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EOI: NAIDOC Exhibition 2026 - Cultural Liaison Expression of Interest 

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We are open daily 10:00am-5:00pm. Pop in and enjoy our exhibitions while you’re out and about!

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'Make a Mark' with Studio Maverik as part of the world's biggest celebration of drawing!

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The Big Draw Festival 2026

You are invited to meet artist Hannah Gartside and contribute stories and gloves to the development of her new public artwork, Holding Time.

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Holding Time Picnic with Hannah Gartside

A playful, sensory exhibition that explores what home means to children.

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IAG Kids: Make Yourself at Home

An exhibition by ceramic artists, Donalee Moriarty and Nicolette Johnson, exploring the shared qualities that unite their seemingly opposing styles.

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BRUTALIST / Baroque

An exhibition of works on paper by Ipswich based Artist, Ian Friend.

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The Noise of Time

Ipswich Art Gallery currently hosts major works from the National Gallery of Australia’s collection.

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Sharing the National Collection

The Big Draw Festival&nbsp;is held worldwide every year to celebrate the universal language of drawing. Join in a range of fun, creative drawing activities for all ages - absolutely no experience necessary!

This year's event is held in partnership with <a href="https://www.studiomaverik.com/" sop="true">Studio Maverik</a>, a community-focused and inclusive pop-up art studio. Celebrate drawing as process and not as product with this year's Big Draw theme, Make a Mark. Through a series of relaxed, experimental, and exciting drawing activations - explore the expressive power of mark-making to connect with ourselves and the world around us. The Big Draw: Make a Mark champions drawing as a vital learning process that is open and accessible to all. Come draw, experiment, and kick-start your creativity among fellow drawing enthusiasts!











When: Saturday 24 October 2026 Time: 10am - 3pm Costumed Life Drawing Sessions : Drop-in between 10:30am - 12:30pm & 12:30pm - 2:30 pm Where: Ipswich Art Workshop and Ipswich Community Gallery
(based in d’Arcy Doyle Place) Cost: FREE! | RSVP NOW&nbsp;

The artwork begins with real, worn gloves. Gloves that have worked, played, held, protected, and belonged. In dressmaking, memory describes the physical trace a material holds after a body has left the garment.

Delivered in partnership with Ipswich City Council and the Ipswich Art Gallery, the project invites residents of all ages to donate gloves and share their story. The artist is particularly interested in leather gloves, which may be suitable for incorporation into the final artwork. Other gloves are also welcome, and their stories will contribute to the artists' research, inspiration, and understanding of local histories, but cannot be physically incorporated into the final artwork. Each contribution, whether a physical glove or a beautiful memory, becomes a thread in the broader story the work will tell. Participants who would prefer to retain their treasured gloves may do so by providing a photograph or drawing of the gloves to accompany their story instead.











At the heart of the engagement is a gentle, informal drop-in picnic on the lawn, hosted by the artist and Ipswich City Council. Hannah invites residents of Ipswich to share stories of their gloves, in relaxed conversation about the hands that wore them, the tasks they carried out, and the memories stitched into them. These stories will inspire and guide Hannah as she shapes the final work, so that Holding Time reflects the spirit of Ipswich.











This is a free event, and community members are welcome to drop in any time during the event to connect with others in their community and to meet the artist and share their story.





Thank you for contributing your gloves and their stories to this project! Your gift becomes part of a collective artwork that honours the memories and connections of your community.

 







If you can’t make the event, Ipswich Art Gallery has a drop-off point for physical gloves, or you can share your stories/photographs online at <a href="https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.shapeyouripswich.com.au%2Fpublic-art-commissions&data=05%7C02%7Cellia.shurte%40ipswichartgallery.qld.gov.au%7Cef5cbc238b7d4c7977b008df06fcf9df%7C3b9868337d91471fabec9882ca0d8088%7C0%7C0%7C639237355859296130%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=9ov4ajLsPl3VYxpdiNRLaYRZDUgjoGhgy%2FP%2FCxdtnUM%3D&reserved=0" sop="true">https://www.shapeyouripswich.com.au/public-art-commissions</a>.

Your gloves and any accompanying stories are gratefully received. Once donated, the gloves become a part of the artist's studio materials, and cannot be returned. As part of her creative practice, Hannah may preserve, transform or deconstruct, repurpose, or dispose of the gloves, as the artwork evolves.&nbsp;

In Make yourself at home, home is shown as a feeling, made up of memories, people, stories and the everyday things that make us feel safe, calm and cared for. When you’re young, home is often the centre of your world. It’s where games are invented, stories are shared, snacks are made, and favourite objects are kept close.

Through art, textures and familiar objects, this exhibition invites children and families to explore the sights, sounds and feelings of home, from the smell of baking in the kitchen, to the comfort of a well‑loved blanket, or the special meaning held in a treasured family object.



