Port Douglas Artists Inc’s ‘Gondwana’s Garden,’ is currently running at the Tanks Arts Centre.

The ‘free entry’ public exhibition runs from until  16th June after which selected artworks will move up to the Douglas Shire Offices foyer for free public display from 22nd June to 8th July 2016.

Opening hours are weekdays 9am to 4.30pm and weekends 10am to 2.30pm.

Port Douglas Artists have been involved in many art projects over recent years. At Port Douglas Gallery of Fine Art, their endeavours included a string of exhibitions and special projects, such as the Artists in Residence programme exhibited around the local resort plus a strong presence at Go Troppo Arts Festival and, more recently, pop up studios and galleries at the Reef Marina.

This informal association of local professional artists was formalised by becoming incorporated in 2015 and they began planning for the group exhibition at the Tanks Arts Centre being launched this coming Friday.

The Tanks Art Space (Tank 4) is a well-established and renowned arts centre and presents a perfect venue for this exhibition about ancient gardens, set as it is, amongst the amazing tropical plants of the Cairns Botanic Gardens.

Port Douglas Artists Inc artists spent many hours researching this fascinating subject matter for their individual artworks for ‘Gondwana’s Garden’.  They also invited other professional artists from around the region, whose work would complement their own and lend a harmony and balance to the whole.

In all, 22 artists accepted the invitation. Working in a variety of mediums, such as paint on canvas, ceramics, paper, fibre, glass, silver and enamels, individual artists have explored stories about the origins of our tropical plant life.

The artists include Terry Johnson, Yoshika Kirby, Tania Heben,Marie and Ola Hoglund, Mary Ann Runciman, Gail Shaw, Anna Curtis, Lone White, Judith Bohm-Parr, Beat Urfer, Julie McErnerny, Claire Souter, Mollie Bosworth, Ellen Terrell, Sasi Victoire, Belinda Williams, Leon Pericles, Joy Shand-Culley, Heather Koowootha, Glen Mackie and Daniel O’Shane.

Whilst, of course, visitors are encouraged to purchase any of the exhibits, The Gondwana’s Garden exhibition is also being used as an opportunity to help raise funds for the Mossman Botanic Gardens, for which land has been purchased with a 5 year master plan established to commence the first development stage later this year

Artists are in the process of making four collaborative paintings, each valued at in excess of $1000. These will be raffled, with all proceeds going to the new gardens project. At only $2 per ticket it sounds like a win-win situation!

The raffle will be drawn at the closing of the exhibition at the Douglas Shire Offices foyer on Friday July 8 – be there!

As in all displays of art, the viewer plays a vital role in the process, as each brings his or her own life experiences and attitudes to an exhibition, interacting and interpreting work from an individual perspective. There is a roster of the artists, who will be in attendance each day to meet and greet the visitors to do their best to ensure each visitors enjoy this very special experience.