5 June -10 July 2010

Bruce McLean, Associate Curator of Indigenous Australian Art, at the Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, was at Lismore Regional Gallery to judge the winning works of the 2010 NPSW Aboriginal Art Award on Saturday 5 June.

The 2010 NPSW Aboriginal Art Award now totals $6,500 in prize money and the art prize has been successful in bringing kudos and respect for Indigenous artists in the Northern Rivers region over the last nine years of its existence.

Bruce McLean’s selections were as follows:

Mirra-Winni Gaze of Brunswick Heads received Open 1st Prize $3,000 with her work The Fish Trap and the Pot, made from woven grasses and a clay pot. Mirra-Winni said the work is ‘Dedicated to the stolen generations. To all the little children taken from their parents. To the mothers and fathers. The pot represents strength and purity. The fish trap represents an ancient way of life living close to nature’.

Open 2nd Prize $1,000 went to Lorraine Brown of Lismore with her painting, Lillipilly Abundance.

The $1,000 Collaborative Award for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal artists working together, was won by Karla Dickens and Ishta Wilson, both of Lismore. Mother Of All no.12 is an Epson print on paper which is part of a series on which the two women have collaborated in investigating boundaries of the sacred.

The $1,000 Youth Award for artists 17 years and under went to Baryulgil Public School working with Rose Marin. Their ink drawing on paper is called Country meets the Sea and was created at a workshop facilitated by Marin as part of the Grafton Regional Gallery outreach program Gallery Goes To School. The work is a direct response to the landscape the students live, work and play in. Contributing artists are Eunice Duncan, Kaylen King, Marcus Duncan, Telissa King, Una Walker, Susan Mundine, Tyler King, Andrew Walls.

2010 NPWS Aboriginal Art Awardis presented byNational Parks and Wildlife Service Northern Rivers Region in collaboration with Lismore Regional Gallery.

Sunday 4 July, 10am “ 4pm. The Gallery will be open to coincide with 11am NAIDOC Week ‘cushion CONcert’at the Conservatorium, Keen Street.