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ephemera

Trace-less 19 July - 3 August 2025

How to Use This Resource

This Education Kit is intended to aid exhibition patrons, teachers, and students in their interpretation of the outdoor sculpture festival, Ephemera: Trace-less. It can be used as a means of encouraging individual and group responses to the art on display. Included are discussion points, engaging activities and ideas for further research. It can be used to prepare for your Ephemera visit, during your Ephemera visit, or after your Ephemera visit at home or in the classroom.

Ephemera: Trace-less will be on display on The Strand, Townsville from 19 July – 3 August 2025 Resource Credit

This resource has been put together by Townsville City Galleries. This Education Kit is printed on PEFC™ certified paper and has 30% recycled content. This resource is 100% recyclable.

Townsville City Council acknowledges the Wulgurukaba of Gurambilbarra and Yunbenun, Bindal, Gugu Badhun and Nywaigi as the Traditional Owners of this land. We pay our respects to their cultures, their ancestors and their Elders, past and present, and all future generations

Cover Artwork: Aranda © Selwyn Johnson 2024

Exhibition Overview

Aranda by Selwyn Johnson

Ephemera has been a part of Townsville’s cultural identity for 24 years. It is by far our city’s most visited visual arts event, and has hosted countless local, national, and international artists. This seaside sculpture festival brings together the community from far and wide, to celebrate sun, sand, and art –tropical North Queensland style. This Education Kit is specifically designed for secondary school age students, so have a go at some of the questions and activities as you make your way through Ephemera!

Local artist Selwyn Johnson created the artwork Aranda which has been used throughout the Ephemera 2025 Education Kit, publication, and other exhibition promotional materials.

About the Artist

Selwyn Johnson has lived in Townsville his whole life and is a proud Aboriginal artist. He is a Traditional Owner of Townsville and Magnetic Island, the Wulgurukaba People. The Wulgurukaba People call their country Gurrumbilbarra, Wulgurukaba meaning ‘canoe people’. The artwork Selwyn Johnson creates draws heavily from his cultural identity.

About the Artwork

As part of the lead up to this year’s Ephemera: Trace-less, the Galleries team engaged Wulgurukaba elders to nominate a local First Nation artist to draw an Olive-backed Sunbird, which would be conceptualised as this years’ mascot. The Olive-backed Sunbird, native to much of Queensland’s coast, stands as a remarkable symbol of resilience. This resourceful bird exemplifies the power of repurposing and reusing. When its nest is damaged, the Sunbird is quick to rebuild, often returning to the same nest or constructing a new nest nearby.

Selwyn’s artwork Aranda shows the male Olive-backed Sunbird perched on a tree branch. Aranda, was licensed to be digitised for use throughout various pieces of promotional collateral for Ephemera

Aranda © Selwyn Johnson 2024

© Allora & Calzadilla; Courtesy Lisson Gallery.

Ephemera

‘Ephemera’ refers to things that last only for a short period of time. When you look at the artworks displayed on The Strand during this two-week exhibition, think about the materials that were used to create the pieces and how long these artworks might last.

TICK-TOCK is an immersive hand sculpted art installation created from sand and water. The artwork explores the fragility of the balance between humanity and nature, and looks to evoke thoughts and conversation around awareness of environmental stewardship.

TICK-TOCK is a good example of an ephemeral artwork. It will be built over the duration of the exhibition, and at the end the artwork will disappear with the sand returned to the beach.

QUESTIONS:

Sandstorm Events use a natural material to create an ephemeral artwork. What other natural materials could you use to make an artwork?

Can you find an artwork in the exhibition that is NOT ephemeral?

ACTIVITY & DISCUSSION

Head to the artwork TICK-TOCK on The Strand and spend some time looking at this artwork. Discuss the below questions in a group or pair.

How does the ephemeral nature of this artwork’s material (sand) contribute to the meaning of the piece?

How do you think you would feel spending hours creating an artwork and then watching it break down?

Image: Sandstorm Events, Under The Sea Exhibition, Frankston Waterfront 2013

Artwork Themes

A powerful artwork has a strong theme that is engaging and relatable to its intended audience. Social, cultural, and historical factors can influence an artwork’s theme.

For Ephemera 2025, artists were invited to reconsider the concept of the ephemeral and create artworks that leave a minimal trace. This year’s theme, Trace-less, encourages a thoughtful exploration of materials and environmental awareness, sparking vital conversations around these themes.

The periwinkle plants (catharanthus roseus) in Rose Gordon’s work Chains of Invasion, have been pulled from a conservation block on Yunbenun (Magnetic Island), that was cleared in the 1940s by CSIRO for tick research on cattle grazing on the land. The land is now being rehabilitated by a volunteer nature care group on the island. Once pulled, these weeds are left to dry and decompose into the soil and to renourish the land, allowing local native plants to thrive.

