Strand Ephemera in 2011 featured 36 contemporary artworks by local and national artists along the 2km Strand waterfront with an estimated excess of 70,000 visitors during the 11 day event.
The event opened Friday 2 September with an open air broadcast by ABC Local interviewing participating artists live on site.
Judge Sebastian Di Mauro awarded two artworks equal share of the $10,000 Artistic Excellence award donated by Xstrata Community Partnership Program: Girrungun Artists - Bagu with Jiman and Erica Gray - Sea Anemone at the opening event attended by 200+ people.
Strand aLive provided the main performance element this year, adding a sense of fun and mayhem. This project incorporated a series of “live art” activities interacting with audience members. Other live components included daily Zen Raking at Helena Rador-Gibson’s artwork and scheduled performances by local musicians The Lettuce Dance Band and The Pink Ladies on Jan Hynes 2009 Strand Ephemera entry Pink Piano.
Twice daily drop-in artist workshops offered an important means of extending the involvement of the community, allowing them a greater appreciation of artist skills. The education program had record attendance with a total of 31 school groups and 1097 students attending.
Sebastian Di Mauro returned to the gallery to present as a keynote speaker at the Public Art Symposium (held at the Gallery on Monday 12 September) along with Robyn Daw of Arts Queensland (Art+Place) and Daniel Wallwork (Cairns artist).
Over 60 volunteers were involved in Strand Ephemera supporting all aspects of the exhibition including installation and demount, official opening and public art symposium, workshops, guided art tours and the Strand Ephemera Information Desk. A profuse thankyou to those volunteers for making the event such a success.
The People’s Choice Award winner Aden McLeod – People watching people in the spirit was announced at the Public Art Symposium.
You can view the winning entries from the wilson/ryan/grose Photographic Competition here.
You can also view photos from the 2011 and previous Strand Ephemera exhibitions by visiting the Gallery's Flickr page here. |