Photo: Supplied
FROM WYNNUM MANLY ARTS COUNCIL INC.
Wynnum artist Diane McDonald is leaving a strong legacy.
Diane was preparing works for her fifth solo exhibition in June 2022 when her life was tragically cut short by cancer at the age of 57. Just three months before her passing, Diane was a finalist in the prestigious Glover Art Prize – arguably Australia’s foremost landscape award – in Tasmania for the second time.
Diane was a regular finalist in the Moreton Bay Art Awards, Brisbane Rotary Art Spectacular, Lethbridge 10,000 and Ipswich Art Awards, where she won Best Theme Category in 2017—also staging successful solo exhibitions in Brisbane, Stanthorpe and Glen Innes, as well as undertaking artist-in-residence at the Tweed Regional Art Gallery and Gawura Gallery in NSW.
It was in Diane’s nature to always encourage aspiring and fellow artists and her extensive studio collection of easels, paints, rulers, pencils, brushes, and numerous other tools have been donated to the Wynnum Manly Arts Council Inc. In appreciation, the not-for-profit organisation based in Florence Street, Wynnum, has dedicated ‘The Di McDonald Community Art Garden’ in her honour.
Despite battling regular and intense bouts of fatigue and illness associated with the cancer, Diane considered the works produced in her Wynnum studio her best yet.
In honour of Diane’s memory, her family are displaying her last works, as well as a collection of other pieces that have not previously been exhibited, at the Petrie Terrace Gallery, Petrie Terrace. The funds generated will be passed to Diane’s oncologist Dr Jim Coward, an international researcher specialising in immunotherapy who works at the Icon Cancer Centre at the Mater Hospital in South Brisbane.
The ’Diane McDonald – Legacy’ Exhibition opening night function will be held at 7pm on Thursday, 4th May 2023. The exhibition will close on 8th May 2023.
