Four Townsville artists
The influence of women on the arts and crafts in Townsville has been a constant feature of local art shows over a number of years. This involves established artists as well as the younger generation.
The strength of the art produced by women was documented in a number of out-of-town shows which in 1986 successfully exported Townsville art to southern exhibition venues. Margaret Wilson exhibited with Macquarie Galleries, Anne Lord with Holdsworth Contemporary Galleries, both in Sydney. Jane Wege and Karyn Abbot Lock had shows with THAT Contemporary Art Space in Brisbane. Prior to this a group of students from the College of TAFE had tested the "climate" at THAT, again with a dominance of female exhibitors. Ranna Hale showed a total art installation Myth, Women and Song at the Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, also in 1986, and Anneke Silver participated in the exhibition Drawings by Four, which toured the state in 1984.
Though there is no doubt about the strong presence of female artists in the local scene, only wilful interpretation could force a common concern upon them. This becomes apparent in the current exhibition Four Townsville Artists at the Perc Tucker Regional Gallery. The joint exhibition is mainly a result of all four artists being (or having been) associated with the Townsville College of TAFE as art instructors and, as a weaker link, is based on the common medium paper.
Margaret Wilson starts from the concept of painterly abstraction. Her paintings and prints reflect the features of two very different types of landscape, the vast grazing lands of the Gulf Country, and the green slopes of the coastal ranges. Her new work included in this exhibition, reveals a