Image above: Orest Keywan That Line 2023 steel 168 x 271 x 190cm
Congratulations to Orest Keywan, Michael Snape and Ayako Saito for their wins in the Wollombi Valley Sculpture Festival!
Michael Snape – Winner of the Governor’s Prize
Orest Keywan – Winner of the Open Prize
Ayako Saito – Winner of the HSoA Gallery (Hampstead School of Art) Prize
Image above: Michael Snape Copus 2024 corten steel 253cm wide x 235cm deep x 310 cm
Wollombi Valley Sculpture Festival, presented by Sculpture in the Vineyards, is Australia’s longest-running regional outdoor sculpture exhibition. A Biennial Event, taking place across Wollombi and surrounds, this year’s festival ran 14 – 29 September and featured over 150 works by award-winning and international sculptors.
To learn more about the festival, see the Sculpture in the Vineyards website here
Image above: Ayako Saito Dancing in the void 2021 painted steel 19 x 27 x 16.5cm
Orest Keywan’s upcoming exhibition ‘edges, limits and totalities’ opens at Australian Galleries in Sydney on October 8th, and will be showing until October 26th. Read more about the artist here
Image above: Andrew Antoniou Weird & Wonderful 2024 charcoal on paper 82 x 88 cm
Congratulations to Andrew Antoniou who has been selected as a finalist in the 2024 Kedumba Drawing Award with his charcoal drawing Weird & Wonderful.
The exhibition will be held at the Kedumba Gallery in Wentworth Falls, with the opening night on Saturday, 16th November 2024. Only 50 artists were selected out of more than 400 entries.
The award is acquisitive with the winning work becoming a permanent part of the Kedumba Collection. Andrew Antoniou’s work was previously acquired by the Kedumba Gallery collection in 2012.
The Kedumba Collection is housed in a gallery space generously provided by Blue Mountains Grammar School at Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.
The Kedumba Collection is a public entity, protected by a Trust. It exists solely to promote the practice of drawing in Australia.
The Kedumba Drawing Award is held in November each year. The Kedumba Collection also runs a program of curated exhibitions throughout the year, drawn from the extensive artworks of the collection. This gives regular visitors the chance to see the full breadth and depth of the Kedumba Collection. For more information about the award and collection, visit the Kedumba Gallery website.
Image above: Christine Wrest-Smith Portrait of Susan Johnson oil on linen 122 x 92cm
Congratulations to Christine Wrest-Smith who has been selected for the Brisbane Portrait Prize with her painting of Susan Johnson!
Susan Johnson is an award-winning Brisbane writer, whose books have been shortlisted for many literary Prizes, including the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, the Queensland Premier’s Prize for fiction and the Nita B Kibble Award.
“Doing this portrait was one of the best experiences of my life. I was looking for a notable Brisbane sitter, and a friend introduced me to Susan. I’m a real reader, and I love writers, so there was a rich exchange.”
During sittings at Susan’s home, Christine Wrest-Smith sought ideas for the composition. “Susan is an accomplished, intelligent woman living a rich and fulfilling life whilst having experienced many joys and sorrows. In the work sits a sculpture of the Greek Goddess Aphrodite alluding to Susan’s successful memoir Aphrodite’s Breath reflecting recent travels with her late Mother Barbara.”
The exhibition will run between August 3rd and November 10th
in the slq Gallery at the Queensland State Library
Image above: Deborah Williams The air smells different 2023 aquatint intalgio 53×39.5cm
Congratulations to Deborah Williams, Martin King and Phillip Edwards who have been selected as finalists in the 2024 Pro Hart Outback Art Prize!
The exhibition of the finalists’ work will open Friday 9th August at Broken Hill City Art Gallery,
and will be showing until October 27th.
The Pro Hart Outback Art Prize is an acquisitive competition showcasing work in any media which reflects the spirit and diversity of the Australian Outback.
You can see the full list of finalists on the Broken Hill City Art Gallery’s website
Image above: Martin King false ornithology, the mungo diaries III 2024 etching, relief etching, wax, hard cover books, ribbon 85cm x 85cm x 5cm
Above image details: Jenny Rodgerson Mum’s orange cardigan 2024 oil on linen 60 x 40 cm
Congratulations to Jenny Rodgerson and Peter Wegner, who have been selected as finalists for The 2024 Lester Prize for Portraiture
The Lester Prize Main Awards exhibition will be held at Western Australian Museum from 13 September to 27 October 2024. In April 2019, the Black Swan Prize for Portraiture, one of the country’s richest prizes for portraiture was renamed The Lester Prize in honour of the award’s leading patron, Richard Lester AM.
The Lester Prize has become Wester Australia’s most prestigious portrait prize.The 40 finalists’ works will be on public display at the Western Australian Museum Boola Bardip from 14 September through to 17 November with the main winner announced on the Opening night on Friday, 13 September.
