We are pleased to announce that the Fryer Fellow for 2018 is Associate Professor Susan Davis, Deputy Dean Research in the School of Education and the Arts at Central Queensland University (Sunshine Coast Region).
Fellowship topic
Susan's fellowship project will use collections held in the Fryer Library relating to Queensland artist and environmentalist Kathleen McArthur and the network of women, artists, and environmentalists who inspired her and have been inspired by her. The fellowship will make it possible for Susan to write an illustrated biography of Kathleen McArthur featuring prints, correspondence, and ephemera from the Kathleen McArthur collection and other ‘wild/flower women’ such as Judith Wright and Margaret Thorsborne.
Many thanks to our generous donors who make this Fellowship possible and allow researchers to uncover some of the many treasures held within the Fryer Library. If you would also like to support future Fellows you can donate online.
Biographical information
Associate Professor Susan Davis is a teacher, writer, and researcher who has worked across educational, community and university contexts and published more than 50 refereed articles/book chapters and 5 books. Her research and practice has focused on the arts, education, sustainability, scriptwriting and creative non-fiction, with a particular interest in activating history through creative re-imaginings. She has written scripts and articles about shipwreck survivors Eliza Fraser and Barbara Crawford Thompson, Queensland playwright George Landen Dann and the experiences of Queensland nurses during World War I.
Susan has also been involved in a range of environmental arts-based projects such as the NeoGeography creative place-making project, Floating Land, Treeline, and the Water Reckoning international Rolling Role project. Her interest and research regarding the life and works of pioneering conservationists and creatives Kathleen McArthur and Judith Wright has inspired a suite of activities under the ‘Wild/flower Women’ umbrella. Outcomes to date include co-curating exhibitions at Noosa Regional Gallery (2016/17) and Caloundra Regional gallery (2018), convening a research symposium and the development and staging of a Reader’s Theatre script based on the writing and poetry of Kathleen McArthur and Judith Wright.
