Toowoomba

Wednesday 18 March 2026
THE PURSUIT OF PERFECTION: Hendrick Goltzius (1558 – 1617)
Presented by Albert Godetseky
Venue & Time: Burke & Wills Hotel, Cunningham Room, 5.45pm for a 6pm start

While no longer a household name, the Dutch artist Hendrick Goltzius was regarded as a titan of printmaking for almost three centuries. To his contemporaries and subsequent generations, Goltzius’ contribution to the development of engraving could not be overestimated. Our journey into his life and oeuvre will include key examples by his hand and those of the workshop he established in Haarlem in the 1580s. With clients all over Europe – from princes to politicians – Goltzius applied his talents not only to his prints but to marketing a signature Goltzius ‘brand’, often in innovative and sometimes cunning ways. Goltzius’ designs would have a long-lasting and far-reaching influence appearing in works of art as far as India and Indonesia.

Albert Godetzky received his PhD on Haarlem Mannerism from the Courtauld Institute where he was Associate Lecturer in Early Modern Art until 2025. He has worked at several European institutions including the National Gallery, London, as the Harry M. Weinrebe Curatorial Fellow. He is currently a lead researcher for a private collection in the Netherlands and is preparing a book length biography of the Dutch artist Hendrick Goltzius for Reaktion Press.

Wednesday 15 April 2026
PADDINGTON: The Arts Hub
Presented by Peter McNeil
Venue & Time: Burke & Wills Hotel, Cunningham Room, 5.45pm for a 6pm start

Paddington is possibly Australia’s most loved suburb. It is renowned as an almost intact nineteenth-century precinct. Once shabby and down at heel, by the 1960s it was Sydney’s ‘arts hubs’. How and why did this happen? What makes Paddington so loved by our creatives? How did the galleries start up? By the 1970s the suburb was brimming with artists, writers, musicians, designers, journos and film-makers. We walk by Margaret Olley’s object-strewn studio. We see Paddington inspired textiles and wallpapers. We pass entertainer Jeanne Little and decorator husband Barrie in Paddington St. We look through the window at the antique shops, florists and interior designers of the ‘80s and ‘90s. Lunch at Lucio’s is included (but only via imagery).

Dr Peter McNeil FAHA is Distinguished Professor of Design History at UTS. From 2008-18 he lived and worked in three countries, being Foundation Professor of Fashion Studies in Sweden and Academy of Finland Distinguished Professor, Helsinki. Peter McNeil contributed two chapters for the 2019 publication ‘Paddington: A History’ (UNSW Press). He has a particular interest in the Paddington-Hill End artistic connections. ‘Paddington’ won ‘Best Book’ at the 2019 National Trust Awards.

Wednesday 27 May 2026
SCUPLTURE AND SCIENCE FICTION
Presented by David Worthington
Venue & Time: Burke & Wills Hotel, Cunningham Room, 5.45pm for a 6pm start

This lecture traces the relationship between the histories of sculpture and science fiction in the 20th century. Starting with Jacob Epstein’s Rock Drill of 1913 the lecture will show how the search by many artists for a simplified expression of human experience created imagery that fed into the depiction of robots and aliens in Science Fiction films. This became a cross-cultural fertilisation when artists started incorporating Sci-Fi imagery into their own work particularly with the advent of Pop Art. The lecture explains how Modernist sculpture created an arena of the unknown that worked perfectly as an experimental lab for symbols and forms ready to be appropriated by film makers who boldly went where no man or woman had gone before.

David Worthington has been drawn to abstract sculpture since seeing a Barbara Hepworth in a school
history book aged 10. He graduated from Oxford University in 1984 with a degree in Philosophy and Theology, then studied Fine Art in London, Barcelona and New York. David is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Sculptors and was Vice President in 2010-13. He has carried out public commissions in the UK, America and Japan.

Wednesday 24 June 2026
WALK ON THE WILD SIDE
Presented by Pieter de Vries
Venue & Time: Burke & Wills Hotel, Cunningham Room, 5.45pm for a 6pm start

“In this lecture, I’ll share my techniques for capturing extraordinary images for Sir David Attenborough and National Geographic. From playful Macaque monkeys in China to majestic Cassowaries in Northern Australia, I’ll illustrate my presentation with segments from my nature documentaries.”

Sydney filmmaker Pieter de Vries is one of the leading documentary cinematographers in the world, travelling six months of the year to every imaginable location. His career has seen him filming the Red Army in China, rats in the sewers of New York, and the wreck of the Titanic with director James Cameron. Pieter has contributed to programs hosted by Sir David Attenborough and was Director of Photography for Darwin’s Lost Paradise. His numerous awards have included Cinematographer of the Year, and an Emmy nomination. His work has featured on NBC, BBC, History, Discovery and National Geographic Channels, as well as on ABC Television.