Image above: Sarah Tomasetti From Balpatta X 2024 145 x 150 cm pigment oil and marble dust on fresco
Congratulations to Holly Grace and Sarah Tomasetti who have been selected as finalists for the 2024 Fleurieu Biennale Art Prize
The exhibition of finalists’ works will be on view from 8 June – 14 July at the Fleurieu Arthouse in the beautiful McLaren Vale, South Australia. The gallery is open daily 11am to 4pm.
The Fleurieu Biennale Art Prize for landscape was established by David Dridan, Greg Trott and Tony Parkinson in 1998. This year, the exhibition features works exploring the theme A Sense of Place. There are three prizes: The Fleurieu Art Prize $20,000, Emerging Artists Prize $5,000, and a People’s Choice award of $2,500. The judges are Lisa Slade, Assistant Director, Artistic Programs at Art Gallery of South Australia, Brian Parkes, CEO at Jam Factory and Nicholas Folland, Head of Contemporary Studies and Sculpture at Adelaide Central School of Art.
Image above: Holly Grace Resonant Landscapes 2024 overall dimensions 35 x 90 x 35 cm
Regarding the above work, artist Holly Grace shares this statement:
“The artwork Resonant Landscapes is a new body of work, based on concepts of portraiture and portraits of a place, themes initially developed during a recent artists residency at the National Portrait Gallery and at Gudgenby Cottage in the Namadgi National Park. As part of the residency experience I created a collection of blown glass sound receptors based on the inner ear structures of birds and humans. These glass receptors became my acoustic horns, resonant structures to receive and record natures soundscape built from the songs of birds, crickets, frogs, to the gentle rush of water, the rustle of wind through eucalyptus leaves and snow grass.
Within this artwork I explore the many chameleon qualities of glass. It is an instrument for sound and a canvas for light, creating both a personal memoir and a sense of a place. Using both the camera and glass as my tools, I explore the Namadgi wilderness hoping to discover where I belong in this ancient landscape and how walk light in this increasingly fragile environment.”
Image above (left to right): Graeme Drendel Portrait of Rick 2024 oil on canvas 41 x 31 cm | Michelle Hiscock The Director 2024 oil on canvas 45.5 x 35.5 cm | Paul S. Miller I am still 2024 egg tempera on wooden panel 60 x 60 cm
Congratulations to Graeme Drendel, Michelle Hiscock, Paul S. Miller, Lewis Miller, Rodney Pople, and Mary Tonkin whose works are included in the 2024 Salon des Refuses at S.H. Ervin Gallery.
Salon des Refusés 8 June – 25 August 2024
The Salon des Refusés was initiated by the S.H. Ervin Gallery in 1992 in response to the large number of works entered into the Archibald Prize which were not selected for display in the official exhibition. The Archibald Prize is one of Australia’s most high profile and respected awards which attracts hundreds of entries each year and the S.H. Ervin Gallery’s ‘alternative’ selection has become a much-anticipated feature of the Sydney scene.
Each year our panel is invited to go behind the scenes of the judging process for the annual Archibald Prize for portraiture and Wynne Prize for landscape painting and figure sculpture at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, to select an exhibition from the many hundreds of works entered in both prizes but not chosen for the official award exhibition. The Salon des Refusés exhibition at the S.H. Ervin Gallery has established an excellent reputation that rivals the selections in the ‘official’ exhibition, with works selected for quality, diversity, humour and experimentation, and which examine contemporary art practices, different approaches to portraiture and responses to the landscape.
This year’s selectors were Brad Hammond, director Orange Regional Gallery and Jane Watters, director, S.H. Ervin Gallery.
Congratulations to our represented artists who were included in this year’s Salon des Refusés for the following works:
Graeme Drendel Portrait of Rick 2024 oil on canvas 41 x 31 cm
Michelle Hiscock The Director 2024 oil on canvas 45.5 x 35.5 cm
Paul S. Miller I am still 2024 egg tempera on wooden panel 60 x 60 cm
Lewis Miller Portrait of Graeme Drendel II 2024 oil on Belgian linen 172 x 82 cm
Rodney Pople High as a kite 2024 oil on linen 159 x 136 cm
Mary Tonkin A scream, Kalorama 2023 oil on linen 214 x 366 cm
Image above: Lewis Miller Portrait of Graeme Drendel II 2024 oil on Belgian linen 172 x 82 cm
Image above: Mary Tonkin A scream, Kalorama 2023 oil on linen 214 x 366 cm
Image above: Rodney Pople High as a kite 2024 oil on linen 159 x 136 cm
Image above: Janet Luxton Giant Australian Cuttlefish 2021 oil on canvas 120x160cm
Congratulations to Janet Luxton who has had two of her paintings selected for the international juried exhibition Artists for Conservation 2024
AFC’s annual exhibition aims to support conservation through art sales and education, and to share artworks inspired by nature with new audiences.
