Exhibitions
Perc Tucker Regional Gallery has two floors which contain two main exhibition spaces and five Community Access Spaces. On display are works by North Queensland artists, national touring exhibitions and international touring exhibitions.
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Current Exhibition
Fresh Material: New Australian Textile Art
Perc Tucker Regional Gallery
Exhibition dates: 10 December 2021 - 6 February 2022
Textile-based art has been enjoying a renaissance after decades of being derided, ignored or ghettoised for being ‘craft’ or ‘Women’s work’, both terms of which are dismissive artworld shorthand for ‘not art’. Contemporary artists have been reinstating the importance of textiles by way of incredible force and ingenuity, and perhaps most importantly, an intelligent and methodical dismantling of established art world ‘rules’, as clung to by the boy’s club of 20th century painting. Thus textile-based art becomes a powerful and accessible agent in the examination of identity, society and politics. Textiles have grown to command a significant following, offering its own complex and distinctive lexicon, as capable of expression, nuance and polemic as any other media. This exhibition begins by taking textiles’ artistic legitimacy for granted, a point proven many times over throughout its long history, bringing together some of the best and brightest artists working in Australia today.
Featuring the work of Julie Bradley, Regi Cherini, Leah Emery, Marion Gaemers & Lynnette Griffiths, Emma Gardner, Hannah Gartside, Julia Gutman, Vivien Haley, Michelle Hamer, Talitha Kennedy, Sheree Kinlyside, Nicole O’Loughlin, Susan Peters Nampitjin, Ema Shin, Hiromi Tango, Sonia Ward, Jenny Watson, Paul Yore, Troy-Anthony Baylis and India Collins.
Curated by Jonathan McBurnie.
Exhibition Launch
6 - 8pm
Friday, 17 December 2021
Perc Tucker Regional Gallery
Image: Jenny Watson, Sunshine of your love, 2020, Acrylic on French cotton and tapestry template, 140 x 137 cm; 39 x 31 cm. Courtesy of Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery.
Online Publication
Featuring the work of Julie Bradley, Regi Cherini, Leah Emery, Marion Gaemers & Lynnette Griffiths, Emma Gardner, Hannah Gartside, Julia Gutman, Vivien Haley, Michelle Hamer, Talitha Kennedy, Sheree Kinlyside, Nicole O’Loughlin, Susan Peters Nampitjin, Ema Shin, Hiromi Tango, Sonia Ward, Jenny Watson, Paul Yore, Troy-Anthony Baylis and India Collins.
The publication offers a wonderful insight into the exhibition.
66th Townsville Art Society Awards
![Carole Howlett, Saunders Swagger [detail], 2020, Oil on canvas, 52 x 62 cm Winner of the Townsville City Council Acquisitive Award, 65th Townsville Art Awards 2020, Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville. City of Townsville Art Collection. Photo: Townsville City Galleries.](https://www.townsville.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0018/113346/TASA_Carole-Howlett_Saunders-Swagger_2020_Oil-on-canvas_52-x-62-cm_-Major-winner.jpg "Carole Howlett, Saunders Swagger [detail], 2020, Oil on canvas, 52 x 62 cm Winner of the Townsville City Council Acquisitive Award, 65th Townsville Art Awards 2020, Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville. City of Townsville Art Collection. Photo: Townsville City Galleries.")
Perc Tucker Regional Gallery
Exhibition dates: 10 December 2021 - 13 February 2022
The Townsville Art Society Inc proudly presents the 66th Townsville Art Society Awards.
The annual Awards have been held since 1955, after a group of enthusiastic artists, the Townsville Art Group, initiated a successful exhibition called As We See It. The Townsville Art Group was the genesis of the Townsville Art Society which formed in 1962. The annual Townsville Art Society Awards exhibition has continued over the years with many notable artist judges providing their expertise.
Launch details
6 - 8pm
Friday, 10 December 2021
Perc Tucker Regional Gallery
Image: Carole Howlett, Saunders Swagger [detail], 2020, Oil on canvas, 52 x 62 cm
Winner of the Townsville City Council Acquisitive Award, 65th Townsville Art Awards 2020, Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville.
City of Townsville Art Collection. Photo: Townsville City Galleries.
Upcoming Exhibitions
DISINTEGRATION: Metadrawing and Expanded Drawing
Perc Tucker Regional Gallery
Exhibition dates: 12 February - 10 April 2022
DISINTEGRATION: Metadrawing and Expanded Drawing explores drawing as an autonomous artistic discipline, as opposed to its previous contingent uses, such as preparatory drawing, commercial art, design and architecture. While drawing remains associated with traditions of preparatory process or as a pedagogical tool, it is no longer limited to these discourses.
DISINTEGRATION investigates drawing’s integral role within contemporary art and responds to a renaissance of the discipline. Remarkably, given the ubiquity of drawing in art practice, little attempt has been made to consolidate drawing’s role in light of technological change, a discourse that this exhibition attempts to settle. The neologism of metadrawing (the principles and philosophies of the drawing discipline applied via technologies far outside the traditional), or, as others sometimes refer to it in practical terms, expanded drawing, directly informing rationale behind this exhibition. DISINTEGRATION will bring together ten artists whose work explores this rich terrain.
