As long as people have lived in the Granite Belt, they have looked for ways to depict the world around them. The region’s Indigenous people used art and songs to tell creation stories, guide their way across their country and record their history. Evidence of their art and culture is still seen in our district.

Europeans who came after them recorded their impressions of the landscape in drawings, words and maps. Photographers and artists documented the progress of the young tin town. For decades, residents have celebrated the landscape, people, and events of the town in paintings, prose and poetry, songs and sculptures. They fashioned local materials into useful and beautiful items reflecting the times in which they lived. This exhibition does not seek to retell the history of Stanthorpe, but to show how generations of artists have responded to our district and how art and artists have in turn shaped the way we view our community. The exhibition has been conceived, researched, designed and written by volunteers and staff for over 2 years

Art is prolific in our place. Long before and in the last 150 years there has been many forms of art: music, dance, photography, painting and more. It demonstrates a rich and strong community which promotes social cohesion and a sense of belonging. These human expressions of life and thought bring us together, transcend language, race, and cultures. Every  era is full of creativity and preludes future artistic imaginations as we humans continue to create channels that support us to make sense of our ever-changing world and bring us together under the wings of Art.