Colouring the Whitsundays: Bringing Public Art to Proserpine
If you’ve driven along the Bruce Highway through Proserpine recently, you may have noticed something a little different across the road from the Community Art Gallery.
The palm trees have been transformed with bold, colourful artworks as part of Colour the Whitsundays, a public art project designed to bring art into everyday spaces and show just how much fun art can be.
The project began in January 2025 with a simple idea: to introduce more public art throughout the Whitsundays and create artworks that could be enjoyed by everyone.
With the Community Art Gallery now prominently located on the Bruce Highway, the colourful palms also provide a taste of the creativity waiting inside, to encourage passing motorists and visitors to stop and discover the work of our local artists.
From an idea to public art
The original concept identified six potential public art sites along the Bruce Highway in Proserpine. Property owners were approached about incorporating art into their sites, while local artists and groups were invited to become involved.
From those early discussions, the project was narrowed down to two installations.
The first, now on display outside the Community Art Gallery, was created by the Whitsunday Public Art Group, with Heather Sutton, Gingie Johnson and Louise Mahony working together to bring the installation to life.
A second project, created by students from St Catherine’s Catholic College, will also soon add another splash of colour to the Gallery precinct.
Solving the challenge of art on trees
The original idea was to “fibre bomb” the palms, but traditional natural fibres such as wool would deteriorate within just a few months. The group wanted something that could withstand the Whitsunday climate and remain bright and welcoming for years.
That presented some interesting creative and practical challenges.
Unlike a painting hanging on a wall, the palm trees are round, so the entire artwork can never be seen at once. The design also had to consider how people would experience it from the road. Drivers first see the installation from more than 100 metres away and are travelling at around 60km/h.
The artwork therefore needed to reveal itself gradually as people approached and passed the Gallery.
The hope is that people will discover something different each time they drive by.
Designed for the Whitsundays
Creating outdoor artwork that can survive the Queensland sun, wind and rain required some careful experimentation.
The installation uses UV-resistant outdoor furniture fabric, specialised UV-resistant fabric paint and UV-resistant thread. Shock cord was used to lace the artworks around the palms without permanently fixing anything to the trees.
Making sure the installation was tree-friendly was particularly important. Before proceeding, part of a palm was wrapped for a month and monitored for any signs of damage. Thankfully, there were none.
Gravity presented another problem. Nothing could be nailed into the palms to stop the artworks from slipping, so the team had to develop their own system to keep the banners securely in position.
Installation required a scissor lift and took an entire day, with a few challenging moments
along the way!
A community effort
Projects like Colour the Whitsundays rely on many people and organisations working together.
The Whitsunday Regional Council Parks and Gardens team provided approval to use the palms and access the surrounding garden, while the necessary approval to use the Main Roads land was also obtained.
The project was supported through the Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF), whose funding helped turn an ambitious idea into reality.
The Whitsunday Public Art Group has also acknowledged Creative Connections Whitsunday for providing advice and support throughout the project, and Grace McDonald for assisting with the designs and painting.
The result is something colourful, unexpected and distinctly local, bringing art out of the Gallery and into a space where thousands of people can see it as they travel through Proserpine.
And this is hopefully just the beginning.
If you have a site that could use a little more colour, the Whitsunday Public Art Group would love to hear from you.
Who knows where Colour the Whitsundays might appear next?
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