Toondah Harbour: Artists banding together to save harbour in Moreton Bay show

Big name artists – including an Archibald finalist – are banding together to protect Moreton Bay’s wetlands from development. You can own one of their works for only $150 by supporting the cause.

The beauty of Moreton Bay has inspired many artists over the years and now, to help protect the aquatic playground, 50 local talents are uniting for the Saving Toondah – Artists for Moreton Bay show at the Woolloongabba Art Gallery.

Prominent artists including Archibald finalist Peter Hudson, Ian Smith, and John Honeywill have joined emerging talents such as Bayton Award winner Erin Dunne to donate works.

All pieces are $150 and money raised will go to Birdlife Australia for their campaign to protect the wetlands of Toondah Harbour and Moreton Bay.

Each artist is contributing one to two pieces, including paintings, sculpture, limited-edition prints and drawings.

Islands in an Encroaching Sea by Ian Smith

Ian, whose works hang in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the National Gallery of Australia, had no hesitation to donate his work Islands in an Encroaching Sea, especially with his personal connection with Moreton Bay.

“From 2004 to 2014 I had a getaway place on Lamb Island, just south of Cleveland … doing artworks on tidal Lamb Island matured my view of the eco-importance and beauty of the mangroves – often dismissed, ignored, undervalued as the ugly sister of our bright sandy beaches with sparkling blue waves,” Ian says.

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“The title arose literally, as I loosely brushed curls of painted seawater around blocky island shapes on my canvas.”

Other contributing Queensland artists include Karen Stephens, Maureen Hansen, Stephen Nothling, Mostyn Bramley-Moore and Megan Forward, whose work The Great Wave meets Moreton Bay was inspired by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai’s (1760-1849) The Great Wave off Kanagawa.

Megan Forward, The Great Wave meets Moreton Bay.

“While we don’t have huge waves crashing into our shores, we do have the beautiful blue, grey, green and brown colours of Moreton Bay, and the mangroves that grow around the perimeters that are so vital for providing habitats and supporting new life in the ecosystem,’’ Megan says.

Bayside artist Clare Purser only needs to turn to her own Moreton Bay neighbourhood and surrounding islands for inspiration for her abstract-landscape paintings.

Clare says Toondah Harbour is a significant wetland protected by the Ramsar Convention – an international agreement to protect habitats of endangered species, in this case, critically endangered shore birds.

The proposed Toondah harbour project. Artist’s impression.

The area is being threatened by a large marina development.

“The wetlands are an important feeding site for around 50,000 shore birds, including migratory birds that stop over from as far away as Siberia and fatten up on the nutrient rich mud flats. The site is also home to dugongs, dolphins, and turtles,” Clare says.

Saving Toondah – Artists for Moreton Bay, Nov 19-30, Woolloongabba Art Gallery, 613 Stanley St, Woolloongabba.