Rockhampton

Saturday 21 March 2026
ALBRECHT DURER: Life, Ego and Afterlife.
Presented by Albert Godetzky
Time & Venue: 10am Lighthouse Baptist Church, 480 Norman Road, Norman Gardens, Rockhampton

​In his day, Albrecht Dürer was a larger-than-life figure. Through the high quality of his woodcutting, and the facility with which printed culture could be disseminated, Dürer became an international success. Not a stranger to a mode of self-fashioning that would sit comfortably in today’s social media channels, Dürer crafted a lasting legacy for his art through his prints, paintings, and copious writing. Yet, the words he wrote – as much as the images he invented – reveal a man in profound search of his identity, especially at a time when social and religious values were in radical flux. Albert traces the artist’s origins in his goldsmith father’s workshop in Nuremberg, his ambitious travels in Italy and subsequent patronage by the Habsburgs.

Albert Godetzky received his PhD on Haarlem Mannerism from the Courtauld Institute where he was Associate Lecturer in Early Modern Art until 2025. He has worked at several European institutions including the National Gallery, London, as the Harry M. Weinrebe Curatorial Fellow, where he contributed to exhibitions including Rembrandt: The Late Works and Vermeer and Music: The Art of Love and Leisure. In 2022, he was guest curator of Silent Rebels: Polish Symbolism around 1900 at the Munich Kunsthalle and co-authored its catalogue. His research has appeared in The Burlington Magazine, Art in America, Art History, The Netherlands Yearbook for History of Art, and the ‘Visual Commentary on Scripture’ among others. He is currently a lead researcher for a private collection in the Netherlands and is also preparing a book-length biography of the Dutch artist Hendrick Goltzius for Reaktion Press.

Saturday 18 April 2026
DOGS IN ART
Presented by Steven Miller
Time & Venue: 10am Lighthouse Baptist Church, 480 Norman Road, Norman Gardens, Rockhampton

Steven Miller has published widely on art and his popular ‘Dogs in Australian Art’ is now into its third expanded edition. From colonial works through to contemporary installations, in this lecture he will show how dogs have truly been ‘the best friend’ to artists, not only as subjects, but also as companions and champions. As the artist Norman Lindsay confided to the poet Hugh MacRae, ‘one can lose most human beings with less disturbance than a dog’.

Steven Miller has worked in commercial and public galleries since the late 1980s and headed up the National Art Archive at the Art Gallery of NSW from 2009 to 2023.He has published widely on art. He co-authored a book on Australia’s first blockbuster exhibition of modern European masters, that won the NSW Premier’s History Award. Among his other publications is Awakening: Four lives in art –exploring the creation of national identity through art published in 2015.

Saturday 30 May 2026
SHOPPING AS AN ART FORM
Presented by David Worthington
Time & Venue: 10am Lighthouse Baptist Church, 480 Norman Road, Norman Gardens, Rockhampton

Art is seen as sacred, whilst shopping is frivolous. Yet the two have been intertwined throughout history. When painting changed from the fresco on walls to oil on wood it became portable and a readily traded commodity. More recently there has been a great shift in retail brought on by internet sales. A shop now has to be a destination offering an experience not just a product. It is closer to a gallery with products displayed like art objects. Indeed, historical items might be exhibited in glass cases like in a museum demonstrating the longevity of the brand. Think of Niketown or the Apple stores. Artists have been commenting on this such as Claus Oldenburg’s The Store, Fischli & Weiss’ Prada Marfa and Tracey Emin & Sarah Lucas’ The Shop. Culture is now commerce, so is shopping now an art form?

David Worthington has been drawn to abstract sculpture since seeing a Barbara Hepworth in a school history book aged 10. He graduated from Oxford University in 1984 with a degree in Philosophy and Theology, then studied Fine Art in London, Barcelona and New York. David is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Sculptors and was Vice President in 2010-13. He has carried out public commissions in the UK, America and Japan.