Wednesday 22 July 2026
SPECTACULAR BODIES: Art, Anatomy, Medical Science
Presented by Barry Venning
Venue & Time: Burke & Wills Hotel, Cunningham Room, 5.45pm for a 6pm start

Without the help of some supremely talented artists, sculptors, draughtsmen and engravers, the practice of medicine would not have advanced as rapidly as it did. This talk examines the mutual benefits that art and medical science have bestowed upon one another; it refers, as one would expect, to the art of great Renaissance masters such as Leonardo, Antonio Pollaiuolo and Michelangelo, but it also considers examples of work by (among others) Rembrandt, Hogarth, the American realist painter Thomas Eakins and the English artist Henry Tonks, who was both a distinguished surgeon and a gifted painter and teacher.

Barry Venning is an art historian whose interests and teaching range from the art of late medieval Europe to global contemporary art. He has published on Turner, Constable and European landscape painting, but also has an ongoing research interest in postcolonial art and British visual satire. His media work includes two BBC TV documentaries, radio appearances for BBC local radio and ABC Australia, and a DVD on Turner for the Tate.

Wednesday 19 August 2026
THE WORLD OF HOMER
Presented by James Renshaw
Venue & Time: Burke & Wills Hotel, Cunningham Room, 5.45pm for a 6pm start

This talk examines the history and cultural legacy of the two earliest works in the western literary canon: the Iliad and the Odyssey. After an outline of each plotline, the talk will focus on how and why these poems have cast such a spell on artists and writers ever since, from ancient Greek tragedy and vase painting, through renaissance artists such as Botticelli and Bernini, and up to modern authors such as James Joyce and Madeleine Miller. Understanding the world of Homer is an essential element for understanding the history of western art.

Following a degree in Classics from Oxford University, James Renshaw has taught Classics at secondary school level since 1998, including early in his career at Sydney Grammar School. He currently teaches at Godolphin and Latymer in London; here he runs the school’s Ancient World Breakfast Club, which has an ethos similar to that of The Arts Society. Since 1998, James has published a number of textbooks related to the classical world, including In Search of the Greeks and In Search of the Romans. James has also lectured for the V&A Academy, most recently on their Classical World and its Afterlife and Classicism from the Ancients to the Renaissance courses. James is a keen traveller and photographer of ancient sites.

Wednesday 23 September 2026
THE WORLD OF PEARLS
Presented by Claire Blatherwick
Venue & Time: Burke & Wills Hotel, Cunningham Room, 5.45pm for a 6pm start

The allure of pearls has been documented from ancient times and there is evidence of the use of pearls in the Arabian Gulf region dating back to 4000BC. In ancient Rome, according to legend, Venus herself was born of the sea like a pearl. The Romans thought pearls were formed from the teardrops of the gods, or perhaps as a result of clams capturing dewdrops in the moonlight. This talk looks at the amazing variety of types of pearls, from those produced by oysters to marine snails, how they are found and some of the most famous pearls in the world, including those that belonged to Mary Queen of Scots.

Clare Blatherwick is an independent jewellery consultant based in Scotland. She has over twenty years of experience in the jewellery business, ten of which were spent as Head of Jewellery for Bonhams in Scotland, a role which saw her travel internationally searching for wonderful jewels to be auctioned around the globe. She has a keen interest in the historical aspect of jewellery and has lectured and appeared on various TV programmes in the UK and US as a jewellery expert.

Wednesday 28 October 2026
‘ONCE UPON A TIME … IN BLUE AND WHITE’: The Story of the Willow Pattern Plate
Presented by Amanda Herries
Venue & Time: Burke & Wills Hotel, Cunningham Room, 5.45pm for a 6pm start

Two lovers meeting underneath the orange tree, an elopement, a fierce father and jilted suitor; pursuit across a bridge and into a little boat; tragedy and death. Two love-birds flying together forever – all under the gentle sway of the willow tree – on the instantly recognisable ‘Willow Pattern Plate’. From the early nineteenth century it was well-known and much loved design on thousands of English teapots, plates and dishes. Is it Chinese? Is it English? With one or two surprises, the story behind this famous image takes us from the origins of blue and white designs in the exotic East to the emerging wealth of the Midlands pottery towns.

Amanda read Archaeology & Anthropology at Cambridge. From 1978-1988 was a curator at Museum of London specialising in the decorative arts 1714 to present day. She has lived in Japan lecturing and writing on Oriental / Western cross-cultural and artistic influences. Her most recent publications on Japanese plant and garden influences in the West and the life of Henry Raeburn, Scotland’s foremost portrait painter.