Bellbrae artist Jenny Crompton has taken out the State’s richest Indigenous art prize, the $30,000 Deadly Art Award at the 2014 Victorian Indigenous Art Awards.
Crompton, who takes much of her artistic inspiration from Victoria’s surf coast, won for her intricate installation of found objects, collected seasonally near her home. Her work titled, Gathering at Godocut, impressed the judges for its “delicate construction techniques” and “distinct sense of place”.
Following the presentation of the Awards at the Art Gallery of Ballarat today, Minister for the Arts, Heidi Victoria MP, said the Victorian Indigenous Art Awards aimed to build the profile of South East Australian Aboriginal art and Victoria’s Indigenous artists.
“The Victorian Indigenous Art Awards provide an incomparable glimpse into the power and quality of Indigenous art, and on to the artists who live, work and take inspiration from this part of Australia,” Ms Victoria said.
The 35 finalist works showcase both traditional and contemporary art practices and range from traditional basket weaving techniques to works on wood, as well as photography, painting, video and sculpture.
More than $50,000 in prizes were presented at the Awards ceremony, with Wonthaggi artist Patrice Mahoney receiving the $5,000 Federation University Australia Acquisitive Award for her work, Jobs, Policy and LOST, and Deanne Gilson of Brown Hill, Ballarat, receiving the $5,000 Australian Catholic University Acquisitive Award for Wadawurrung Cultural Tree of Knowledge.
Other Award winners included Footscray artist Paola Balla and Glennys Briggs, a Victorian-born artist now based in Maudsland, Queensland, who took out the Copyright Agency Limited’s Awards for three dimensional works and works on paper, respectively.
Highly commended were Cynthia Hardie for her porcelain and feather work called, The Soft and the Hard, and Lisa Waup for, Encircled Families (Inkjet Print on Cotton Rag Paper, Cotton, Ink).
Ms Victoria congratulated all winners and 2014 finalists and said that it is now the public’s turn to be the judge for the 2014 Arts Victoria People’s Choice Award, worth $2,500.
This year’s finalist works feature in a stunning exhibition at Art Gallery of Ballarat. I strongly encourage everyone to visit the exhibition, or to visit online via the Arts Victoria website, to cast a vote for a favourite work, Ms Victoria said.
Art Gallery of Ballarat Director, Gordon Morrison, said that all the finalists were to be congratulated for the range and quality of the work on show.
Once again, with the assistance of Arts Victoria, the Gallery will be celebrating the dynamism and high quality of contemporary Indigenous art as practised in Victoria. There are works of singular presence and originality in this year’s line-up “ some very moving and beautiful things, Mr Morrison said.
There are indeed some very beautiful pieces in this year’s entries which are being exhibited now at the Art Gallery of Ballarat, and running through to Sunday, 5 October 2014.
View the online gallery and vote for the Arts Victoria People’s Choice Award here to cast your vote online (voting closes 5pm, Monday 29 September 2014).
Judges for the Indigenous Art Award this year comprised: Carole Wilson, Honours and Research Degrees Co-ordinator, Arts Academy, Federation University Australia; Tina Baum, Curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, National Gallery of Australia; and Tom Mosby, CEO of the Koorie Heritage Trust.
