exhibitions
Nature & Culture- animal as object
2024- 2025 – Caloundra Regional Gallery QLD
This body of work includes some from the previous Animal as Object exhibition with the addition of many more, that investigate the objectification of animals in nature through taxidermy, and in culture through the souvenir.
What is our uneasy relationship with animal objects, particularly taxidermy and the mass-produced souvenir? As a self-confessed collector, what is my responsibility in all this? Why do I tend to want to order and display, collect and own the natural world?
Through early scientific taxonomy charts and illustrations, museum taxidermy, pop culture and the mass-produced souvenir, this body of work is presented as a contemporary Wunderkammer (a cabinet of curiosity). It asks questions about artifice, collection, consumerism, mimicry, wonder and beauty.
A Sketchbook Practice
2024 – The Condensery, Toogoolawah QLD
Deb Mostert has used sketchbooks over the decades as a scaffold for her contemporary art practice. A Sketchbook Practice shares pages from over ninety sketchbooks dating back twenty years to prompt: ‘What does it mean to keep a sketchbook?’ and ‘How does your perception of the world change through keeping one?’. In the words of the artist: “Sketchbooks serve as a spare brain, a record of my personality and my growth and they are gleefully imperfect.”
Shown alongside Deb’s sketchbooks are those from artists local to the Somerset region. This collection of community sketchbooks displays both the depth and diversity of local artists, but also the day-to-day character of the region.
Everyday Sketchbooks
2023 – Ipswich Art Gallery
Decades of daily observations have been preserved through Ipswich-based artist Deb Mostert’s sketchbook practice, and she showcases her collection for the first time in Everyday Sketchbooks.
Deb makes works spanning painting, sculpture and public art, and the learning ground for these artworks is her disciplined commitment to an everyday drawing routine. Her sketchbooks are not only where she researches, investigates, and stimulates her artistic practice, but where she records her daily life.
Almost scientific in her approach to documenting and recording, Deb blurs the lines between artist, historian, and scientist in creating her own archive.
By presenting these private sketchbooks usually reserved for an audience of one, Deb graciously invites us to peer behind-the-scenes of her artistic practice and to consider the sketchbook as a way any person, regardless of ability, can reflect upon and document their life.
Animal as Object – nature and culture
2022 – Tweed Regional Gallery, Murwillumbah, N.S.W
Based on years of observation and research within the bird and mammal collections at the Queensland Museum, this body of work seeks to explore the paradoxical ‘objectness’ of animals in nature through taxidermy and in culture through the souvenir. This work seeks a redemptive lens to view this paradox towards a perspective of flourishing for all. We have and are creating facsimiles and profiting from these copies despite the real risk of losing the originals.
Through mashups of early scientific taxonomy charts and illustrations, museum taxidermy, pop culture and the mass-produced souvenir, questions are asked about artifice, collection, consumerism, mimicry, wonder and beauty. Can we embrace the original instead of accepting the poor copy?
Drawing to Dis/Possess
2020 – Lorraine Pilgrim Gallery
An experiment into how I might be able to dis/possess myself of material belongings.
I am making drawings, sketches, and paintings of things I have, but no longer need, in the hope that through the act of making an ‘iconic transfer’ I can rid myself of possessions.
Alongside, must be the equally vital act of not seeking to possess any more things. So, I am making drawings, sketches, and paintings of objects I covet, stuff I’d love to acquire, things that are tempting me but maybe don’t really need to own.
How do I manage my own collecting habits and be more vigorously present in my enjoyment of the objects I own or wish to own?
Is the act of drawing them enough? Can I be content to have enjoyed them, spent time with them, observing their aesthetic or functional beauty or reveling in their nostalgic blast?
Can I draw to dis/possess?
