Calleen Art Award 2010 and Central West Regional Artists Award
17 April to 23 May 2010
The Calleen Art Award is an acquisitive award for painting, open to artists living in Australia. It was established in 1977 through the support of Cowra resident and art patron Mrs. Patricia Fagan OAM. During the past 33 years and with the support of the Calleen Trust, the award has grown in significance as a national art award, with prize money now worth $12,000.
The Central West Regional Artists Award is a non-acquisitive award for painting and drawing. It was established in 2009 by the Cowra Regional Art Gallery in partnership with the generous support of a private donor. The award is open to artists living in the local government areas of Bathurst, Blayney, Cabonne, Cowra, Forbes, Lachlan, Lithgow, Mid-Western Region, Oberon, Orange, Parkes and Wellington. The 2010 award includes prize money of $2,000.
The exhibition consists of works by finalists of both awards as selected by a panel of judges appointed by the Cowra Regional Gallery. Winners of both awards are announced by the judge at the exhibition opening.
Exhibition Opening
The Cowra Regional Art Gallery is delighted to announce the winners of the 2010 Calleen Art Award and Central West Regional Artists Award.
The Calleen Art Award, first presented in 1977 through a gift by Patricia Fagan OAM, is an acquisitive award with the winning work entering the Calleen Collection which is held at the Cowra Regional Art Gallery. Through the generous support of the Calleen Trust and trustees Peter and Jenni Fagan the 2010 Calleen Art Award is worth $12,000.
This year the Awards judge Professor Amanda Lawson, Dean of Creative Arts at Wollongong University selected Park View a painting by Claire Martin from Newcastle NSW as the winner of the Calleen Art Award. The work is of a local beach-side park (from Point Lonsdale, coastal headland in Victoria) a margin between urban life and the wilderness of the open ocean. A path rises along the cliff edge, bright exposed, past the car park it ends at the lighthouse and the wide expanse facing south.
Judges comments:
“The work engages the viewer in how we experience and imagine landscape. It demonstrates excellent painterly qualities in the depiction of light and shade which have been achieved with an economy of style as well as a sense of beauty.”
The winner of the Central West Regional Artists Award (non acquisitive worth $2,000) selected by Professor Lawson was Midday, Side Fence, Bathurst a drawing in charcoal and wash by Rachel Ellis from Bathurst NSW. In her artist statement Rachael comments ‘My side fence is a subject I return to – I love the way at different times of day, and in different seasons, the light interacts with and transforms an otherwise ordinary part of the garden. In this drawing I was responding to the burgeoning spring growth and celebration of light.’
Judges comments:
“This is an atmospheric drawing on a grand scale. It explores looking at objects in an outdoor and natural environment through diffused light.”
Calleen Art Award
Highly Commended:
- Michael Bell – Tableau (objects from my parent’s mantelpiece) 2010 Oil on canvas 130 x 168 cm
- Kate Briscoe – Limestone rockface – Strata #2 2009 Acrylic and mixed media on canvas
- James Guppy – The Tea Cup Fairy 2009 Acrylic on linen 30 x 76 cm
- Gloria Stern – The Reader 2009 Oil on Canvas 70 x 87 cm
Central West Regional Artist Award
Highly Commended:
- Tim Winters – red oxide water tracks fence lines 2009 Gouache and pastel on paper 93 x 122 cm
- Carol Endean Little – Tone Poem (Drowned City 1) 2008 Charcoal on cotton paper 76 x 96 cm
The Friends of the Gallery Committee have also generously donated $500 for the People’s Choice Award which will be announced at the end of the exhibition.
Image: 2010 Calleen Art Award Winner – Claire Martin – Park View 2009 Acrylic on linen 122 x 152 cm (image courtesy the artist)