‘Small is Beautiful’ will add colour to DAB exhibition
Local Artists
Douglas Arts Studio Gallery (DAB) has unveiled its three exhibitions for 2022 and is encouraging its members to participate by submitting at least one piece of artwork.
The three exhibitions are:
- Exhibition title – “Small Is Beautiful” – will run from Saturday 30 April to Saturday 28 May.
- Exhibition title – “Behind The Mask” – will run from Saturday 6 August to Saturday 3 September.
- Exhibition title – “2022 End Of Year” – will run from Saturday 12 November to Saturday 10 December.
Exhibits for the opener of the year, allows for the opportunity to make social commentary, but also thinking that small allows you to focus, a chance to look at the detail.
“Small Is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People mattered”, is the title of a book written by British economist EF Schumacher, who argued that while ‘capitalism’ may bring higher living standards it may come at the cost of declining life quality, and that ‘bigness’ (eg. cities, industry) leads to a depletion of natural resources.
“Artists are encouraged to think about different aspects of the ‘small is beautiful’ theme, and include an artist's statement.
“An artist’s statement is an explanation of what inspired or motivated you to create your artwork for this exhibition, and why it meets the theme. It can be as simple as one or two sentences.
“There is the opportunity to make social commentary, but also thinking that small allows you to focus, a chance to look at the detail,” a DAB committee member explained.
Meanwhile, as DAB continues to produce some of the finest work in Far North Queensland, it can look back on more than 20 years of success.
Says Mandy Ryan for the Gallery’s Sub-Committee: “DAB has been operating for just over 20 years. We’ve been lucky enough to have many highly experienced and talented tutors who live locally, which has allowed us to run two programs of art classes each year.
“Also we have always had a good number of people who are willing to volunteer, to either man the gallery, organise DAB activities or just assist with general tasks as needed.”
DAB was understandably impacted by Covid-19. How did it cope?
“We have a maximum number of participants for our art classes and during Covid this was important to allow for social distancing, especially for classes inside.
“We are also lucky enough to have a lovely outside area where people can spread out a lot more,” said Ryan.
“In 2021 we had a record number of members and all of our workshops and courses were fully booked. I think that one ‘good’ thing that came out of the lockdowns is that we were all forced to slow down and enjoy some relaxing hobbies.
“Any type of art is very therapeutic and DAB has witnessed this. Many of our new members have joined to participate in the Pottery classes, and our kiln has been running hot. Pottery is definitely back in fashion,” she said.