The Albury Library Museum is set to host an exhibition of national significance that celebrates the visionary work of the region's regenerative farmers.
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Farrer MP Susan Ley announced the $45,000 Visions of Australia grant would support the library-museum's collaboration with Earth Canvas, an ambitious project linking six artists with six farmers between the Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers.
The brainchild of Bowna resident Gillian Sanbrook, of 'Bibbaringa', Earth Canvas has brought to life the work of these farmers through the artists' impressions of the landscape.
Ms Sanbrook, who envisioned the project would help turn our collective gaze beyond traditional farming practices, said she had been delighted by the response to her vision splendid.
"It was a huge success - we had more than 500 people to our six on-farm open days in November," she said.
Albury Council's team leader of libraries & museums Carina Clement said the exhibition, which opens October 24, was particularly topical in the wake of the recent bushfires and current climate of drought.
Ms Clement said the exhibition would feature significant artists (including John Wolseley, Idris Murphy and the Border's Jo Davenport) and a mix of mediums from watercolours and oil paintings to print-making and sculptural works.
"It will be an amazing exhibition - the artists all have very different interpretations of regenerative farming inspired by their time with farmers," she said.
Library-museum exhibition curator Kate Eastick will work with Ms Sanbrook and newly appointed project manager Genevieve Mott to bring together the works for the exhibition.
It is expected the second stage of the project will see the exhibition travelling to nine venues across four states including the National Museum of Australia at Canberra.
Ms Sanbrook, who has used regenerative practices to transform the landscape of her own property, hopes to raise awareness that there is more to farms than just economic production.
"The solution to climate change and environmental sustainability is everyone's responsibility," she said.
"And since the bushfires, everyone seems more invested and engaged in the issue - it is almost socially unacceptable not to look after our country."
The team will meet today at Bibbaringa to assist curators to further understand the Earth Canvas vision.
