The University of Queensland will hold a Community Day on Saturday, April 17 to mark the opening of a major new arts facility at the St Lucia campus.
UQ Vice-Chancellor, Professor John hay, AC, has extended an invitation to University staff, students, graduates and members of the general community to celebrate the launch of The James and Mary Emelia Mayne Centre.
The Centre is the new home of the University Art Museum (UAM), which holds Queensland’s second-largest public art collection and the new and developing National Collection of Artists’ self-Portraits.
The first exhibition is “To Look Within: Self Portraits in Australia”, featuring 100 self-portraits from the colonial period to the present.
Executive Dean of UQ’s Faculty of Arts, Professor Alan Rix, said the Community Day would include tours and talks and would run from 10 am to 4 pm.
“There will be a program of talks from speakers including the Director of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia Andrew Sayers, architect Hamilton Wilson, UAM Director Ross Searle and local artist Luke Roberts,” Professor Rix said.
“We will also have a guided tour for younger audiences to discover how artists have used humour and surprise in their self-portraits. Bill Robinson’s “Self portrait with goose feathers” is a great example of artists not taking themselves too seriously.”
The James and Mary Emelia Mayne Centre is a $6.5 million architectural conversion of the former Mayne Hall. The transformation was made possible largely by a generous donation from The Atlantic Philanthropies.
The facility is named in honour of UQ’s celebrated benefactors James O’Neil Mayne and his sister Mary Emelia Mayne.
UQ Community Day activities at the Centre will include:
10.30 am Architect Hamilton Wilson speaking about the challenge of redeveloping the building as a gallery space and home of the UAM.
11.30 am “Here’s looking at me!” A guided tour for younger audiences to discover different ways in which artists have put their best, or worst, face forward in self-portraits. Presented by Michele Helmrich, Coordinator of Public Programs for “To Look Within: Self Portraits in Australia”.
12.30 pm UAM Director and co-curator of “To Look Within: Self Portraits in Australia” Ross Searle will speak about the opening exhibition and the gallery’s future directions.
2.00 pm Andrew Sayers, Director of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia and co-curator of “To Look Within: Self Portraits in Australia” will present the floortalk, “What do self-portraits tell us?”
3.15 pm Brisbane artist Luke Roberts will discuss his self-portraits.
Mr Searle said one of the highlights of the day would be the guided tour of the exhibition by Mr Sayers.
“Andrew Sayers has played a major role in bringing together this impressive exhibition of self-portraits from public and private collections throughout Australia,” Mr Searle said.
“He is a very engaging speaker and will discuss why artists make self-portraits and what they tell us, or don’t tell us, about themselves. His talk will provide an overview of the history of Australian self-portraiture.”
More information about The Mayne Centre or the Community Day is available at www.maynecentre.uq.edu.au
Media: For more information, contact UQ Communications,
Jan King (telephone 07 3365 1120, email j.king@uq.edu.au) or
Chris Saxby (telephone 07 3365 2479, email c.saxby@uq.edu.au).
