UQ Art Museum

📣 WAITLIST NOW OPEN! 📣
This event is now at capacity, but you can still join the waitlist. If a place becomes available, we’ll be in touch! Joining the waitlist will also keep you updated about future sessions. ✨

🌿 Slow Looking: Art for Mindfulness and Wellbeing 🌿
This guided session invites you to slow down and spend time with a single artwork. Through gentle conversation and personal reflection prompts, you will have the chance to pause and connect. Everyone is welcome - no art knowledge or experience is needed - just bring yourself!

📍 UQ, St Lucia campus
📅 Wed 26 August - 10:30-11:30am
🔗 Places filled quickly - join the waitlist here:
https://events.humanitix.com/slow-looking-art-for-mindfulness-and-wellbeing

This event is part of UQ's Student Health Month and is for students only.

Image: Students viewing an artwork by Charles Callins, 'Moreton Bay', 1976. Installation view, 'Oceanic Thinking', The University of Queensland Art Museum, 2022. Photo: Marc Pricop.

Join us for a fortnightly reading group in the lead up to "Reflective Motives: Two Days with the Climate Aware Creative Practices Network and UQ Art Museum". The reading group will focus on key texts by Elder, educator and philosopher Dr Aunty Mary Graham, who will be presenting the keynote conversation with Tristen Harwood at Reflective Motives in November.

The reading group is a chance to come together around key texts by Mary, including from her new book "Politics: Philosophical Ordering by Country", co-authored with Morgan Brigg (Thames & Hudson 2026). It is suitable for anyone interested in exploring ideas and strategies for responding to a socially and environmentally charged climate in the context of contemporary art.

🍃 Free, online
📆 Starts Fri 25 Sep
🔗 Register now: https://events.humanitix.com/reflective-motives-online-reading-group

Additional info: This online reading group is open to all. Closed captions will be enabled to support participation, and participants have the option to both respond verbally and in writing, utilising chat and a separate document for longer form reflections. Reading texts ahead of time is welcome, but not required for participation.

Reflective Motives is hosted by UQ Art Museum in partnership with the Climate Aware Creative Practices Network and is supported by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body, and by Monash Art Design and Architecture.

🎉 BLOCK PARTY IS COMING! A family-friendly party on the peninsula! 🎉

🌿 Join us at the University of Queensland's green and leafy Great Court in St Lucia for a big afternoon Block Party full of family-friendly entertainment, exploration and community connection.

🎶 Roll out a blanket and soak in the tunes of Feelin’ the Groove with the UQ Saxophone Ensemble, folk-pop duo Cali Rd and the captivating Sue Ray live on the Brisbane Festival Stage.

🎨 Get creative with free drop-in workshops, drawing activities and play on the interactive artwork, 'DEMOS (Sandstone)' by Andreas Angelidakis.

🏛️ Explore UQ with tours and activities at the UQ Art Museum, Anthropology Museum, RD Milns Antiquities Museum, Fryer Library and more.

🍴 Craft a feast from the range of food and drink trucks and enjoy a relaxed afternoon together. It's the perfect way to celebrate Father's Day.

📍 UQ Great Court, St Lucia campus
📅 Sun 6 September 12:00-4:00pm
🔗 Register here: https://events.humanitix.com/st-lucia-block-party

Full activity line up announced August 2026.
We can't wait to see you there!

Images: 1) St Lucia Serenades 2025. Photo: Mullumae; 2) 'Shields' exhibition installation view, UQ Anthropology Museum, February 2026. Photo: Louis Lim; 3) Visitors at a guided tour of the RD Milns Antiquities Museum. UQ Arts Block Party, March 2025. Photo: Joe Ruckli; 4) Picnic goers at UQ Arts Block Party, March 2025. Photo: Joe Ruckli; 5) Cali Rd. Photo courtesy of the artists; 6) Andreas Angelidakis, ‘DEMOS (Sandstone)', 2020, foam, vinyl, fifty parts. Installation view. Reproduced courtesy of the artist. Photo: Carl Warner; 7) Visitors at drop-in drawing, UQ Arts Block Party, March 2025. Photo: Joe Ruckli; 8) Workshop attendees, UQ Arts Block Party, March 2025. Photo: Joe Ruckli; 9) Sue Ray. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Upcoming event: "Indigenising Disability: A Conversation with Uncle Paul Constable Calcott and Dr Samantha Cooms"

Join Uncle Paul Constable Calcott, proud Wiradjuri man, artist, and person living with disability, and Dr Samantha Cooms, proud Noonuccal Quandamooka mother, carer and researcher, in conversation as they discuss First Nations values and approaches to disability.

