Category: News

Museum of Brisbane’s latest exhibition will showcase the majesty of Moreton Island with new works by Archibald Prize-winning artist Euan Macleod from 4 July to 12 October 2014.
 
Euan Macleod: Moreton Island will showcase a group of acrylics and oils by the eminent painter, comprising new works commissioned by the Museum.
 
Venturing to Moreton Island during the year to create a number of en plein air (painting in the open air) studies and oils for the exhibition, Macleod’s richly textured works explore the sublime and fragile ecosystem of the area.

Museum of Brisbane Director Peter Denham said it was an honour to have Macleod create new works for the exhibition.

“I have been in discussion with Euan about an exhibition at the Museum for a long time and I am thrilled that we have finally been able to work together. His dense and textured technique has really captured the atmosphere of the Island, transporting you right to its sandy shores,” Mr Denham said.

“Euan’s work is also the perfect companion to our other current exhibitions The River – A History of Brisbane and The many lives of Moreton Bay.”
 
From his visits, Macleod said he was intrigued by the diversity of the Island.

“My work is about the figure in the landscape and how it interacts with that landscape. The combination of the two and how the figure charges the landscape really attracts me,” Mr Macleod said.

“The other thing that attracted me were the wrecks, which seemed like a decaying, dark, emotional element of the Island. And they are quite strange, quite a surreal counterpoint to all these people and their water sports.”
 
Born in Christchurch, New Zealand, Macleod moved to Sydney in 1981 where he has lived and worked ever since. He is a regular visitor to Brisbane.

Macleod has received many prestigious awards including the 1999 Archibald Prize, 2001 Sulman Prize, 2009 Tattersall’s Landscape Prize and 2009 Gallipoli Art Prize, while his works are held in many public and private collections including National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Euan Macleod: Moreton Island is part of Document, an ongoing series of exhibitions at Museum of Brisbane that uncovers how artists, photographers and observers view and record Brisbane’s landscape, history and culture.

Museum of Brisbane is open daily from 10am to 5pm on Level 3 of Brisbane City Hall. Free entry.

EVENTS 
A program of events will accompany the exhibition, including artist and curator talks, exclusive viewings and workshops. Bookings are necessary, for more information visit museumofbrisbane.com.au.
 
HIGHLIGHTS
 
Friday 25 July, 1pm
Free
Exhibition talk: Euan Macleod on Moreton Island
Join artist Euan Macleod as he discusses his work and the process through which he created the paintings in the Moreton Island exhibition.

Saturday 26 July, 10am-5.30pm
$55
Workshop: Figure in landscape
Take part in a hands-on masterclass with artist Euan Macleod and paint en plein air (in the open air) with the artist on the picturesque cliffs of Kangaroo Point. This is a unique opportunity to participate in a workshop with the well-known painter, who rarely leads classes anymore.

Sunday 29 September, 11am
Free
Curators Talk: The art of Moreton Bay
In conjunction with the exhibition The many lives of Moreton Bay and recently commissioned work featured in Euan Macleod: Moreton Island, explore the individuals and artists who have recorded Moreton Bay with Museum of Brisbane Director, Peter Denham.

Sunday 12 October, 2pm
Free
Curators Talk: The art of Moreton Bay
This is the final chance to have a unique Moreton Bay experience and discover the individual artists who have recorded Moreton Bay who are currently featured in the exhibitions The many lives of Moreton Bay, and Euan Macleod: Moreton Island. Presented by Museum of Brisbane Director, Peter Denham.

In the lead-up to NAIDOC Week, Australia will see a new special 50 cent coin enter circulation to mark 50 years of ongoing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research and collection of information which has assisted our country in becoming more knowledgeable about its people and cultures.

The coin was officially launched last week by the Prime Minister of Australia, the Hon. Tony Abbott MP in the company of AIATSIS Council Chairperson Professor Mick Dodson, AIATSIS Principal Russ Taylor and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, the Hon Steven Ciobo MP.

The 50 cent coin specifically marks the 50th anniversary of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Institute (AIATSIS).

“AIATSIS is an organisation that has dedicated half a century to ensuring that Indigenous cultures are preserved, and continually valued and respected,” said Royal Australian Mint CEO Ross MacDiarmid.

“NAIDOC Week represents an invaluable time for reflection, where Australians take time to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and I personally will also take this opportunity to do just that,” said Mr MacDiarmid.

“The advantage of circulating coins is that they allow for greater awareness and recognition which will last longer than a week – every time someone looks at their change they are reminded of the story behind the coin.”

Featuring an element of the AIATSIS logo, the shield is derived from the boomerang totem of the Gu:na:ni (Kunjen) people from the Mitchell River region of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Two million of these special circulating coins are to be distributed in the coming weeks.

A special colour printed collectable coin with the same design has also been crafted to capture the true essence of the shield and is available for purchase retailing for $13.50 from the Mint’s eShop https://eshop.ramint.gov.au, Contact Centre on 1300 652 020 or in store at the Royal Australian Mint, Deakin.

What difference could an extra 2 hours in your day, make to your business?

Are you staying ahead in your industry or is your business technology making you a dinosaur?

