Last week I went to the Cairns Art Gallery to see the Archie 100 exhibition which currently has lots of paintings of Archibald prize winners from the last 100 years.
The Cairns Art gallery is on the corner of Abbott St and Shields St in the city of Cairns.
It is a very beautiful old building which looks very nice. It is very big and well looked after.
We drove there by car and we parked at The Pier shopping Centre which is very close by and you can park there for free for 2 hours.
It is also free to visit the Cairns Art gallery.
Inside the art gallery there is a beautiful old staircase and a nice timber floor.
When we got there the lady at the desk was very friendly and said hello to us and said she hoped we would enjoy looking at the paintings and artwork. She gave us some information about it.
The Archie 100 paintings are spread across lots of floors. you can walk up the stairs and they also have some ramps for people in wheelchairs or prams to use or you can take a lift. It is a very old lift but a very lovely lift.
All of the paintings in the Archie 100 are portraits of famous people that have been painted in the last century.
The paintings are in Cairns from the 18th of March until the 12th of June, 2022.
The paintings are very colourful and they are so great to look at. Some of them look just like photos.
My favourite one was the portrait of John Howard because of the way his shirt looked so great. You could really see the pattern very clearly.
My Mum really loved the painting of Molly Meldrum.
Some paintings have peoples pets in them.
I also have a self-portrait in my room at home that I painted a few years ago at school and I really love it.
Some rooms had seats in them so you could sit down and have a rest while you were looking at the art. I think that is a great idea because you might get tired standing up all the time.
You can visit the art gallery every day from 9am and to 5pm.
I really loved the bathrooms at the Art Gallery because they were very light from the big windows and very clean.
There is also a very modern and beautiful gift shop full of lovely things to buy. There were some books and some games and some puzzles and jewellery.
I really enjoyed going there and I think lots of other people will enjoy it too.
Tips from my travelling companion -
A visit to the Cairns Art Gallery is a great outing for the whole family. As mentioned above entry is free and the beautiful building itself is worth seeing. We often visit to see the various exhibitions that are on display and this time we all loved seeing the Archie 100 portraits. We were blown away with how life-like some of them were and it was fantastic to see the different techniques used by the artists.
There are ramps and lifts and the staff were very friendly and helpful to us, as they have been on previous occasions.
They also offer guided tours for those who would like more information and have a tour on offer for those who are deaf or hard of hearing, with a qualified Auslan interpreter, on June 8, 2022 at 10am. It is a free event but bookings are required through their website.
There is ample parking nearby and there is public transport access only a 5 minute walk away at the Cairns City Bus Station.
They do school tours and it is open most days of the year.
There is also a lovely cafe, 'Perotta's at the Gallery' adjacent to the Gallery where you can get a drink or bite to eat either before or after your visit.