THE profile of the small Queensland town of Betoota continues to rise with outback artist, Lyn Barnes, featuring it in her new display: Betoota – The Exhibition.
As she has done for the past 17 years, the Quilpie-based artist will present a series of her artworks at the Graydon Gallery, New Farm, with opening night taking place on Wednesday, August 8, the night before the Ekka opens.
"Quilpie is of course, an outer suburb of Betoota and I have painted particular Betoota locations such as Deon’s Lookout in the past," Ms Barnes said.
"Everyone in this part of the world is so excited that the Betoota Hotel is reopening and when Lorraine and Henning Kath from Mt Leonard invited me to visit, I thought it was a great opportunity to document the environs of Betoota through my artwork."
This year's exhibit will be slightly different, being focussed on one area, but still in keeping with Ms Barnes' style featuring richly-coloured landscapes and detailed depictions of outback life.
She said it would be nice to think she was part of a resurgence of the town, known for a population of less than 10.
"I really think the new owners of the Betoota Hotel and of course those intrepid scribes at the Betoota Advocate have really brought attention to this wonderful part of the Outback," Ms Barnes said.
In fact, the Betoota Advocate editors have sent a telegram for the exhibition's opening.
"So exciting to have a message from those doyens of the Diamantina deadline, the editorial team of the Betoota Advocate," Ms Barnes said.
"Penned by Clancy Overell in the crisp journalistic style the paper is famous for, modesty forbids my revealing too much, suffice to say I’m really touched by their words.
"It is a pity that both Clancy and fellow editor Errol Parker had a long standing prior engagement and can’t join us on opening night but in their stead will be the population of Betoota, at least two and possibly six residents."
Betoota – The Exhibition runs from August 6 to 12. All works will be available for purchase.