Calleen Art Award 2015 and Central West Regional Art Award

3 May to 14 June 2015

The Calleen Art Award is an acquisitive national painting prize in any subject and style. It is the Central West’s signature art prize and one of Australia’s richest. The Award was established in 1977 by Patricia Fagan OAM and is made possible with the support of the Calleen Trust. The winner of the 2015 Calleen Art Award will receive $19,000 in prize money and their painting will join the Calleen Art Collection at the Cowra Regional Art Gallery. Recent winners include Claire Martin (NSW), Peter Gardiner (NSW), Gladdy Kemarre (NT) and Naomi White (Qld) in 2014. The Central West Regional Art Award is non-acquisitive, attracting entries from some the regions foremost artists. The 2015 winner will receive $2,500 in prize money. Finalists are selected by a panel of art professionals and the winners are announced by the Awards Judge at the Awards Gala Opening.

The Cowra Regional Art Gallery is delighted to announce the winners of the 2015 Calleen Art Award and Central West Regional Art Award.

Exhibition Opening

Attracting 308 entries from around the country, the 2015 Calleen Art Award and Central West Regional Art Award showcased 55 works by the 55 finalists at a gala opening event on Saturday 2 May 2015. Over 110 people attended the opening night, commencing with a reception including the announcement of the winners in the Cowra Civic Centre, before heading across to the cultural precinct to the Cowra Regional Art Gallery for a special preview of the finalists’ exhibition. 

Mayor of Cowra Shire Council Cr Bill West welcomed guests (including over 20 finalists) and opened the awards proceedings. The announcement of the award winners and the awards presentations was given by the 2015 Awards Judge Dr Andrew Frost, Writer, Lecturer, Broadcaster and Art Critic for the Guardian Australia.

The winner of the 2015 acquisitive Calleen Art Award is Yvonne Boag for her large abstract landscape painting titled Pathway, Namsan Park, part of a series of works based on her visits over four seasons to Mason Park in Seoul, South Korea. Yvonne received $19,000 in prize money from the Calleen Trust and her winning painting joins the Calleen Art Collection at the Cowra Regional Art Gallery.

The 2015 Central West Regional Art Award was presented to Bathurst artist Nic Mason for her portrait painting of her daughter titled Caitlin. This is a non-acquisitive award worth $2,500 in prize money and as a first time winner of the award Nic Mason will also have the opportunity of a solo exhibition at the Cowra Regional Art Gallery.

Andrew Frost also awarded Highly Commended awards to Brisbane artist Anita West for her work Sandlewood Country and Sydney artist Craig Handley for his painting Kimbrik.

Yvonne Boag, Pathway, Namson Park, 2015 acrylic on canvas, 130 x 162cm

 Judge’s comments:

“The bold abstraction of Yvonne Boag’s Pathway, Namsan Park is visually striking. It’s a painting that captures and holds your attention as the  translation of the landscape into simple shapes and large areas of colour keeps your eye moving around its surface. The picture is held in balance by the purple, red and grey-white shapes while the vertical lines invigorate the composition. It was a pleasure to select it as winner of  the Calleen Art Award from a strong selection of finalists.”

Anita West, Sandlewood Country, 2015, acrylic on linen, 100 x 200cm. Craig Handley, Kimbrik, 2015, oil on canvas, 60 x 100cm.

Judge’s comments:

“Landscape painting was very well represented across both the Calleen and the Regional prizes and I wanted to note two very different paintings for a high commendation: Anita West’s Sandlewood Country is a marvellous picture with an interesting combination of techniques. Craig Handley’s Kimbriki is reminiscent of the work of Nigel Thompson, with a mordant wit in his depiction of the Australian landscape as it often actually is. Congratulations to both artists on strong works.”

Nic Mason, Caitlin, 2015, oil on canvas, 100 x 75cm.

Judges comments: 

“Nic Mason’s Caitlin is a quietly powerful portrait of the artist’s daughter. Mason has used a number of techniques in creating the picture that ultimately work together. Although there is the temptation for such pictures to verge on the sentimental, Mason has chosen to give her portrait a sense of realism with the rendering of the subject’s hair and the dark shadows under the eyes. Mason’s painting also came from a strong selection of work by regional artists”.

2015 Calleen Art Award & Central West Regional Art Award Finalists

The Cowra Regional Art Gallery is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2015 Calleen Art Award & Central West Regional Art Award. We would like to thank all the artists who entered this year.

Please note: Entries were pre-selected into three categories for the final judging, these are:

• C = Calleen Art Award Finalist
• C/R = Calleen Art Award Finalist and Central West Regional Art Award Finalist
• R = Central West Regional Art Award Finalist

_{Image: The 2015 Winner of the Calleen Art Award, Yvonne Boag and her winning work, Pathway, Namson Park.}