with native birds from Geckoes Wildlife and enjoy a free screening of the film Penguin Bloom (PG). To register for this free event, which includes morning tea, visit http://liveatthecentre.com.au/Exhibitions-2022-Feathered-Open-Day-pg33269.html

In conjunction with the school holidays, the Feathered exhibition will offer a free children’s activities station, where youngsters will be able to create their own native bird mobiles to take home or write about their favourite bird and leave their thoughts on the Kids Native Bird Wall.

Bimblebox 153 Birds is supported by Creative Partnerships Australia through the Australian Cultural Fund. This Project is also supported by The Bimblebox Alliance, Museums and Galleries Queensland and proudly sponsored by Seedhead Holistic Graphic Design and Quill Studios.