Residencies
At Umbrella, we seek to provide a relevant national and global platform for our talented artist community. We also invite and accept applications from renowned artists and experts in their field to enable exchanges and connection here in North Queensland. We are pleased to share upcoming residency opportunities and announcements below.
Creative Research Residency
Umbrella and James Cook University (JCU) are planning an exciting residency focused on JCU Library's Special Collection at the Eddie Koiki Mabo Library and at The Studio, on Bindal and Wulgurukaba Country in Townsville.
The collections include rare books, books with hand-coloured prints and bookplates, newspapers, photographs, and art objects. While the collection has a focus on North Queensland and the tropics, it ultimately tells stories about Australia and its connection to places and people elsewhere.
The residency will support one contemporary Australian visual artist with accommodation, an artist fee and a travel fee for a one-month program, divided into one week at JCU Library's Special Collection at the Eddie Koiki Mabo Library and three weeks at The Studio at Umbrella.
Applicants may indicate their preferred timeframe of the residency within the months of August, September, October, and November of the year 2023.
Applications closed on Tuesday 28 February 2023.
The assessment committee is currently scheduled to review the applications at the end of March, and applicants will be contacted shortly thereafter.
Learn more about the Creative Research Residency here.
Pioneer Sugar Mill, Register of Pacific Islanders Employed at Pioneer in the District of Townsville: Schedule L (1895-1906), Manuscript (handwritten), 94 pages, 37 x 27cm, JCU Library Pioneer Sugar Mill Archive, Ⓒ James Cook University. Photography by Michael Marzik. nqheritage.jcu.edu.au/41
Veronica Calarco, 13 Ilongau, 2020, Mixed printmaking (drypoint, linocut), 35.5 x 69.5cm.
PressNorth Studio Residency
In partnership with PressNorth Printmakers, Umbrella regularly invites artists, who specialise in printmaking, into The Studio for a three-month residency opportunity. Over the course of their residency, the artists will gain 24-hour access to the Studio’s facilities and will be welcomed into a vibrant artist community and encouraged to experiment and create.
PressNorth Printmakers is a not-for-profit artist-run-initiative composed of emerging, mid-career and professional printmakers from Townsville and the surrounding regions.
For the PressNorth Studio Residency in 2023, Umbrella and PressNorth Printmakers are pleased to announce that Dr. Veronica Calarco will be joining The Studio from mid-March to mid-June. Veronica is an Australian printmaker, living and practicing in Wales, who specialises in lithography mixed technique printmaking and has a strong interest in endangered and minority languages.
Riverbank Studio Residency
Umbrella and renowned Townsville-based artist Dr. Anneke Silver are offering a space for artists in regional North Queensland to create new work during a Riverbank Studio Residency.
The residencies are situated on a private property in the suburb of Kelso, which backs on to the Ross River, offering a unique working environment and a large studio space surrounded by nature. The residencies can be hosted throughout the year and usually have a duration of one to three months.
A call for applications will be released in April 2023.
View from the Riverbank Studio. Photograph: Anneke Silver.
Alison McDonald, Waiting for go (detail), 2020, Reused anodised aluminium etched, copper, sterling silver, titanium, stainless steel, brass and wood, 20 x 47 x 46cm.
Past residencies
Umbrella's residency programs began in 2015 with the Grand Hotel Townsville Artist in Residence (AIR) program. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we pivoted to an At Home Artist in Residence (AHAIR) program, inviting three North Queensland artists to create new work from their home studios.
Learn more about our past residency programs, including previous PressNorth Studio Residencies, here.
COVID Safe Visits
Umbrella asks that visitors adhere to social distancing, visitor logs, and other COVID Safe directives and procedures as directed.
Open Hours
Tues - Fri: 9am-5pm
Sat - Sun: 9am-1pm
Gallery closed Mondays, public holidays and during exhibition install weeks.
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Contact
408 Flinders Street,
Townsville, Qld, 4810 Australia
PO Box 2394,
Townsville, Qld, 4810 Australia
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Acknowledgement of Country
Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts respectfully acknowledges the Wulgurukaba of Gurambilbarra and Yunbenun and the surrounding groups of our region; Bindal, Gugu Badhan, Nywaigi, Warrgamay, Bandjin and Gudjal as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we gather, share and celebrate local creative practice. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as the first people of Australia. They have never ceded sovereignty and remain strong in their enduring connection to land and Culture.