QUESTIONS:

What themes are expressed in the artwork and does the theme have social, cultural and/or historical factors?

By weaving these dried plants into chains, Rose Gordon reminds us of the treatment of our First Nations people in Australia’s history and of the damage we have done to this Country by introducing plants and animals. These chains are suspended on jute rope under trees. With seeds removed, if left, eventually they will disappear without trace.

How does the artist use materials, processes, and techniques to depict their intended theme?

DID YOU K NOW?

In parts of North Queensland the Periwinkle is considered an invasive weed. It grows so quickly and thickly that it can smother other plants – kind of like an uninvited guest who won’t leave!

If you find a periwinkle where it shouldn’t be, it’s best to carefully pull it out (roots and all!) and dispose of it in a bin. This will help look after our local environment.

Image: Rose Gordon, Chains of Invasion 2024, Dried periwinkle plants (cartharanthus roseus), jute string/rope, 300 x 600 x 2 cm

Photography: Through the Looking glass Studio

Artwork Themes

DID YOU KNOW?

FACT 2

80% of marine debris comes from land. Litter that isn’t thrown away correctly can get blown or washed into drains and rivers, which it uses as a highway towards the sea. It may travel hundreds of kilometres before washing up on shore.

FACT 4

Debris Couture by Ryan Catholic College encompasses a runway of models emerging out of Townsville’s ocean in wearable art, fashioned from recyclable products and waste, and heading straight up the foreshore of The Strand. This highlights the amount of rubbish found in the ocean that could be disposed of properly or repurposed into beautiful artwork. At the same time, other models walk towards the ocean with bulk amounts of trash, symbolising the amount of pollution we put into our ocean. The models walking out are fashioned in more stylish designs of wearable art, symbolising alternative uses of the rubbish. While trash can be turned into treasure, society needs to acknowledge and protect the treasure that is our land and sea by disposing of these items in the correct fashion.

FACT 1

At Townsville clean-up events, more than half of items collected were hard plastic fragments. Plastic in the ocean doesn’t disappear, it breaks up into smaller pieces, sometimes so tiny you can’t see them.

Volunteers collect rubbish, count what they find, and add it to the Australian Marine Debris Initiative Database. 14,688 pieces of litter picked up around Townsville informed this year’s Waterways Report Card to show how much pollution different areas face.

FACT 3

More than 700 species of wildlife have been impacted by marine debris. Plastic in rivers and oceans not only harms animals, it also reduces water quality, leaches harmful chemicals and damages habitat.

HOW HEALTHY ARE OUR RIVERS, CREEKS, AND COASTS? DIVE IN

The Healthy Waters Partnership for the Dry Tropics brings data together in an annual Report Card, to tell the story of our rivers, creeks and coasts.

Image: Ryan Catholic College, Debris Couture 2025, Recycled Items, 185 x Approx 92 x depends on display (length). Photographed by Through the Looking Glass Studio.

Materials

A wide range of materials can be used to create a sculpture. Selecting materials for an outdoor sculpture is a thoughtful process that goes beyond how the artwork will look. When selecting materials, artists need to consider weather resistance, strength and durability, colour and texture, lighting and interaction with light, as well as symbolism and meaning.

Rae Saheli’s installation Elysian Blooms is a large-scale sculpture featuring three ethereal flowers created from recycled materials, including spent shotgun shells, brass casings, shot aluminium, and copper.

The artist’s distinctive art-making technique involves using a 12-gauge shotgun. That’s right, Rae shoots her work! She creates dynamic textures symbolising creation and transformation while minimising environmental impact. During the day, sunlight passes through the perforated petals, casting intricate shadows, while at night, solar-powered coloured lighting illuminates the flowers.

QUESTIONS:

List 12 different materials used in the artworks you see along The Strand:

If you were to create an ephemeral artwork, what kind of materials would you use to make it?

Considering the Ephemera 2025 theme of Trace-less, what kind of materials would you use that embrace this theme?

Image: Rae Saheli, Elysian Blooms 2024

Recycled aluminium and copper, recycled shotgun shells and brass casings 150 x 500 x 500 cm

Image Courtesy of Lex Imagery

Look closely at the materials used in Elysian Blooms. How do the recycled metals and shotgun shells change the way you see the flowers? What do you think the artist is trying to say by using these materials?

ACTIVITY & DISCUSSION

Why do you think the artist chose to use recycled and found objects in their work? What message do you think this communicates about the environment and sustainability?

What might be an alternative material you could use for this artwork and how could this material transform the meaning of the artwork?

DID YOU KNOW?

Each material used in Ephemera’s sculptures has come from our natural environment.

