By the time they celebrate the first anniversary of the opening of the Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre on 14 March, the gallery will have welcomed more than 135,000 visitors. And that’s nothing but good news!

Over the Christmas holiday period, thousands of holiday makers took the opportunity to visit the gallery, with attendances spiking from the end of December to the start of the school term. After more than doubling attendances of the previous year, the gallery was buzzing as 12,459 culture-loving tourists and locals poured through the doors. Attendances peaked at just over 3,000 per week for the first week of January, replicating levels experienced after the Margaret Olley Centre opened last year.

The gallery’s program is packed with engaging exhibitions, events and activities in the lead up to the anniversary. There’s been floor talks from artists and art dealers, there’s been sustained activities from the ever-enthusiastic Friends of Tweed Regional Gallery Inc. They headed north with yet another full coach of guests to view Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashions at QAGoMA and Golden Years of Hollywood at the Museum of Brisbane.

They’re cooking up treats on home soil too, literally – providing catering for each of the gallery’s exhibition openings throughout the year. On Friday 20 February they will feed and water gallery guests for the opening of CREAM: Four decades of Australia Art – a touring exhibition from Rockhampton Art Gallery; a survey show of photographer Rod McNicol’s work titled Momento Mori; and an exhibition of new paintings by regional artist Barb Suttie! Big night, indeed!

Both Rod McNicol and Dr. Christopher Chapman, Senior Curator at Canberra’s National Portrait Gallery will be in the gallery that night. From 5.00pm Dr. Chapman will lead an exhibition preview with Rod through Momento Mori prior to the opening of the trio of new exhibitions at 6.30pm.

Then on the Saturday 21 February at 11.00am visitors can enjoy the witty and sometimes scandalous story of the development of the outstanding art collection of Rockhampton’s regional gallery as told by Director Tracy Cooper-Lavery as she recounts the history of the collection and introduces the large array of paintings in CREAM.

With barely enough time to catch their breath the Tweed Regional Gallery Foundation Ltd. will host the anniversary dinner Saturday 7 March. Set inside the Gallery, it will be a fabulous night and guests will be treated to a sneak peak of the Gallery’s newest acquisitions.

With so much happening, you better be quick – jump in the car and go north or book a flight now, else you’ll miss out!