Petalia Humphreys is an artist living and working on Gubbi Gubbi land on the Sunshine Coast.

Petalia Humphreys' three-dimensional paintings invite the ambulatory viewer to participate in an illusory game of shifting dimensionality. Exploring the intersection between non-objective and reductive abstraction her playful installations respond to architecture and site-specific locations, engaging the viewer to move in and around the work and the exhibition space it inhabits. Humphreys’ work references a history of abstraction, including neo-concretism and the active object.

Petalia is passionate about advocating and promoting the development of rigorous and contemporary arts practices in regional areas. She is founder, producer and curator for Studio 26, a project that curates opportunities for mentoring, critical conversation and exhibitions concerning non-objective and reductive abstraction.
Follow Studio 26 on Instagram @studio26art.

Petalia Humphreys was born and raised in Queensland, she graduated from QUT with a Bachelor of Art, Visual Art (First Class Honours) and a Bachelor of Education (Visual Arts) in the late 1990s. Humphreys has worked as a teacher of Visual Art and Design in secondary and tertiary education and has exhibited at the Institute of Modern Art (IMA), Metro Arts, and Outer Space. Humphreys has been commissioned for multiple public art projects and has exhibited regionally at Noosa Regional Gallery, Caloundra Regional Gallery and interstate galleries including Melbourne’s Five Walls.
Follow Petalia on Instagram @petalia_humphreys.

Solo Exhibitions  

2023 Tend, Five Walls, Melbourne
2022 Prompt, SUPERCUT X Petalia Humphreys, Outer Space Window Gallery, Brisbane
2022 A-part-ment, Metro Arts, Brisbane
2022 Artist in Session, Studio 26, Noosa
2021 Inhabit  solo exhibition, Noosa Regional Art Gallery, supported by Noosa Regional Art Development Fund
2019 Flying Arts Seasonal Sittings of Tiny Art, Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts, Brisbane
1999 Protrusions, Shop 49B, Brisbane, a project by Peter Alwast
1998 a work, Someone Else’s Studio, Brisbane, curated by Gail Hastings
1997 flat, Palace Gallery, Brisbane

Selected Group Exhibitions 

2023 Expansion Point, Known Associates, Noosa Regional Gallery, curated by Studio 26
2023 FORM: Interrupted, Waiting Room Gallery, Fish Lane, Brisbane
2023 Local Artists Local Content Art Prize, Finalist, Caloundra Regional Gallery
2023 Latest & Greatest II: Sunshine Coast Art Collection new acquisitions, Caloundra Regional Art Gallery
2023 More than the sum of its parts, Noosa Regional Gallery
2023 3 Squared, Butter Factory Art Centre, Cooroy
2022 Neo Non-objective, G Contemporary, curated by Studio 26
2022 EDIT-ism, Outer Space Gallery, Brisbane, curated by Studio 26
2022 Lethbridge Small Scale Art Award, Finalist, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane
2021 Glimpse, The Side Gallery, Brisbane
2021 Betwixt, Webb Gallery, Brisbane
2021 Mutual Intent, The Design Conference, Brisbane Powerhouse, Brisbane
2020 Abstraction, Finalist & Viewer’s Choice Award, Petrie Terrace Gallery, Brisbane
2019 Milburn Art Prize, Finalist, Brisbane Institute of Art
2002 No Space, Brisbane Powerhouse, Brisbane, curated by Lyell Bary
2000 No Noise, !Metro Arts, Brisbane, Curated by Max Delany 
1999 Mannerism, Smith & Stoneley, Brisbane, Curated by Chris Worfold
1998 Fresh Cut, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane
1998 Suite, Smith & Stoneley, Brisbane
1997 Utopia/Dystopia, Whitebox Gallery, Brisbane
1996 Absence, Whitebox Gallery, Brisbane
1995 Compact, University of Sydney, Nepean

Public Art

2022 Field of Vision, Currie Street, permanent installation for Reimagine Nambour
2022 Affinite, Concept Design for AVID, Harmony District Recreation Park
2021 Occupation: Observances in Counterpart, Commissioned work for SunCentral, The Met,  Maroochydore City Centre
2021 Sightlines, Key commissioned work, Floating Land, Noosa

Residencies and Projects

2023 Studio 26 Project  Founder & producer, Studio 26, Peregian Beach, supported by Noosa Regional Art Development Fund
2022 Critical Light, Horizon Festival
2022 The Keeper Project, facilitated by Field Theory
2022 SC Creative Spaces Artist in residence, The Old Lock Up, Maroochydore
2022 EDIT-ism, Outer Space, Co-curator
2022 Studio 26 Project  Founder & producer, Studio 26, Peregian Beach, supported by Sunshine Coast Regional Art Development Fund
2021 Liminal States  Co-curator, The Old Lockup, Maroochydore
2021 Curator Program, Professional development facilitated by Hamish Sawyer
2021 The Path, Project development facilitated by Kellie O’Dempsey
2019 Brook Andrew’s Travelling Colony Project Floating Land, Noosa
2002 – 2020 Visual Art Masterclass coordinator: St Andrew’s Anglican College, Clayfield College
2014 Private commissions, United Kingdom
2003 – 2007 Clayfield College Graduate Art Exhibition Coordinator, !Metro Arts, Brisbane

 Publications

Forthcoming: Sharing Space: Studio 26 collected essays, UniSC
Forthcoming: Bai, P, “Form, Object and an Open Space - Geometric Abstraction by Petalia Humphreys”, Studio 26 & Uni of SC
Walsh, G 2023.”A Space Between”, SUPERCUT, Outer Space
Hine, M 2022, EDIT-ism exhibition essay, Outer Space
Mayhew, L 2021, Painting is Dead. Long Love Painting!
Brennan, M 2021, “Precision Painting”, In Noosa, Iss 28, Winter
Delany, M 2000, No Noise: Light, Colour, Action, !Metro Arts
Anderson, P 2000, “No Noise”, Eyeline Isuue 42, Autumn/Winter
McNamara, A 1999, “Looking for an opening”, Globe, Issue 9, Monsah University
Kubler, A 1998, Suite, exhibition essay, Smith & Stoneley