Draw an arrow to match the material to the natural resource:

Steel Oil

Glass Clay

Ceramic Trees

Plastic Iron Ore

Paper/Card Sand

In a pair or group, can you identify any other artworks along The Strand that also use recycled materials? Discuss what you think the artist/s would have had to consider about the materials they used when it came to weather resistance, strength and durability, colour and texture, lighting and interaction with light, symbolism and meaning of the artwork.

Many of the materials used in these artworks can be recycled into something new. Townsville households recycle up to 15,000 tonnes of materials each year. Write 5 materials that commonly go into your recycling bin at school and home:

Each year, more than 8 million tonnes of plastics enter our oceans. How could you use recycled material to create an artwork that draws attention to this problem?

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HOW YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE TO A CLEANER, HEALTHIER AND MORE SUSTAINABLE TOWNSVILLE

Day and Night

As part of submitting an entry for Ephemera, artists are asked to consider both daytime and nighttime viewing of their artworks. Lighting, location, and position are all things that can affect how the viewer will see and experience an artwork.

Bulana: First Nations Projection is Townsville City Council’s inaugural digital projection of First Nation artists for Ephemera 2025. The projection illuminates The Strand’s Main beach each night, with the sand becoming an ephemeral canvas of light.

The display includes works by five contemporary artists demonstrating their connection to ‘Saltwater’ Country and environmental awareness. These spectacular works were selected based on their potential for an impressive visually arresting upscaled projection display of colour to celebrate First Nation artists. With some high-profile professional artists, the project also provides a momentous opportunity for emerging artists.

Mahalia Mabo’s work, Coral Dreaming (shown above) is featured as part of Bulana: First Nations Projection. Her artwork focuses on elements of the coral reefs along Palm Island and Townsville. The flamboyant colours attract audiences and encourage them to respect the beauty of coral reefs by leaving less trace on the environment.

QUESTION:

Projections are a great way to activate an artwork at nighttime. Can you think of other ways an artwork could have an impact at night?

ACTIVITY & DISCUSSION

Imagine you were going to create a projection piece for Ephemera.

Consider what you might project your artwork onto. What existing structures, objects, or surfaces might you utilise as a projection surface?

Write some of your ideas below:

Image: Mahalia Mabo, Coral Dreaming 2022, Acrylic on Canvas, 900mm (height) x 900mm (width)

Day and Night

Kraken reimagines the legendary mythical monster rising up to claim and take over The Strand Jetty during Ephemera 2025: Trace-less. The reaching, grasping tentacles move up and surround the Jetty structure, forming an archway for audiences to journey through. A collaborative work by Light Forms (Michael Pope and Jo Stacey), Kraken embraces supernatural and environmental themes that link to water and are designed to create conversation, curiosity and delight.

ACTIVITY & DISCUSSION

Visit this artwork during the day, and then visit the artwork at night. Discuss in a group or in a pair: How does viewing the artwork in the daytime and nighttime change your experience with this piece? What impact does the artwork’s lighting have on your experience?

Design Your Own Night-Activated Sculpture

Using your imagination, and inspiration from Ephemera, draw a sculpture that transforms or comes to life in a unique way at night. Think about how it might look during the day—and how it could change when darkness falls. Will it glow, cast unusual shadows, reflect light, or interact with the environment?

Annotate your drawing with notes explaining your ideas for lighting, movement, projection, or interactivity.

Image: Light Forms, Kraken 2025, Steel rod, paper, cane, LED lighting, glue and waterproofing agent

240 x 600 x 200 cm

Become a Judge

At Ephemera we have a judging panel who decide what artwork will get the major prize, the Artistic Excellence Award, based on criteria such as concept and health and safety.

On your own or working in a group, choose a winning sculpture. What criteria will you use to decide on the best artwork?

Record your winner and justifications below.

Title:

Artist:

Criteria:

also have the Environmental Advocate Award. For

award there will be additional evaluation criteria specific to how the artwork advocates change or demonstrates innovative initiatives around environmental advocacy.

If you were judging the Environmental Advocate Award, what would you have to think about differently to the above Artistic Excellency Award category?

Consider things like the response to the artwork design brief Trace-less, as well as artistic merit.

Criteria for Environmental Advocate Award:

wilson/ryan/grose Lawyers

People’s

Choice Award

Love Ephemera? Want to make sure your favourite competitive artwork is recognised? You can cast your vote online or in the marble run at Strand Park!

The most popular artwork, as judged by Ephemera visitors, will receive the wilson/ryan/grose Lawyers People’s Choice Award of $1,000.

CAST YOUR VOTE USING THE QR CODE

Voting closes 11.59pm, Friday 1 August 2025. The winner of the wilson/ryan/grose Lawyers People’s Choice Award will be announced on social media.

