Jo Fay Duncan

27/05/2026

Secrets trapped in the ice

The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration is maiden with much human tragedy loss. We can only wonder what lost stories of human existance will be unleashed if the Antarctic ice melts.

20/05/2026

Why are Adelie Penguines important to the Quandamooka?

They are an Antarctic species that does not live in Australia. But are an indicator species. Because they are highly sensitive to shifting sea ice and temperature, Adelie penguins serve as key sentinels of a changing climate, and regional changes in the Antarctic affect broader global marine environments.

Southern Ocean Songlines is an artful exploration of the Quandamooka's relationship to global ocean systems.

18/05/2026

What if art wasn’t about expression, but orientation?

Southern Ocean Songlines explores drawing as a way of locating ourselves within a living system of change.

15/05/2026

This artwork explores wandering albatross; their nesting sites and migration pathways between Antarctica and the Quandamooka (Moreton Bay). Named in the watercolour are the breeding islands of the Southern Ocean.

I'm interested in how art can hold relationships-between human and more-than-human systems. Southern Oceans Songlines is a space where this is explored through the arts.

10/05/2026

Following the southern Oceans songlines of the Wandering Albatross took me to Macquarie Island - with sketch pad in hand.

06/05/2026

I am shifting my focus to sharing my creative perception, process and practice.

Southern Oceans Songlines, interdisciplinary art project had its origins some years ago when I spotted a most unusual bird bodding in the waters out from Pulan Pulan (Amity Point). I was perplexed at its size and dabbled colouration on its feathers. But as it lifted its wings, I realised it could be nothing other than an albatross. I saw it again that day at Gompee (Dunwich). Research told me it was a wandering albatross. I wondered where had it come from?

As a migratory species, I wondered what songline had it followed?

20/10/2025

Did you come to the "Motherhood Is ..." exhibition at Soul Lodge last year. for the Straddie Arts Trail?

Maureen Hansen was a contributing artist and she joins us this year as special guest and artist-in -residence. We have decided to extend the morning workshop program and welcome creative souls who may want to join us on Thursday, Friday or Saturday morning 10am - 12pm. Learn colour, form and find your own style. Experiment with a range of media and surfaces. Sessions are $50 each.

For 30 years Maureen Hansen has continued the tradition of plein-air painting brought to us by the Impressionists. By painting her immediate surroundings over hours at a time, Hansen mixes the colours unique to Queensland.

Hansen is a true colourist who paints directly in front of her subject for hours observing changing light from life. Typically, Hansen’s paintings are known for their saturated colour in oil or gouache and their gestural brushwork. Her exhibitions feature landscape, still life and portraiture.

Artist talk is Sunday 10am -12pm and is free.

Book in here
https://events.humanitix.com/nature-art-retreat

@lauri.ladyexplorer @skyesthelimit_insta

18/10/2025

Meet our artist-in-residence Maureen Hansen at Soul Lodge, Amity Point during the Arts Trail.

Maureen Hansen trained under William Robinson at QUT in the late 1980’s and carries on the tradition of observational painting as influenced by 20th Century Modernists like Matisse, Bonnard and the Fauvist group.
For 30 years Maureen Hansen has continued the tradition of plein-air painting brought to us by the Impressionists. By painting her immediate surroundings over hours at a time, Hansen mixes the colours unique to Queensland.
Hansen is a true colourist who paints directly in front of her subject for hours observing changing light from life. Typically, Hansen’s paintings are known for their saturated colour in oil or gouache and their gestural brushwork. Her exhibitions feature landscape, still life and portraiture.

Her work is found in Parliament House Collection Canberra, Brisbane, Ipswich, Redcliffe and Warwick Art Collections. She has been awarded the Tattersalls Landscape prize and Churchie Art Prize. Overseas, Hansen has exhibited in London and St. Petersburg. Her portrait of Robert Forster of the Go-Betweens was published in the 2017 edition of Rolling Stone magazine in Berlin.

Maureen will be speaking at the FREE artists talk on Sunday, 10am - 12pm. Or join one of our morning workshops Thursday, Friday and or Saturday.

https://events.humanitix.com/nature-art-retreat

17/10/2025

Did you come to the Lines in the Sand arts festivals at Straddie?

From 2009 - 2014 myself, Jo Fay Duncan and co-creators ran artists' residencies, (hosted at the Headland Chalet), conversations, enabled outdoor installations around the Gorge Walk and headland workshops.

Craig Tapp's sand art appeared on the front page of SIN (Stradbroke Island News), Thanks .There were too many people to mention. But I am going to add a few account names to this post, so that you can see something of your legacy.

Our 2026 Artist-in-residence program at Soul Lodge, Amity Point is this year hosting the first residency program since these times. As part of the Arts Trail . We aim to make it an annual event, which is our way of supporting artists and bringing people together and attention to the fragility and beauty of nature here.

There are now a range of ways you can become involved:

🫵🏽 Join our full retreat program Which is program plus accomodation $1140 - $1540

🫱🏽 Have your own accomodation? Join our full day program October 22 - 25 $300

✍🏽 Observation, Composition & Your Own Style, Thursday workshop October 23, 10am - 12pm

🌊 Waves, Water's Edge & Horizons, Friday workshop October 24, 10am - 12pm

🫶🏾 Beach Finds & The Art of Still Life, Saturday workshop October 25, 10am - 12pm

🙌🏽 Artists Talk, Sunday October 26 10am - 12pm

🏝 Beach Finds & The Art of Still Life, Saturday workshop October 25, 10am - 12pm

Be apart of something beautiful, by booking in here

https://events.humanitix.com/nature-art-retreat
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Gee wiz, I could go on for a long time here.

11/10/2025

Bayo Akomolafe breathes deeply before speaking; "The lesson of our times, is to look for the cracks ... breathe long and deep enough to perceive them ... and slow enough so that new worlds can seed"

Art is an excercise in perception.

Lets breathe slow and deep enough that we perceive our truthes.

Our gathering October 22 - 26 is about more than art making. It is about being with nature, with others.

Hope you will join us.

With only two weeks to go. Claim your place at this gathering ...

http://events.humanitix.com/nature-art-retreat
https://youtu.be/cUO2zoc-ybg?si=XfMvCj0Zy-pHdl6m

Learn the skills to create beautiful compositions, guided and inspired by experienced artist Maureen Hansen, on-location at island paradise North Stradbroke...