Congratulations to Christine Wrest-Smith for her work ‘Portrait of Gloria Petyarre’, which has been selected as a finalist in the 2019 Calleen Art Award at Cowra Regional Art Gallery
After meeting in Alice Springs in 2018, Christine visited the community arts centre in Utopia, where she sat on the floor alongside Gloria, watching her work, and painting her portrait over the course of several days. Gloria Petyarre is a renowned Indigenous artist from the Anmatyerre community in Utopia, Northern Territory, and has become internationally recognised for her Bush Medicine Leaf paintings. Gloria was the first Indigenous artist to be awarded a major prize at the Art Gallery of NSW in 1999 for her work ‘Leaves’ in the Wynne Prize.
Calleen Art Award
The Calleen Art Award is an acquisitive art prize that encourages originality and artistic merit, established in 1977 by Mrs Patricia Fagan OAM. The winning artwork will become part of the splendid Calleen Collection – the foundation collection of the Cowra Regional Art Gallery.
The Calleen Art Award is open to original paintings in any style or subject and for adjudication purposes using any traditional painting medium, such as acrylic, oil or watercolour (other traditional “mixed media” may be used to a lesser extent).
Calleen Art Award finalists are selected by a panel of art professionals. The winner of the 2019 Calleen Art Award is selected by the Award Judge from the award finalists and will receive $20,000 in prize money, made possible by the Calleen Trust.
To view the full list of this year’s finalists, click here.
Key Dates:
Official opening & announcement of winner : Saturday 4 May 2019
Exhibition dates : 5 May – 16 June 2019
Location:
Cowra Regional Art Gallery
77 Darling Street
Cowra NSW 2794
Image: Christine Wrest-Smith, ‘Portrait of Gloria Petyarre’ (2018), oil on linen, 71 x 91 cm