Young at heart: HOTA art show will delight and intrigue
A boldly colourful HOTA Gallery exhibition showcasing visual art, craft and design for younger minds pairs perfectly with a show that pays homage to Artisan’s biennial exhibition of works.
The birth of the arts and crafts movement in Britain in the late 19th century marked the beginning of a significant change in the value society placed on how things were made and the way craftsmanship and artisanship were valued.
In 2026, the contemporary art world continues to champion the works of such creators, taking that appreciation one step further and elevating the practices of artists whose work in realms such as collage and assemblage art would once have struggled for artistic prestige.
Two exhibitions now showing at HOTA Gallery on the Gold Coast offer fascinating glimpses into current practice with their children’s exhibition space ablaze with the colourful collage work of Melbourne artist Minna Gilligan and their upstairs gallery hosting Brisbane-based Artisan’s 2026 UNLEASHED+ biennial exhibition of works by established and emerging craft and design practitioners.
Gilligan, 35, is best known for her boldly executed artworks that combine elements of drawing, painting and collage, and a colour palette best described as kaleidoscopic, to create pieces that are at once fiercely contemporary and also unapologetically, yearningly nostalgic.
Her Instagram feed and regular Substack newsletter reveal her love of trips to the op shop with her young son and her joy at finding thrifted treasures. These interests are evident in the imagery she incorporates into her pieces. The expansive children’s gallery space has been given over entirely to Gilligan’s rainbow-hued aesthetic and the installation of the show is marvellously expansive and impressive.
Her collage pieces are blown up to wall-size and grouped together by colour, each piece concentrating on a particular hue and then progressing to another. So, red becomes pink, yellow becomes orange, blue becomes green becomes purple and so on.
Her yen for nostalgia is embodied in her choice of visual imagery for her collages. Think vintage clothing, flip-top mobile phones, old-school cameras, televisions and cosmetic products interlaced with flowers, butterflies, birds, fruit and vegetables.
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The floors of the gallery are also part of the show, decorated with a chess-like game based in imagery and accompanied by oversize playing pieces and also a take on the classic Twister, complete with colour-themed images and a wheel to spin that tells you where to place your hands and feet.
Oversize pillows in the shape of dice are dotted around the area for visiting little ones to rest on. The middle of the room is given over to a giant craft table that is painted to resemble a rainbow. It features an inlaid middle section that revolves and rotates, allowing kids to choose collage images curated by Milligan to create their own works, which are then displayed on a gallery wall as you exit the space.
Children’s spaces within galleries, while a brilliant idea, always present something of a thematic, conceptual and practical gamble. How best to engage little ones? To draw them in, hold their attention, teach them something, allow them to interact with the works and the space. To create for themselves, inspired by their surroundings.
HOTA’s children’s gallery has done a fantastic job of curating its space since the gallery reopened in its new premises, hosting interactive exhibitions by local, interstate and international artists, and Gilligan’s show is wonderful.
Whether or not it is because she is herself a mother to a young child, or because her own psychedelic and quite beautiful work exhibits the traits of an adult still using their childlike whimsy and fascination with colour to create, True Colours is easily the most successful and impressive show to take over the children’s gallery since Gold Coast fine art painter Victoria Reichelt commanded the space with her Colour Your Imagination installation in 2023.
Just as Reichelt’s keenly felt show used her imagery and creation of an imaginary library to draw kids in and then invited them to create based on their love of both art and reading, so too does Gilligan’s show completely absorb young visitors. True Colours gives them an opportunity to engage completely with her colourful world and then, in some small way, create and contribute a small piece of their own work in order to enlarge on and enrich her distinctive oeuvre.
Upstairs, on level four of the gallery, is UNLEASHED+, an exhibition that has established itself as Queensland’s premier platform for launching emerging craft and design practitioners. In 2026, UNLEASHED+ marks a significant evolution, introducing Artisan’s (Queensland’s leading organisation for contemporary craft and design) largest cohort of artists to date.
Laid out across a large, one-level, one-room display space, the exhibition unfolds through two chapters, bringing together emerging Queensland makers at a pivotal point in their creative development. The first chapter presents work from the inaugural Artisan In Residence program, where five craft and design practitioners were engaged to develop new bodies of work, exploring process, gesture and material expression.
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The five practitioners chosen to participate in the residency are distinctly singular artisans, working across multiple disciplines and using different materials. Erin Conron’s exceptionally impressive blown and kiln-fired glass pieces are stunning when viewed in person, the curves of each piece enhanced by the fine-lined pattern on the surface of the glass itself.
Rick Hayward’s handcrafted furniture pieces are also beautifully executed, with his Equilibria Cabinet and Eight Limbed Cabinet standing tall and proud, constructed using repurposed rosewood and hoop pine, and his small but perfectly formed Demilune Mirror, crafted from blackwood, showcasing superb woodworking and furniture construction skills.
Also of note are Regi Cherini’s five embroidered works, revealing painstakingly embroidered imagery on cotton backings that are variously gingham, floral, pinstripe and paisley. The intricacy of the stitching is impressive, as is the distinctly larrikin sense of humour that informs the chosen imagery.
Since 2004, Artisan’s UNLEASHED biennial exhibition has established itself as Queensland’s premier platform for launching emerging craft and design practitioners. UNLEASHED+ marks a significant evolution, introducing Artisan’s largest cohort of artists to date, in partnership with HOTA, supporting 12 makers through exhibition, mentoring and market development.
The 2026 finalists were chosen by a panel of leading art, culture and design professionals and reflect the exciting innovation of Queensland’s arts and crafts talent, offering compellingly different approaches to metal, timber, clay, glass and textiles.
Rhiannon Sothern’s delicate and intricate porcelain and sterling silver jewellery is inspired by the formation and texture of coral and is meticulously wrought. Likewise, Julia Bramich’s delicate porcelainware vessels are beautifully executed and intricately decorated with a miniaturised stripe pattern that reflects the light gorgeously, almost mimicking the inside of an oyster or paua shell.
Michelle Le Plastrier’s playful and colourful stoneware pieces are both dynamic and humorous. As a child of the 1980s and ’90s, they brought to mind memories of Polly Pocket toys with their construction, each piece like an open compact bursting forth with a miniature scene from within.
Across the gallery sits Ben Adams’ impeccably crafted Black Wood Seat, a contemporary bench that has been crafted from Tasmanian blackwood and Victorian ash, the timber refined and polished until its many umber-toned hues shimmer.
There are also beautiful, exceptionally delicate works of enamelled and oxidised copper and steel wire from Gabi Harris, stained stoneware and porcelainware from Tom Summers and Rachel North, as well as wood-fired ceramics by Jude Muduoia.
Minna Gilligan: True Colours continues until February 28 and UNLEASHED+ runs until until November 8 – both at HOTA Gallery, Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast.
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