Our achievements in curating touring exhibitions have been considerable. The major scale of two national exhibitions, Escape Artists; Modernists in the Tropics and Ilan Pasin (This is our Way): Torres Strait Art brought national and international recognition. These early exhibitions have been followed by:

• The Artists Studio: Etchings by Ron McBurnie and collaborating artists toured nationally from 2003 to 2005.
• Encounters with Country: Landscapes of Ray Crooke toured nationally throughout 2006.
• Home Island, Home Country which toured nationally throughout 2006 & 2007.

Cairns Regional Gallery currently has one exhibition on national tour:

Linked Landscapes: Annneke Silver

Linked Landscapes, a selection of works by Anneke Silver, one of North Queensland’s most highly regarded landscape artists. The exhibition demonstrates contemporary engagement with ancient Antipodean landscapes.

Natures’ sacredness and immensity is an ongoing emphasis in Anneke’s work. Linked Landscapes presents this, not as quickly capture snapshots or tidy tourist visions. Rather, Linked Landscapes enjoys the landscape in its entirety; the crevices and trickling water of the gorge; dusty rocks and windy shadows of grasslands; silhouetted mountains, rain bearing clouds and the river’s reflection of submerged tree trucks. With a gentle lyricism, Linked Landscapes speaks of the powerful connectedness of nature.

Australia has a rich history of Modernist artists endeavoring to capture a unique essence of place. So too, the Modernists have pursued the vast and spectacular terrain of far north Queensland with intrigue and awe. The Modernist landscape vision is still very much alive and celebrated and continues to be popularly supported by museum going audiences across the nation. As one of the largest regional galleries in Queensland, the Cairns Regional Gallery celebrates the Modernist through regular Collection exhibitions and touring exhibitions.

A large number of contemporary artists continue to produce work through a Modernist vision of landscape. The formalist engagements available within this tradition seeming to provide the visual tools many artists need to interpret and imagine the region’s challenging natural environments. Anneke Silver, one of Far North Queensland’s most regarded and established artists, keeps the spirit of this tradition alive through her formalist and romantic engagements with landscape. The Cairns Regional Gallery is delighted to be able to now tour Linked Landscapes, a selection of works by Anneke Silver, which includes ‘Bartle Frere and Friends’, one of Anneke’s signature works now in the Gallery’s Collection. Considerable public interest is brought to Anneke’s work, as can be evidenced by the level of support for the artist’s regional, national and international exhibitions.

Complimenting the Modernist themes present in Anneke’s work is the humanist thread that connects works both past and present. The public interest in this artist’s work can perhaps be explained by the strength of its underlying humanist approach. Though Linked Landscapes does not seek to portray people in relation to landscapes, this humanist quality is ever present. This comes from the artist’s expressions of spirituality which resonate through each of the works.

Tour Itinerary:

Logan Art Gallery, Qld Port Macquarie Gallery, NSW Rockhampton Art Gallery, Qld

Jan - 11 Feb 2009 6 May - 28 Jun 2009 15 Sep - 24 Nov 2009