This is a free panel discussion presented in partnership with the Faculty of Business, Economics and Law.

🕚 12noon-2pm
📆 Friday 28 August
📍 Terrace Room, Sir Llew Edwards Building (14), UQ St Lucia

Register now: https://art-museum.uq.edu.au/event/session/4176

A social story is coming soon with more information about what to expect on the day.

Images courtesy of the speakers.

📣 CALLING ALL UQ STUDENTS! Take a break from the pace of semester and join us for Slow Looking: Art for Mindfulness and Wellbeing 🌿

This guided session invites you to slow down and spend time with a single artwork. Through gentle conversation and personal reflection prompts, you will have the chance to pause and connect. Everyone is welcome - no art knowledge or experience is needed - just bring yourself!

🎁 Attendees will receive free UQ Art Museum merch, and snacks will be provided.
📍 UQ, St Lucia campus
📅 Wed 26 August - 10:30-11:30am
🎟️ Free event
🔗 Places are limited - register here: https://events.humanitix.com/slow-looking-art-for-mindfulness-and-wellbeing

This event is part of UQ’s Student Health Month and is for students only

Image: A group of students gather around an artwork titled “Self portrait looking for ships” by Alexander McKenzie. They are having a warm and lively discussion. Photo: Joe Ruckli.

Reflective Motives is a two-day gathering bringing together artists, researchers, educators and curators for two days of practice-led climate thinking. Drawing on Dr Aunty Mary Graham’s articulation of ‘the reflective motive’ as a mode of understanding and practicing relationality, this gathering offers strategies for responding to a socially and environmentally charged climate in the context of contemporary art.

The program comprises four artist-led workshops facilitated by artists and researchers including Dominique Chen, Caitlin Franzmann, Libby Harward, Bianca Hester, Eugenia Lim, Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris, Lleah Smith and additional collaborators to be announced.

🤍 Free event, register here: https://art-museum.uq.edu.au/event/session/4174
📍 UQ St Lucia
📆 12-13 November

The keynote conversation will take place between Dr Aunty Mary Graham and Tristen Harwood. Alongside shared meals, walks and screenings, Marilena Hewitt will collaborate with attendees and facilitators to create a responsive Reflective Motives reader, collating conversations, workshop notes, reflections and printing experiments, in a live publication to be distributed at the event’s close.

Reflective Motives is an invitation to engage with artists working with place, Country, matter and language. Alongside hosted workshops and talks, a breakout space will provide room for unprogrammed conversations, sharing, meals, and exchanges, as well as a platform for attendees to self-organise their own creative and collective contributions to the event.

Reflective Motives is hosted by UQ Art Museum in partnership with the Climate Aware Creative Practices Network and is supported by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body, and by Monash Art Design and Architecture.

Join us for an afternoon of experimental practice in contemporary disability thinking. This one-off live performance with Access Lab & Library shares the creative outcomes of a day-long workshop which brings participants together as a temporary, access-focused collective. The performance expands on the possibilities of image and audio descriptions through collaboration and invites audiences to engage through sight, sound and/or movement.

📍Terrace Room, Level 6, Sir Llew Edwards Building, UQ St Lucia
🗓️ Saturday 27 June
🕒 3:00pm
🎟️ Free event
🍴Complimentary food and refreshments following the performance.

Register via the link in bio.

To help plan your visit, a social story with intormation about what to expect on the day is available via the link in bio.

Access Lab and Library UQ Art Museum

Image: “...derelict in uncharted space..” (2023), co-devised by Fayen d’Evie, with a row of community audio describers, including Jon Tjhia, standing at the stage edge. Melbourne Fringe x Chunky Move Radical Access Commission. Photo by Gianna Rizzo.