Featuring Madeleine Joy Dawes, Justin Garnsworthy, Miles Hall, Drew Connor Holland, Jumaadi, Jess Johnson, Claudine Marzik, Helena Papageorgiou, Phoebe Paradise and Grant C. Stewart.
Curated by Jonathan McBurnie.
Image: Jess Johnson, Dumuzor, 2021, Pen, fibre tipped markers, acrylic paint, and gouache on paper, 43.8 x 33.7 cm (framed). Image courtesy of the Artist.
Risographomania
Perc Tucker Regional Gallery
Exhibition dates: 19 February - 10 April 2022
Risographomania brings together ninety local, national and international artists to explore the unpredictable, bright and exciting printmaking process, risography. Invented in Japan in 1980 by the Riso Kagaku company as an affordable alternative to screen printing and offset printing, the risograph is a medium capable of incredible accuracy and coherence, or anarchic misregistration, depending on the whims of the artist. Since this time, the Riso print has become a popular medium in its own right, with its trademark bright colours and ‘happy accidents’ making it a fascinating addition to contemporary printmaking.
Curated by Ashley Ronning and Jonathan McBurnie
Image: Christopher Sperandio, Person, woman, man, camera, TV, 2020, Risograph, 29.7 x 42 cm. Image courtesy of the Artist.
Recent Exhibitions
Journey Through Images: 40 Years of Perc Tucker Regional Gallery
Perc Tucker Regional Gallery
Exhibition dates: 3 September - 28 November 2021
Perc Tucker Regional Gallery celebrates its fortieth anniversary with a diverse selection of work made by the artists of Townsville, the community, and staff of the gallery past and present. Journey Through Images builds on the connections made between artist and viewer through the gallery, and through the art work, an exhibition drawn from connections, stories and anecdotes related to our city, our region and our community. Featuring Tate Adams, G.W. Bot, James Brown, William Bustard, Laura Castell, John Coburn, Ray Crooke, Russell Drysdale, Donald Friend, HAHA, Sandi Hook, Jan Hynes, Robert Jacks, Jenuarrie, Peter Lawson, Sean Leathers, Anne Lord, David Malangi, Ron McBurnie, Stewart McFarlane, George Milpurrurru, Mini Graff, David Rowe, Jan Senbergs, Anneke Silver, Madonna Staunton, Ben Trupperbaumer, Fred Williams and many more.
Exhibition Launch
6 - 8pm
Friday, 3 September 2021
Perc Tucker Regional Gallery
Image: John Coburn, Garden of desire 1976, Screenprint, printed in colour, from multiple stencils, 56 x 89.8 cm, Accession No: 1976.0010.000.
Purchased with funds from the Townsville Art Society and the Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council, 1976. City of Townsville Art Collection.
Photography: Michael Marzik
Virtual Tour
Take a virtual tour of the Journey Through Images: 40 Years of Perc Tucker Regional Gallery exhibition.
- Use the tool in the bottom right corner to see different views of the gallery or move between floors.
- Zoom in and out using your mouse or finger controls.
Celebratory Video
It’s hard to put into one video all that is Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, but we think this comes pretty close.
Thank you to all of our speakers, all Townsville City Galleries staff past and present, Townsville CityLibraries Local History Collection, and to all artists and patrons of the Gallery for your ongoing support.
Here’s to 40 years!
Online publication
Featuring reflections from staff, artists, and community members, the publication offers a wonderful insight into 40 years of Perc Tucker Regional Gallery.
Hard copies of the publication can be purchased from Perc Tucker Regional Gallery.
Robert Preston: Inner Visions: Observation, Abstraction and Imagination, 1955 - 2021
Perc Tucker Regional Gallery
Exhibition dates: 18 June - 22 August 2021
Inner Visions: Observation, Abstraction and Imagination, 1955 – 2021 is the first career-spanning retrospective of Townsville-based artist, Robert Preston, and the largest and most comprehensive selection of his work to date. The exhibition covers some sixty-six years of artistic practice, and includes key works from every period of Preston’s vast oeuvre, including never-before exhibited student works, studies, commissions and commercial pieces, and the career-defining Communion to the Trees in its entirety, exhibited for the first time in two decades.
This expansive exhibition is drawn from collections public and private, and features many works, journals and ephemera drawn from the artist’s own archives, offering new insights into one of North Queensland’s most beloved and influential artists.
Curated by Jonathan McBurnie.
- 1989 Robert Preston Survey Exhibition publication (PDF, 10.2 MB)
Exhibition Launch
6 - 8pm
Friday, 18 June 2021
Perc Tucker Regional Gallery
Image: Robert Preston, Morning Raga on Contemplating Pataya, 1978, gouache on Arches dessin paper, 36 x 33cm. Collection of City of Townsville.
Ephemera
Exhibition dates: 17 - 25 July 2021
Celebrating 20 years of Ephemera! One of North Queensland’s most anticipated events, Ephemera will once again feature an array of local, national and international sculpture, installation and ephemeral art talent. Come and enjoy the visual arts at the picturesque destination during Townsville’s glorious festival season weather, vote for your favourite artwork and discover something different and new. We’re sure you will love this very special edition of Ephemera!
Image: Karl Meyer, Hand in the Sand, 2019
Strand Ephemera People’s Choice Award Winner 2019
Photograph: Andrew Rankin Photography
Past Exhibitions - 2009-2021
Visit our past exhibitions here.
Comments Book
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