Each artwork in the exhibition is dedicated to a conservation organization of the artists choice, with at least 40% of the proceeds from the sale of each painting supporting conservation initiatives around the world.
Image above: Janet Luxton Herdwick Ewe 2021 oil on linen 130x110cm
Janet Luxton has an upcoming exhibition with Australian Galleries in Sydney, June 18 – July 6
To read more about the artist and view a selection of her work, visit our online Stock Rooms here or email sydney@australiangalleries.com.au
Above image: Wayne Eager, Allegory I 2023 oil on linen 95 x 133 cm
Wayne Eager was interviewed by Janet McKenzie for Studio International. Wayne Eager talks with Janet McKenzie about living in Central Australia with his partner, artist Marina Strocchi, working with Indigenous people to further their art, and witnessing a transformation in the art market’s view of Aboriginal work.
In 1990, Wayne and Marina travelled to Alice Springs in Central Australia for three months and were given introductions to a number of remote Aboriginal communities: Papunya, Kintore and Yuendumu. Subsequently, they moved to Central Australia in 1992, where the three-month project led to them making a major contribution to Aboriginal arts programs for almost 30 years.
Janet McKenzie: Can you recall your first encounter with Australian Aboriginal art?
Wayne Eager: I remember bark paintings at the old National Gallery of Victoria Museum, in Swanston Street, Melbourne. In 1968, the new NGV opened in St Kilda Road, and I often visited. I was always interested in the organic quality of the mark-making and the conviction of the storytelling on a two-dimensional surface. But it wasn’t until the desert “dot” paintings began to emerge that my interest intensified.
In 1982, Gabrielle Pizzi approached Roar Studios to exhibit a show of Western Desert paintings. Many of the artists were against her proposal, deeming it an exploitation of Aboriginal culture. A few of us stood up for the proposal on the grounds that it was a good thing to promote Aboriginal art and culture to the wider art world, as it had been relegated to a hidden history of anthropological relics for far too long. Her exhibition at Roar Studios was her first show of Aboriginal Art in a public space. She went on to open her own gallery in Melbourne, exhibiting a range of Aboriginal art from across Australia.
JMcK: What prompted your seven-month trip to Central Australia with David Larwill in 1990?
WE: An increase in exhibitions of Western desert painting in the wider world led to our growing interest. A friend, John Corker, who helped to set up Roar Studios in 1982, had moved to Alice Springs in 1983 to work with the Aboriginal Legal Aid service.
In Central Australia, I was mesmerised by the bright light and colour in the wide, open landscape. We visited the Papunya Tula Artists Gallery on an almost daily basis, travelled around country and visited various communities, before moving on north towards Darwin.
Read the full interview on the Studio International website.
Image above: Marina Strocchi The vineyards of Madden’s Lane 2023 acrylic on linen 122 x 152 cm
Congratulations to Kate Hudson, Martin King, Robin Stewart and Marina Strocchi who have been selected as Finalists in the 2024 Omnia Art Prize
The Omnia Art Prize & Exhibition
24 – 26 May 2024
Opening Gala and Announcement of Winner
Friday 24 May 7pm – 10pm
Smith Hall, St Kevin’s College
Moonga Road Toorak, VIC
This year’s prize will be judged by curator, writer and lecturer, Dr Rebecca Coates, Director of Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA).
Works exhibited are for sale, with proceeds from the event going to the St Kevin’s College Foundation to support the education of students in need or students experiencing hardship.
Image above: Robin Stewart Discovering Horus 2023 oil on linen with collage 97 x 92 cm
About the Omnia Art Prize and Exhibition
The Omnia Art Prize and Exhibition is an annual prize, open to established and emerging Australian contemporary artists, with all exhibited artworks for sale. Vibrant, culturally-rich and thought-provoking, the hundreds of artworks on display reflect the best of Australian contemporary art across mediums from oils, acrylics, drawing, photograph, mixed media to small sculptures.
Bringing together communities and artists across a full weekend of exhibition and events, the Omnia Art Prize and Exhibition champions contemporary artists at every stage of their careers, fostering connections among creators, designers, buyers, and art enthusiasts. It is a dynamic platform for the exchange of ideas and inspiration, enriching the cultural landscape with diverse perspectives and artistic expressions.
Above image: Martin King Dawn chorus, momento mori N.D. etching, liftground aquatint, spitbite, photopolymer intaglio, chine colle and wax 101 x 130 cm
Above image: Martin King Thinking about ledger of the lost N.D. photopolymer gravure, hardcover book and ribbon
Above image: Kate Hudson Grevilleas & banksia edition 35 2021 reduction linocut 26 x 22 cm
Above image: Kate Hudson Proteas and billy buttons edition 35 2020 reduction linocut 26 x 22 cm
Above image: Kate Hudson Scarlet banksia & bottlebrush edition 35 2021 reduction linocut 26 x 22 cm