Images + PDF
Artistic support material
Recent paintings and project-context material showing the visual language, place, and process behind The Headwaters Remember. Placeholder artwork-detail captions have been removed.
Creative Australia Grant Application 2027
Helen McCullagh Support Material
Support pack for The Headwaters Remember: Painting Menavale, a twelve-month place-responsive painting project at Menavale Station, Mena Creek, Far North Queensland.
Project
The Headwaters Remember: Painting Menavale
The project creates one small, dated observational study each day of 2027, supported by fixed-site fieldwork, painting, ecological and historical research. The accumulated research will become an artistic archive of seasonal and rainfall-driven change, a cohesive body of paintings, an exhibition proposal and an artist-book prototype.
URL Contents
Included for Creative Australia assessment
- Project images are visible on this page and held in the artistic support material PDF.
- Helen McCullagh Creative Australia CV is included as a direct file link.
- Nathan Evans signed letter of support is included as a direct PDF link.
- Verena Louise signed letter of support is included as a direct PDF link.
- Wet Tropics Management Authority acting director support letter is included as a direct PDF link.
Documents
Direct Support Material
Each item is provided as a direct file link for assessors. The pack includes the artistic support material PDF, Helen McCullagh CV, and three support letters.
DOCX
Helen McCullagh CV
Two-page Creative Australia CV covering education, exhibitions, sector engagement, media, collaborations, and relevant capability.
Signed PDF
Letter of support - Nathan Evans
Signed support letter supplied for the Creative Australia application.
Signed PDF
Letter of support - Verena Louise
Signed support letter supplied for the Creative Australia application.
Signed PDF
Letter of support - Wet Tropics Management Authority
Support letter from the Acting Director of the Wet Tropics Management Authority.
Images
Visual Support Material
These images are included in the grant URL for immediate review, alongside the formal artistic support material PDF linked above.
Context
A year of looking closely at one living system
Menavale is a working cattle property with rainforest adjoining the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, grazing land, mountain springs, waterways, abundant birdlife, cassowaries, fungi and vegetation that grows through and over human structures.
The work asks what happens when a familiar place is given sustained attention. It extends Helen's still-life practice into a place-responsive language concerned with water, rainforest, fauna, agriculture, weather and human occupation.
Activity Dates
1 January-31 December 2027
Jan-Mar 2027
Immersion and field research
Establish five fixed observation sites across springs, creek, dam, rainforest edge and grazing land, supported by daily studies and post-weather returns.Apr-Jun 2027
Studio experimentation
Translate field research into drawings, small paintings, colour studies and material tests, retaining revisions and unresolved work as part of the archive.Jul-Oct 2027
Resolved body of work
Develop approximately eight to twelve paintings, including several large-scale works, supported by the daily visual archive and sustained studies.Nov-Dec 2027
Documentation and presentation development
Document the work, prepare an exhibition proposal, and develop an artist-book prototype with field notes, maps and selected research.
Artist CV
Professional Track Record
The full Creative Australia CV is linked above. This page summarises the key credentials most relevant to the application.
- Contemporary Australian painter based between Townsville and Menavale Station, Mena Creek.
- Bachelor of Visual Arts and Graduate Diploma of Education in Visual Arts.
- Exhibited with Michael Reid, Studio Gallery Group, Art2Muse, KAB Gallery, Sydney Road Gallery and Fenton & Fenton.
- Featured in Australian House & Garden, Belle, Home Beautiful, Country Style, Vogue Australia and international design media.
- Developed an independent regional practice with approximately 47,000 Instagram followers and more than 3,000 mailing-list subscribers.
- Experienced arts educator, workshop facilitator, curator and regional-sector contributor.
Preview
Artistic Support Material PDF
If the preview does not display in your browser, use the direct file button below.
Support Letters
Signed Letters Included
The support letters are available as direct PDF files in the document section above and previewed here where browser support allows.