Pep Talks: Conversations with Alumni - Karla Marchesi

Join us for our next Pep Talk with painter Karla Marchesi! 

Pep Talks are your chance to hear from QCAD legends about their practice and career trajectory since graduating, as well as the advice they wish they'd heard along the way. Designed to be casual and engaging, there'll be plenty of time to ask questions, or submit them ahead of time by messaging us directly. 

This time we're delighted to talk with Berlin-based artist Karla Marchesi, while she's back in Brisbane for the opening of her solo show Till and Toil at Jan Manton Gallery, and inclusion in the invite-only The Gold Award 2026 at Rockhampton Museum of Art!

The Pep Talk will kick off with a free BBQ in the QCAD Courtyard at 4.30pm, and the talk will start at 5.30pm. 

WHAT: FREE BBQ, followed by Artist Talk and Q&A

WHERE: QCAD Courtyard & GUAM

WHEN: 4:30-5.30pm (Free BBQ); followed by 5.30-7pm (Artist Talk/Q&A)

COST: Tickets: $15.00/ Free for QCAD students with valid student email

About Karla:

Karla Marchesi’s visual arts practice explores relationships forged with domestic objects and spaces, and how the aesthetic depiction of these establishes subliminal connections to past places, rituals and memories. Marchesi graduated in 2004 with a Bachelor of Fine Art, Queensland College of Art & Design, Griffith University and later in 2007 received her Honours in Fine Art from the College. During her undergraduate studies Marchesi received the Philip Bacon Galleries Prize for Excellence in Drawing which allowed her to study for a semester at the prestigious Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in the United States.

Marchesi is a past winner of the Redland Art Award and multiple time finalist in major prizes such as the Arthur Guy Memorial Prize, Bayside Acquisitive Art Award and Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award, and is included in the invite-only Gold Award 2026 at Rockhampton Museum of Art. She has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Australia, Europe and the USA, and her work is held in several collections including Museum of Brisbane, Griffith University Art Collection, and University of Queensland Art Museum Collection.

Marchesi's solo exhibition Till and Toil at Jan Manton Gallery is open from 30 June - 11 July.

The Gold Award 2026 at Rockhampton Museum of Art is on from 4 July - 6 September.