Develop a Proposal

When developing proposals for Ephemera, artists are asked to consider things such as the use of materials, concept of artwork, size and construction, installation and site location, and how their work will be viewed for both day and night audiences. What artwork would you submit to Ephemera if you were entering? Consider the points above and fill out the proposal below:

YOUR PROPOSAL

Artist Name:

Artwork Title:

Artwork Dimensions:

Height: cm Width: cm Depth: cm

Materials: (consider why you are using a certain material)

Artwork location: (where on The Strand would your artwork best suit and why?)

Concept: (what is your artwork about?)

Construction and Installation: (how is your artwork constructed and what do you need to consider when installing the work?)

Artwork Proposal Sketch: (Draw your proposed Ephemera artwork below)

Interview with Cameron Robbins

Can you tell us a bit about your artistic practice and what role nature plays in your work?

I work to make tangible the underlying structures and rhythms of natural forces. I have a studio and travel-based practice, making installations and exhibitions transcribing natural forces into drawings, photographs, video and sound works. I’ve worked with wind, solar energy, geomagnetism, tidal movements, with natural coastal blowholes, and in flowing rivers. Projects have happened in art centres and other sites around the world including Australia, Japan, Norway, South Korea, China, Denmark, Switzerland, France, Germany, and the UK.

Do you have a key piece of advice you’d share with any aspiring artists that might be reading this?

As the Italian artist Mario Merz said:

“The Ideas which at first seems the most absurd, lead to the greatest success”. Don’t second guess yourself and talk yourself out of realising an idea – go with the first instinct. A major skill of artists to develop is Knowing What You Want to Make. Never talk down to your audience or assume what they might want. You are the authority on matters of Art.

Cameron Robbins’ artwork Dream Studio is about a sense of beauty and wonder at the dynamic world of nature, and how an artist might work with this and express this to an audience. The art installation has mechanical instrument drawings which are created on site – inspired by natural energy on The Strand. Read more from Cameron in this interview about his work.

Why did you create Dream Studio for Ephemera, and what ideas or themes does it explore?

Dream Studio is about a sense of beauty and wonder at the dynamic world of nature, and how an artist might express this to an audience. I really was inspired to create drawings directed by the weather and environment of the Townsville coast and transform the installation into a functioning studio. The wind and mechanical instrument drawings are inspired by things such as the orbits of astronomical bodies, stochastic bundles of information, the rotation of Tibetan prayer wheels, and abstract painting. The motion of the pen can be described as “Periodic with a fractional degree of freedom” which perhaps sums up a lot of our lives and the activities we do.

In the face of denial of science and fact in the world, I think it is very important to keep reminding people of the process of observation and direct experience of the world.

Image: Dream Studio Maquette, courtesy of the artist

Key Terms

Dimensions The measurable qualities of an object, such as length, width and height.

Ephemeral Lasting for a very short time.

Form The visible shape or configuration of something. In sculpture this could relate to the overall structure and volume of a three-dimensional work.

Installation Art The installation or configuration of objects in a space. Installation art builds on sculpture by transforming the perception of the space.

Kinetic Art Art that involves movement. This movement can be powered by wind, water, motors, or viewer interaction.

Negative Space

The space around and between parts of an artwork that are empty. In sculpture, negative space can be as important as the object itself.

Projection The presentation of an image on a surface. Light and colours can be used to project digital images or moving images onto a range of surfaces.

Scale The size of an object in relation to its surroundings.

Sculpture Three-dimensional art. It can be in the form of carving, shaping, building, and constructing.

Site Specific An artwork that has been designed for a specific location, this can be physically or conceptually.

Sustainability

Creating or doing something in a way that protects the environment and uses resources wisely. In art, sustainability can mean using recycled or natural materials, reducing waste, and thinking carefully about how the artwork affects the world around us.

Theme The idea or message being explored in an artwork. Materials, techniques, and location of the artwork can all express the theme of an artwork.

Three-Dimensional An object that has height, width and depth.

PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION

Capture your favourite moments at Ephemera for the chance to win some fantastic prizes!

To enter, simply upload your photograph to Instagram, and add the hashtag for the category you are wanting to enter.

About the Judge: Rob Parsons, Through the Looking Glass Studio

Rob Parsons, through his business Through the Looking Glass Studio, has been providing professional imaging services throughout Australia and overseas for 30 years. He thrives on the continual challenge to produce fresh, and innovative imagery of the highest quality and creative standards. Proudly based in North Queensland, Rob has an intimate knowledge of the Tropical North and more broadly, Queensland. Coupled with his diverse expertise in photography, videography, drone and timelapse, his services are much sought after by businesses, governments and individuals alike.