The best of the bunch
Congratulations to Kerry Johns, winner of the 10th Eutick Memorial Still Life Award.
Johns received $20,000 as winner for her work Flowers in a window, a painting of the Namadgi National Park.
The award exhibition is showcased annually in November at Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery and is celebrating its tenth year in 2016. The judging panel this year comprised – Nat Thomas, artist and arts writer/cultural commentator; Michael Fitzgerald; art writer and editor of Art Monthly Australasia; and Dr Julie Fragar, artist and Associate Lecturer, Fine Art, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University.
The Canberra based artist was a gracious winner, stating “I am overwhelmed and so pleased to receive this award. There are so many wonderful paintings in this exhibition and I am honoured to have been chosen by the judges. I have been working away quietly for over 20 years and to receive this recognition means a lot to me.”
Johns work, Flowers in a window caught the judges’ attention with its quietly innovative approach to the still life genre and displayed an inviting depth of colour and energy. And alongside the monetary prize, Johns will have the opportunity to have a solo exhibition at Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery as well, providing a strong platform for the artist to grow from.
Artist Andrea Heulin was awarded Eutick Memorial Still Life Award Highly Commended for her work pantry stuff. Guy Gilmour from Coramba was awarded the Mike Blewitt Coffs Coast Local Artist prize with his work Tools and artist Jeannette Keough was named Highly Commended, with the work studio window. The Exhibition Opening Weekend featured a Festival with panel discussions about the still life genre as well as classical musical performances in the Gallery space.
The Eutick Memorial Still Life Award receives hundreds of national entries which feature a dynamic variety of representations of the still life genre and always prove to be engaging, fresh and exciting. From this the prize this year included works from 68 finalists including Peter Wade, Samuel Condon, Meg Williams and Julia Davis and Leo Coyte, Monika Behrens, Robyn Sweaney, Laura Jones and Chris Hundt.
The exhibition of the finalists is now open and free to the public.
Keep an eye on our website for call for entries for the next EMSLA exhibition.
EXHIBITION
Eutick Memorial Still Life Award
Until 7 January 2017
Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery
Image: John Kerry, Flowers in a window, 2016
Courtesy the artist and Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery.