Presidents Report AGM 2026
Once again, it has been a busy year for Borderline! From September 2025 we have been working through activities connected with our successful grant application with Create NSW. Two final workshops associated with the grant were held– Lizzie Horne’s Aluminium Etching at Wallangarra Hall in October 2025 and Liz Powell Book Binding this year at The Engine Drivers Barracks. Both were well attended with positive feedback and fed into exhibition work.
What has become a regular exhibition for us with Texas Regional Art Gallery finished in September 2025. Openings there are always well attended with a great afternoon tea. Thanks to Jane Henry, a Borderliner and a Texan, for coordinating. With shows like this we continue to support isolated and regional galleries.
The first of the grant supported shows was at Ceramic Break Sculpture Park, Warialda. Thanks go to Kerry Cannon assisted by Barbara Downey from Ceramic Break for making the exhibition possible and to Linda and Geoff Nye, and Sue and Bob Jurd who transported the exhibition to and from Warialda. Thanks to Helene Grimley and those who attended the opening for Borderline.
Our whirlwind exhibition tour – Regenerate Reimagine Renewal- kicked off again in 2026 at Gunnedah Bi-Centennial Art Gallery. Thanks go to Gay Landeta for initiating contact with this lovely gallery. She is a serious contender for the “Herding Cats Award” because of her spreadsheeting and pursuit of participants to fulfill deadlines. Grant funding enabled us to employ excellent regional couriers to get work to and from Gunnedah. The gallery curator was very impressed with the variety and standard of works and our organisation as a whole. Thanks also to Helen and Chris Adams for travelling to represent Borderline at the opening.
In between our exhibitions members found time to put in a strong representation of at SRAG’s LOL Exhibition, then there was a well-deserved break for those who wished to participate in the Art Retreat at “Tumbledown” in April. Supported by grant funding this year with strong attendance, it was a very fruitful working weekend.
Back to the exhibition trail! Next on our list was Glen Innes Art Gallery. They are a good group to work with and we had good sales over the exhibition period with a particularly strong opening event, supported by attendance of gallery volunteers and Borderline members. This exhibition ended up overlapping with the beginning of our final show on the road, at Surat on Balonne Gallery in central Queensland. Thanks to Sue Jurd for liaising with the gallery there, and thanks to Borderliners who really pulled out the stops to provide work for this final exhibition of 2026. We were fortunate to have grant funding to employ couriers for transport of works. When Surat is finishes we will have completed all our activities and fulfilled our grant commitments. The title of the grant application was Cultural Access -Regenerating Art Communities and I think we achieved that in spades.
In between all this the normal operations of the association have continued. Members voted to cease the Barracks Art Market, feeling it had run its course. In conjunction with the Railway Markets we are now running small Members 4 Members workshops in the Barracks coordinated by Sue Jurd. We donated funds to SRAG for the acquisition budget for the Stanthorpe Art Prize and thanks to Krishna Heffernan for representing Borderline as sponsors on the opening nightOur Socials exposure on Face Book, organised by Helen Adams, has really taken off, and . Gay Landeta’s wrangling of the website continues to provide us with strong internet presence. Thank you ladies. All the executive have been working hard for the last year, supporting all our projects and activities, and as President I particularly want to thank them for their efforts and energy.
Thanks once again to the Historical Railway Society for our terrific home base, The Engine Drivers Barracks.