30 OCTOBER - 17 JANUARY | THE GROVE GALLERY
pARTicipate Miniatures
Local Artist Exhibition and Competition
pARTicipate began as a biennial event in 2011 with the goal to offer local artists the opportunity to exhibit and receive recognition for their work alongside their Southern Downs peers. It provides local artists with a platform to exhibit in a professional gallery setting and acknowledges and awards excellence and contemporary regional stories.
We received 120 entries from artists across the Southern Downs Region for this year’s exhibition!!! It will be an unenviable task for our judges, Suzanne McMaster and Jayde Clacy, to select the winners. Their choices will be announced at the OPENING EVENT on Friday 14 November commencing at 6.00pm.
Thank you to these local sponsors for supporting this exhibition:
Hear4Good Warwick (First Prize Sponsor)
Hede Byrne and Hall Lawyers (Second Prize Sponsor)
Assumption College (Third Prize Sponsor)
Condamine Sports Club (People’s Choice Vote Award Sponsor)
Darling Downs Bank (Encouragement Award Sponsor)
Saturn Electrical (Encouragement Award Sponsor)
Vote for your favourite artwork to win our People's Choice Award
13 NOVEMBER 2025 TO 10 JANUARY 2026 | MAIN GALLERY
Warwick Art Gallery is pleased to present Shifting Ground, a touring exhibition curated by Scenic Rim artist and researcher Larissa Warren. The exhibition is an initiative of The Centre Beaudesert | The Scenic Rim Regional Council, delivered in partnership with Museums & Galleries Queensland.
Opening to the public 13 November 2025, Shifting Ground will be displayed at Warwick Art Gallery until 10 January 2026.
Shifting Ground is a celebratory exhibition that explores how clay, as both material and metaphor, can carry stories across time, connecting past makers with present-day artists. By sharing locally sourced clays, material research, and community stories, this project invites reflection on resilience, place-based practice, and the unseen labour of creative women in regional Australia.
The exhibition showcases a stunning selection of ceramic works by twelve contemporary Australian artists, alongside a poignant collection of historical pieces by pioneering women potters from the Tamborine Mountain region. Each piece is crafted from Tamborine Mountain’s native volcanic clays, uniting artists – both past and present – and highlighting the deep connection between place, material, and tradition.
This exhibition builds on Larissa Warren’s 2020 project Wild Women, Wild Clay, which was born out of extended periods of isolation during the global pandemic. Her research uncovered rich and fascinating stories of female potters who lived in relative isolation on Tamborine Mountain from the 1940s to 1980s, digging raw clays from their backyards to create decorative ceramics to use and sell from their home galleries.
Larissa explained, “The exhibition explores how clay, as both material and metaphor, can carry stories across time, connecting past makers with present-day artists. By sharing locally sourced clays, material research, and community stories, this project invites reflection on resilience, place-based practice, and the unseen labour of creative women in regional Australia.”
“This exhibition truly highlights the intricate thought processes behind the creation of these ceramics, and the realisation of the artists’ visions is nothing short of inspiring,” Larissa said.
Image: Vicki Grima, Lidded Vessel 1, 2, 3, 2022 Eagles Close, Red Retreat and Hillside clays, Display: 10 x 21 x 7.5cm, Courtesy of the artist.
Shifting Ground is a touring exhibition curated by Larissa Warren and presented in partnership with Scenic Rim Regional Council and Museums & Galleries Queensland. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government's Visions of Australia program. Museums & Galleries Queensland is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.
