The art work of Macleay Island artist Madeleine Ekeblad has been recognised internationally with sell out shows and interest in international exhibitions.
In September, Ms Ekeblad will exhibit 18 pieces in the Asia Contemporary Art show being staged at the Conrad Hotel in Hong Kong, something she has been doing twice a year for the past four years. At each show all works have sold and with her art work now fetching from $2000 to $10,000, this is significant.
This year, one of her works has been chosen to promote the art show and is being featured on the side of take away coffee cups in the chain of Habitu cafe restaurants in Hong Kong.
“It’s very exciting, to think that people will be holding my work,” she said.
As a result of success at this show, Ms Ekeblad has also been asked to put on an exhibition on the Riviera by the director of Art Monaco.
“I can’t do this yet, but I will remember the invitation and definitely take it up one day,” she said.
In order to accommodate her burgeoning success and to facilitate a dream mooted in 2013, Ms Ekeblad is planning on selling her Macleay Island home and move to Penang.
The idea was put forward when Ms Ekeblad won Queensland Cultural Champion and proposed an inter-island residency program between Macleay Island and Penang. She hopes the move will establish the appropriate contacts to facilitate this.
“I will head to Penang in September/October after Hong Kong and hope to find a place over there then. It’s a beautiful place with a population similar to Tasmania. There is the mountains and the beach, but it is the people I love most of all. And there are lots of expats. A friend of mine over there even knows the Sultan,” she said.
“When I get back, I will have a monster garage sale and sell the car, complete with the teapot trees in the back yard. I can sell it furnished with the car and the ute and start again in Penang.”
Ms Ekeblad said she would be sad to leave Macleay Island but saw life as a series of steps.
“You take those steps one at a time and this is a whole new adventure,” she said.
Ms Ekeblad has been instrumental in uniting artists on the island to present the island as a thriving arts hub. In recent months, she has worked with a committee to revive the Macleay Island Arts complex.
“It’s been just marvellous and now there is somewhere to promote this cultural arts exchange,” she said.
