Toowoomba printmakers mark 15th anniversary with Crows Nest show

Published on 12 December 2025

Toowoomba arts collective, The Saturday Printmakers, is celebrating 15 years of practice with a new exhibition titled, past², which will be on display at the Crows Nest Gallery from January 7 to February 1, 2026.

The group meets monthly at the Toowoomba Art Society (TAS) at Culliford House, providing access to professional facilities while fostering a supportive environment for emerging and established practitioners.

For their latest exhibition, The Saturday Printmakers challenged themselves to produce small prints.

Artworks of this scale present a compositional challenge, requiring the artist to communicate a narrative within a restrictive size and format.

Anchored in the conceptual prompt of the past, the square format serves as both a formal constraint and a conceptual frame through which the past is recalled, reimagined, and inscribed in print. With the group turning 15 in 2025, the exhibition reflects on the past.

Printmaking is a medium historically entwined with reproduction, preservation, and the dissemination of cultural memory.

past² not only celebrates the longevity of The Saturday Printmakers as a community of practice but also demonstrates how a modest format and constraint can hold and convey complex, powerful narratives.

The participating artists are Karen Austin, Cecily Bisshop, Ute Braatz, Sian Carlyon, Natalie Carrigan, Allison Page, Jeanette Stacey, Abigail S. Watson and Beth Wilson.

The exhibition’s Meet the Artists event will be held on Sunday, January 11, 2026, from 11am to 1pm.

For more information, please see: www.tr.qld.gov.au/crowsnestgallery

Enquiries about the exhibition can be directed to Crows Nest Gallery on (07) 4698 1687 or crowsnestart@tr.qld.gov.au

Crows Nest Gallery, at the corner of the New England Highway and William Street, Crows Nest, will re-open at 10.30am on Wednesday, January 7, 2026.

The Gallery’s regular open hours are 10.30am to 3.30pm Wednesday to Sunday. It is closed on Monday, Tuesday and public holidays. Entry is free.

Image captions:

1. Cecily BISSHOP / Rising monumental 2025 / intaglio type and hand coloured / 27 x 27cm / © Cecily Bisshop
2. 2. Ute BRAATZ / Gladstone Hotel (live bands) 2025 / lino print / 27 x 27cm / © Ute Braatz (below)
3. 3. Allison PAGE / Bush picnic 2025 / intaglio type / 27 x 27cm / © Allison Page
4. 4. Jeanette STACEY / The stragglers 2025 / lino print / 27 x 27cm / © Jeanette Stacey (bottom)