Join us for an afternoon of experimental practice in contemporary disability thinking. This one-off live performance with Access Lab & Library shares the creative outcomes of a day-long workshop which brings participants together as a temporary, access-focused collective. The performance expands on the possibilities of image and audio descriptions through collaboration and invites audiences to engage through sight, sound and/or movement.

📍 Dr Mary Mahoney AO Amphitheatre, UQ Lakes
🗓️ Saturday 27 June
🕒️ 3:00pm
🎟️ Free event
🍴 Complimentary food and refreshments following the performance. This is a family friendly outdoor event.

Register here: https://events.humanitix.com/against-the-protocols-of-the-civilised-body-performance-with-access-lab-and-library

To help plan your visit, a social story with information about what to expect on the day is available here:https://art-museum.uq.edu.au/files/38260/Social%20story%20_%20ALL%20Perfomance.pdf



Image: “...derelict in uncharted space…” (2023), co-devised by Fayen d'Evie, with a row of community audio describers, including Jon Tjhia, standing at the stage edge. Melbourne Fringe x Chunky Move Radical Access Commission. Photo by Gianna Rizzo.

"Affectionately referred to by our staff as “the lady on the couch", we are particularly drawn to the rawness and beauty of the artwork. Its presence adds depth, character, and personality to the restaurant, enhancing the atmosphere of both Patina and the Radon Room. The artwork consistently evokes a strong response from our guests and it has become the most sought-after table in the restaurant and contributes to the overall guest experience, creating memorable moments for those who dine with us."

— Arturo Flores, Food and Beverage Manager, Customs House / Patina at Alumni Court

📍 Patina Alumni Court, UQ St Lucia
🕚 Open 7am-3.30pm, Mon-Wed / 7am-9pm Thurs-Fri

Realist painter John Brack was a prominent figure in the 20th century Australian art, known for his restrained yet stylistic artistic approach. In Brack's work, the lives of everyday Australians are realised in flat shapes and simplified lines, often in a subdued colour palette. Depicting scenes drawn from inner city and outer suburban Melbourne/Naarm, public life and private domestic realities are transformed by Brack's brush, becoming disquieting and unhomely.

This painting was donated by Professor William Ross Johnston who graduated from The University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Laws in 1961 and a Master of Arts in 1965. Dr Johnston began collecting contemporary art in the early 1970s. The donation of this painting is his most significant gift to any institution, and its gift will ensure the artwork will be available to scholars, students, and community members for generations to come.

There are over 400 artworks from the UQ Art Collection on display around our campuses as part of the Art On Campus program. Learn more: https://art-museum.uq.edu.au/art-on-campus

Image: John Brack, 'N**e with crossed legs', 1974. Installation view, The University of Queensland. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program by W. Ross Johnston, 2023. Photo: Joe Ruckli.

Patina Restaurant

Celebrate NAIDOC Week with us as we honour this year’s theme, '50 Years of Deadly', through a special art walking tour of the UQ Art Museum Collection.

Developed and led by UQ student and UQ Art Museum team member Braelyn Rolfe-Chase, this guided tour explores powerful Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artworks across multiple locations on The University of Queensland, St Lucia campus. Connect with works by acclaimed artists including Richard Bell, Rosella Namok, Fiona Foley and more, while celebrating culture, creativity, and storytelling through art.

The tour includes light to moderate walking, with portable stools and wheelchair-accessible routes available throughout.

📍 UQ, St Lucia campus
📅 Wed 8 July - 10:30am & 1pm
📅 Fri 10 July - 10:30am & 1pm
🎟 Free event
🔗 Bookings essential: https://events.humanitix.com/art-walking-tour-first-nations-art-on-campus-50-years-of-deadly

Artworks: 1) Rosella Namok, 'Going and coming to Cairns' 2000. Installation view. Collection of The University of Queensland, purchased 2001. Photo: Joe Ruckli. 2) Richard Bell, 'Me' 2015. Installation view. Collection of the University of Queensland, purchased 2016. Photo: Joe Ruckli.