No matter what business you’re in, you need to adapt and evolve in your business evolution or become extinct.  Do you remember when you first learnt how to use email? And where would you be without it now? The best way to have the advantage over your competitor,  is to get to the finish line first yet still maintaining your professional integrity.

At this event, you will learn:
– simple technology that allows you to access your office anywhere
– techniques you can immediately adopt into your business to save you time
– inexpensive ways to protect your website
– methods to stay on top of a busy workload

DID YOU KNOW: On average, professionals spend up to 37 percent of their work week checking emails (that’s roughly 13 hours) — many of them unnecessary ones.

This Free event will be held on Thur 27 July – 5:15pm for 5:30pm start at Smartnet Computer Services, 28/8 St Jude Court, Browns Plains, QLD

Clear your schedule on Saturday 12 July. Melbourne fuzz-rock trio Pretty City is playing at The Bearded Lady in West End. Your ears will never forgive you if you miss out on these guys.

Named after the awesome bourbon Bearded Lady the trio has picked the perfect place in West End to play their tunes. The Bearded Lady will offer a kick-arse setting for their fuzz-rock sound.

I usually don’t listen to this kind of music, but I know great music when I hear it. It’s the kind of music that puts a smile on your face and makes you bob your head and think, ah yeah, give me some of that bourbon and lets rock!

So you better have cleared that schedule on Saturday 12 July, mate. All I want to see on it is Pretty City at The Bearded Lady. Your weekend can’t get much better than that — good music at an awesome bar in the best suburb in Brisbane.

Not convinced yet?

Have a listen to Pretty City’s Piece Of The Puzzle and Roll On.

Then visit The Bearded Lady’s website to check out other gigs and photos of the place.

The stigma of buying in a flood-prone suburb after the 2011 Brisbane floods was short-lived for middle and high-value homes with property prices rebounding within 12-months, a QUT study has found.

Property economics expert Professor Chris Eves, from QUT’s Science and Engineering Faculty, studied the short-term impact of the 2011 flood on the Brisbane residential housing market and found flood fear had a minimal on-going effect on property prices, with low-value suburbs being the exception.

“What we found was that because people in the higher-value suburbs (St Lucia, Bulimba) had the means to repair immediately, the market didn’t see flooding as much of a detriment compared to low-value suburbs (Goodna, Oxley), because the visual impact of damaged homes was removed,” Professor Eves said.

“So the stigma of the flood wore off very quickly.”

Professor Eves’ study looked at residential sales and rental listings as well as property prices immediately following the 2011 Brisbane floods and his findings have been published in Natural Hazards.

“The only sector that did not show a decrease in median house prices three months after the flood, was the flood-affected medium-value suburbs (Fairfield, Graceville), which actually saw an increase of about $23,000 in the median house price,” he said.

“This can in part be explained by the fact that most of the medium-value properties experienced overland flood, with only limited in-house flooding which was more of a nuisance than costly, and the physical evidence was more quickly able to be removed.”

Professor Eves said the biggest drop in property prices after the 2011 floods was in the lower-value suburbs where buyers, mostly investors, saw an opportunity to grab a bargain.

“The median house price in the low-value flood-affected suburbs dropped 22.7 per cent in the three months immediately following the flood with a greater number of flood damaged homes sold,” he said.

“This is most likely because in the low-value suburbs, owners may not have had the means to repair their properties so selling at a reduced price was the only option.

“And for buyers, who were mostly investors, the lower price even with adding on the repair bills made good economic sense given the potential future rental returns.”

Professor Eves said in some of the low-value suburbs, to this day there were still many properties unrepaired.

“This unrepaired damage continues to have a visible impact on these low-value suburbs such as Goodna and an effect on property prices,” he said.

Professor Eves said while there was an immediate spike in rental prices after the floods due to an increase in demand from flood-affected residents wanting to remain close to their properties, within six months the rents and demand had returned to normal trends.

“Within the first week after the floods there was a significant drop in availability for rental accommodation, with a reduction of about 50 house rentals alone in both non-flood and flood-affected lower value suburbs,” he said.

Professor Eves said previous long-term studies had found disasters such as major floods had resulted in up to a 35 per cent difference in value between flood and non-flood affected properties.

“This was not the case in post the 2011 Brisbane flood,” he said.

Professor Eves said the study showed the floods had an immediate impact on the number of properties being offered for sale after the flood but after two to three months the number of listings for sale in the flood-affected suburbs increased in a similar trend to non-flooded suburbs, although volumes were lower.

Key findings of the study:Sales listings: Flood and non-flood affected suburbs showed decreased sales listings between January 2011 and September 2011, at which point both saw an increasing trend in sales listings.

Rental listings: There was an immediate decrease in rental availability after the flood. From September/October 2011 rental availability increased for medium to high value flood and non-flood affected homes. Listings for low-value flood-affected properties spiked faster in June 2011.

Prices: Prices in flood and non-flood affected suburbs dipped immediately after in the first quarter after the floods, but continued to steadily rise for the following three quarters. The exception was in the medium-value flood affected properties which saw an increase in value in the first three months.

The paper titled Assessing the immediate and short-term impact of flooding on residential property participant behaviour is available at http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11069-013-0961-y

Professor Eves is with QUT’s School of Civil Engineering and The Built Environment.