Saturday 20 June 2026
ON THE WILD SIDE: Filming Creatures Great and Small
Presented by Pieter de Vries
Time & Venue: 10am, Ballygriffin Cultural Centre, St Ursula’s College, Yeppoon. 4703

Pieter will share his techniques for capturing extraordinary images for Sir David Attenborough and National Geographic from playful macaque monkeys to majestic cassowaries in Australia. From playful Macaque monkeys in China to majestic Cassowaries in Northern Australia, the lecture will be illustrated with segments from Pieter’s nature documentaries

Filmmaker Pieter de Vries is one of the leading documentary cinematographers in the world. His career has seen him filming the Red Army in China, rats in the sewers of New York, and the wreck of the Titanic. Pieter has contributed to programs hosted by Sir David Attenborough and was Director of Photography for Darwin’s Lost Paradise. His numerous awards have included Cinematographer of the Year, and an Emmy nomination.

Saturday 25 July 2026
PAINTBRUSHES AT DAWN: The World’s Greatest Artistic Feuds
Presented by Barry Venning
Time & Venue: 10am, Lighthouse Baptist Church, 480 Norman Road, Norman Gardens, Rockhampton

A first rate bust up requires one of two things: a clash of strong personalities or a conflict of principles. The history of art is peppered with first rate bust ups: Brunelleschi and Ghiberti, Constable and Turner, Dali and Breton and Banksy and “King” Robbo to name a few, which are entertaining and highlight key issues in art history.

Barry Venning is an art historian whose interests and teaching range from the art of late medieval Europe to global contemporary art. He has published on Turner, Constable and European landscape painting, but also has an ongoing research interest in postcolonial art and British visual satire. His media work includes two BBC TV documentaries, radio appearances for BBC local radio and ABC Australia, and a DVD on Turner for the Tate.

Saturday 22 August 2026
SPORT OF THE GODS: Olympia and the Ancient Olympics
Presented by James Renshaw
Time & Venue: 10am, Lighthouse Baptist Church, 480 Norman Road, Norman Gardens, Rockhampton

Every four years, the advent of the newest iteration of the Olympic games brings scrutiny and reflection on their ancient forebears. The ancient Olympics lasted for over 1000 years and were both very similar and very different to the modern games. They were held as religious games in honour of the great god Zeus at his sanctuary at Olympia in the Greek Peloponnese. The art and architecture of this sanctuary was emblematic of the ancient Olympic spirit – and represents some of the finest sculpted art to survive from ancient Greece. In this talk, we look at the artistic and literary evidence for the ancient games, learning about triumphs and heartaches, and stories of athletes, both weird and wonderful!

Saturday 26 September 2026
THE WORLD OF PEARLS
Presented by Claire Blatherwick
Time & Venue: 10am, Ballygriffin Cultural Centre, St Ursula’s College, Yeppoon. 4703

The allure of pearls has been documented from ancient times and there is evidence of the use of pearls in the Arabian Gulf region dating back to 4000BC. In ancient Rome, according to legend, Venus herself was born of the sea like a pearl. The Romans thought pearls were formed from the teardrops of the gods, or perhaps as a result of clams capturing dewdrops in the moonlight. This talk looks at the amazing variety of types of pearls, from those produced by oysters to marine snails, how they are found and some of the most famous pearls in the world, including those that belonged to Mary Queen of Scots.

Saturday 31 October 2026
DIVERSE RICHE AND COSTLYE JEWELLS: 17th CENTURY TRADE, TREASURE AND THE CHEAPSIDE HOARD
Presented by Amanda Herries
Time & Venue: 10am, Lighthouse Baptist Church, 480 Norman Road, Norman Gardens, Rockhampton

Diverse riche and costlye Jewells’ is a perfect description of the unique collection of jewels known as the ‘Cheapside Hoard’. Unearthed, by chance, in 1912 in one of the most historic parts of London, it seems it was lost, or buried, between 1640 and 1666. More than 400 pieces make up this remarkable Hoard, including a unique walnut-sized emerald contacting a watch movement, a slithery emerald studded salamander to earrings shimmering with suspended amethysts. These are rare, but not royal, jewels. Pieces demonstrate remarkable skills and stones mined in every part of the world. What does the collection represent? Why was it brought together? What are its secrets?

Having read Archaeology & Anthropology at Cambridge, Amanda was a Curator at Museum of London 1978 -1988, specialising in decorative arts since 1714. From 1988-1995 she lived in Japan, lecturing and writing on Oriental / Western cross-cultural and artistic influences. Back in the UK, Amanda has fundraised for arts companies, written, lectured and guided tours to Japan and curated exhibitions. Recent publications cover Japanese plant and garden influences in the West.