Main Gallery: 14 October 2011 - 8 January 2012

Wendy Fairclough, Waiting for rain #2, 2005, hand blown glass, sandblasted
Donated by the Friends of the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, 2005

For over thirty years, since the foundation of Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, hundreds of our supporters, the Friends of the Gallery, have contributed their time and energy, helping to bring exhibitions, programs and cultural events to the local community. Their generosity has also provided many amazing works of art for the Gallery's collections - and now these paintings, prints and glass works are on display, all together for the first time, in Gifted, a tribute to the Friends of the Gallery.

The Gallery itself has moved several times - from the Council Chambers in the 1970s, to Gurwood Street in the 1980s and 1990s, and since 1999, in the architect-designed Civic Centre on the banks of Wollundry Lagoon. In the same way, the Friends of the Gallery have travelled under different titles: first established in 1975 as the Wagga City Art Gallery Society, the group changed its name in 1979 to the Regional Gallery Society. But since 1991, they've been known and loved as the Friends of the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery.

The Friends support the Gallery in many ways: advocacy and lobbying, promotional activities, helping out with public programs and installing exhibitions. They also provide the wonderful catering for our exhibition launches; and in 2009, the Governor of New South Wales, Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO, was so impressed by their dedication that she accepted our request to become the official patron of the Friends of the Gallery.

For the past three decades, the Friends have also regularly presented a remarkable range of donated artworks to the Gallery. The exhibition includes works by many of Australia's most prominent artists, such as paintings by John Coburn, Donald Laycock and David Schlunke; glass by Maureen Williams, Brian Hirst and Stephen Skillitzi; and prints by John Neeson, Meg Buchanan and Dennis Nona. As this exhibition shows, the Friends of the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery are truly Gifted!

Opening

When:     Thursday 8 December, 5:00 - 8:00pm
Where:    Wagga Wagga Art Gallery
Cost:        Free