The Short Story
2019 – Lorraine Pilgrim, Southport
A bite sized exhibition
Australien Future – tales of migration 2018-2019
7th December 2018 – 20th January 2019 Redland Art Gallery, Cleveland Queensland 13th April 2019 – 25th May 2019 Gladstone Art Gallery & Museum, Queensland 8th June 2019 – 28th July 2019 Migration Museum, Adelaide, South Australia
‘A beautiful, sensitive exploration of major social and environmental issues’ Douglas Jones
‘A cohesive body of work that expands the fears and anxieties
and hopes of migration.’ A Fleming
‘Have just spent a moving and emotional hour or so exploring
Australien Future. This thought provoking personal story of family
and migration is at once intensely private yet universal. Not to be missed.’ – Arthur Frame
‘They are deeply felt, poetically expressed, with their power discernible in the tension of these painted surfaces. It is in them that Deb’s empathy, her feelings about important environmental problems, is so powerful. I think what it shows us is that lyrical paintings and sculpture can take the temperature of our times with beauty and power. This exhibition has the capacity, and the urgency, to engage everyone.’ Louise Martin-Chew
‘Next level amazing! A tour de force from an already accomplished artist’ – Cultural Flanerie
Broome Sketchbook
2018 – Lorraine Pilgrim, Southport QLD
works from an artist in residency experience at the Broome Bird Observatory
funded by Arts Qld
Rewind – A replay of the last decade
2018 – Lorraine Pilgrim Gallery, Southport
Vogels en Dingen
2015 – Lorraine Pilgrim, Southport QLD
Recent Works
2014 – Regional Arts House, Teneriffe QLD
Objects & Ornithology
2014 – Tweed Regional Art Gallery, Murwillumbah NSW
‘Objects and Ornithology’ has been born out of the artist’s love of studying both objects and bird life. Mostert is deeply interested in the notions of collecting. This body of work is a light-hearted, whimsical look at birds interacting with man made objects. By projecting the human foible of possession and collection onto birds, it may throw up questions about what we value and why.
Recovery – the Flood Objects Project
2012-13
Ipswich Art Gallery, Ipswich, QLD, – Dogwood Crossing, Miles, QLD – Gympie Regional Gallery, Gympie, QLD. – Rockhampton Art Gallery, Rockhampton, QLD – Vera Wade Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
Collectie
2012 – Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, Coffs Harbour, NSW
Honestly!
2011 – Lorraine Pilgrim, Broadbeach, QLD
Vroom
2010 – Albury Regional Gallery, NSW
Untold Stories
2010 – Lorraine Pilgrim + Nyst Gallery, Southport
Bugs on Toy Cars
2009 – Iain Dawson Gallery, Paddington, NSW
Small Wares and Trifles
2008 – Lorraine Pilgrim + Nyst Gallery, Southport
Sacred and Banal – the collection continues
2007 – Hardy Brothers, Brisbane
Interpreting the Collection – an artist’s view
2007 – Ipswich Art Gallery, Ipswich
exhibitions
 |
A Sketchbook Practice- deb mostert & Somerset artists2024 – The Condensery, Toogoolawah QLD |
| |
Everyday Sketchbooks2023 – Ipswich Art Gallery |
| |
Animal as Object – nature and culture2022 – Tweed Regional Gallery, Murwillumbah, N.S.W |
| |
Drawing to Dis/Possess2020 – Lorraine Pilgrim Gallery |
| |
The Short Story2019 – Lorraine Pilgrim, Southport |
| |
Australien Future – tales of migration2018 Redland Art Gallery, Cleveland2019 Gladstone Regional Art Gallery & Museum 2019 Migration Museum, Adelaide |
| |
Broome Sketchbook2018 – Lorraine Pilgrim, Southport QLD |
| |
Rewind – A replay of the last decade2018 – Lorraine Pilgrim Gallery, Southport |
| |
Vogels en Dingen2015 – Lorraine Pilgrim, Southport QLD |
| |
Recent Works2014 – Regional Arts House, Teneriffe QLD |
| |
Objects & Ornithology2014 – Tweed Regional Art Gallery, Murwillumbah NSW |
| |
Recovery – the Flood Objects Project2012-13Ipswich Art Gallery, Ipswich, QLD Dogwood Crossing, Miles, QLD Gympie Regional Gallery, Gympie, QLD Rockhampton Art Gallery, Rockhampton, QLD Vera Wade Gallery, Brisbane, QLD |
| |
Collectie2012 – Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, Coffs Harbour, NSW |
| |
Honestly!2011 – Lorraine Pilgrim, Broadbeach, QLD |
| |
Vroom2010 – Albury Regional Gallery, NSW |
| |
Untold Stories2010 – Lorraine Pilgrim + Nyst Gallery, Southport |
| |
Bugs on Toy Cars2009 – Iain Dawson Gallery, Paddington, NSW |
| |
Small Wares and Trifles2008 – Lorraine Pilgrim + Nyst Gallery, Southport |
| |
Sacred and Banal – the collection continues2007 – Hardy Brothers, Brisbane |
| |
Interpreting the Collection – an artist’s view2007 – Ipswich Art Gallery, Ipswich |