The artists encourage visitors to see home through their eyes and to reflect on the small, everyday moments that help us feel we belong.



What you’ll discover:



<ul><li>Sensory Memories – artworks inspired by kitchens, family meals and favourite foods that remind us of being together</li><li>Comfort & Care – soft textures and gentle forms that evoke calm, safety and quiet spaces</li><li>Rhythms of Home – playful works inspired by music, movement, games and daily routines</li><li>Family & Friends – stories about the people (and pets!) who turn a house into a home</li></ul>



Designed for children and their grown‑ups, Make yourself at home is a welcoming space to explore, imagine and connect together.

Brutalism and Baroque are architectural styles founded on contrasting ideals. Emerging in the mid-20th century, Brutalism emphasised bold geometric forms and honesty, while the Baroque of the 17th and 18th centuries celebrated drama, movement, and ornamentation.



These influences can be seen in the ceramic practices of Donalee Moriarty and Nicolette Johnson. Moriarty's work draws on modernism, and restrained geometry, embracing the integrity of clay. In contrast, Johnson creates romantic, stylised forms that evoke history, symbolic meaning, and beauty that evokes the sublime.



Despite their contrasting approaches, the artists' practices run parallel and complement one another, creating a dialogue that highlights the intrinsic qualities of each other's work.



Both artists are locally based, with Moriarty living in Ipswich and Johnson in Brisbane. 





<h5>BRUTALIST / Baroque is an Ipswich Art Gallery exhibition</h5>

The Noise of Time brings together more than 30 years of Ian Friend’s artistic practice. The exhibition includes works from 1993 to work made from his Ipswich studio in 2026.

 

Throughout his career, Friend has drawn inspiration from literature, poetry, philosophy, music, and the natural world. Presenting works from different stages of his life, the exhibition reflects on the passage of time, connecting the energy and ambition of youth with the insight and experience gained over decades.

 





 Friend’s art explores the ways our lives are shaped both by what we gain and what we lose. While we often expect meaning to come from new experiences and achievements, it can also be found in absence, memory, and change. His creative process mirrors these ideas. Over periods that can span months or even years, he embeds ink, gouache, watercolour, and crayon into paper, then removes and reworks these through repeated cycles of building up and erasing. A desire to reinvent and challenge a more traditional practice of works on paper is constant in Friend’s work, where paper is not only a base to create on, but intrinsic to the work’s state of being.





 The Noise of Time features works from the artist’s own collection, as well as private and public collections including Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Redcliffe Art Gallery, Redland Art Gallery, UniSC Art Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia, QUT Art Museum, and Ipswich Art Gallery.

<h5>An Ipswich Art Gallery exhibition</h5>

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The Sharing the National Collection initiative, funded under Australia’s National Cultural Policy Revive,&nbsp;enables major works of art to be exhibited outside the nation’s capital. 







Ipswich Art Gallery now feature powerhouse American artists Mark Rothko (1903-1970) and Agnes Martin (1912-2004), both exponents of international abstraction. Works by renowned former Ipswich ceramicist, Gwyn Hanssen-Pigott (1935-2013) will also complement those held in the Ipswich Art Gallery collection.







Agnes Martin is known for her minimalist and serene abstract paintings characterised by grids, lines, and subtle colour variations. Her work often evokes a sense of tranquillity and introspection. Mark Rothko is renowned for his large-scale colour field paintings that explore the emotional and spiritual aspects of colour through expansive, immersive canvases. Both Martin and Rothko created work that asks us to spend time contemplating their subtle form and colour. Australian artist Gwyn Hanssen-Pigott is regarded as one of the world’s greatest contemporary potters. Deeply influenced by the quiet still-life paintings of Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964), Hanssen-Pigott leaves behind a body of exquisite still-life assemblages of refined, spare vessels in subtle colours and shapes.







These important works promise to captivate and delight with their profound beauty and sensitivity.

The Ipswich Art Gallery is located in d’Arcy Doyle Place, a pedestrian mall section of Nicholas Street between Brisbane and Limestone Streets in the Ipswich CBD.

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Planning a visit? Here's what you need to know

Ipswich Art Gallery takes play seriously. Our goal is to create
dynamic pathways for lifelong relationships with art.

Structured around our guiding principles, our kids programs celebrate
the spontaneous creativity within each child.

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Looking for our kids programs?

Contribute to a legacy that preserves Ipswich’s cultural heritage for future generations. Every gift helps foster a vibrant, creative community and supports the acquisition of significant artworks and treasures for our city.

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Support the gallery

Find the Ipswich Art Gallery in d’Arcy Doyle Place in the Ipswich CBD adjacent to the Nicholas St precinct.
The Ipswich Art Gallery is a visual arts and social history museum presenting a dynamic program of exhibitions, heritage displays and an extensive program for children and families.