KICKING off the inaugural Go North Arts Festival last Friday, the 2022 Swan Hill National Print and Drawing Awards showcased an exceptionally intriguing display of works.
The Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery was abuzz with the jazzy tones of the River Boat Quintet creating a relaxing atmosphere for art lovers admiring the works.
Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery director Ian Tully said it was great to be able to have the print and drawing awards back in person for the public to enjoy, as last time they were held two years ago it only able to be viewed and judged online due to the COVID pandemic.
“The wonderful thing is that this is a win-win situation,” Mr Tully said.
“The artists have their work displayed in a public gallery and the prestige of winning a national prize, and for the gallery it’s a win as [the artwork] enters our collection and our community can then enjoy that.”
The judges of the prize, which awarded $8000 to the best print, $8000 to the best drawing, and three highly commended honours, were Ballarat International Foto Bienale CEO and former Gallery Director of Warrnambool Art Gallery Vanessa Gerrans and Charles Sturt University art curator Dr Thomas A. Middlemost.
“Judging a prize is not for the faint hearted – it really is a challenge,” Mr Tully said.
“I want to thank them for their considered approach, deep knowledge and their absolute professionalism.”
Ms Gerrans said it was “a joy and a privilege” to be able to be involved in the awards process, and she was blown away by the sheer amount and standard of the works submitted to them, narrowing down over 300 entries to just 53 finalists that were displayed at the gallery.
“We did a terrible job in one way of shortlisting because of the large amount of works here, which then caused Ian [Tully] and his team the great task of putting this together,” Ms Gerrans said.
“I’ve seen these works before and I’ve still come into this space in Swan Hill for the first time and just, they are luminous and it is so nice to see people out again and to see these works in person.”
One of the finalists who attended the awards was Wayne Viney, who received a highly commended award for his work Flood Plains Cloud sequence.
“It is very much about trying to convey that vast Wimmera landscape under clouds, and I have tried to create sort of an abstract pattern with the landscape at the bottom with the water courses and so on,” Viney said about his artwork.
“When you are actually in that sort of landscape it is very flat obviously, and you get that feeling of very vast skies, so I have tried to bring that into the work as well.
“You can read it both I suppose as a representational landscape but kind an abstract interpretation as well.”
The winning works went to Tony Ameneiro’s Nattai River Landscape – Sloping Ground Diptych and Martin King’s once willing NOT NOW. The highly commended awards went to Wayne Viney’s Flood Plain Cloud sequence, Nicci Hayes’ The cost, and Bridget Hillebrand’s Twin Falls.
The work of all 53 finalists will remain on display at the Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery until Sunday November 20.
