JASPERS Brush artist Anna Glynn was awarded first prize in the Historic Houses Trust’s 2009 Meroogal Women’s Arts Prize at the Shoalhaven City Arts Centre on Saturday she won for her work Verse Versus, a video art work which brings characters from Edward Lear’s poem The New Vestments to life against a backdrop of images of Meroogal.
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The decision by the judges was unanimous.
Judge Joanna Nicholas, Historic Houses Trust said Anna Glynns’s video art work Verse Versus cleverly tells the story of the poem The New Vestments found in a children’s book in the Meroogal collection, with multi media, beautiful drawings and paintings, photography, sound, animation and video-film.”
Ms Glynn spent time photographing, filming and sound recording to create a bewitching tale of a bewildered character roaming the rooms of Meroogal with a cast of whimsical characters set against a soundtrack of women singing and clocks ticking.
Director of the Historic Houses Trust Kate Clark said the prizes recognise the diverse range of wonderful responses that were inspired by this years theme Books and the world of ideas. “It was great for the artists’ to retrace the steps of the four generations of women who lived here between 1886 and 1985, drawing inspiration from the books they enjoyed so much” Ms Clark said.
Ms Clark announced that due to its growth and success, from now on the Meroogal Women’s Arts Prize will be a biennial event, “I am pleased to announce that the next prize will be held in 2011, inviting artists to respond to the theme made by hand.
“By holding the Prize every two years, we will be able to increase the number of venues the exhibition can travel to and allow greater contact with regional centres to help promote opportunities for Shoalhaven artists,” Ms Clark said.
Second Prize went to Arja Valimaki of Flinders for her work Shining in the Shadow, weaving pages from Charlotte Bronte’s book Jane Eyre between shiny wire threads, creating a beautiful and connected energetic work.
Bundanoon artist Carolyn Sullivan was awarded third prize for her work Identification, an elegantly hand stitched and painted piece featuring beautiful flowers, leaves and landscape.
Glenese Keavney of Fitzroy Falls was awarded the Bundanon Trust Regional Artist in Residence Scholarship for her skillfully handcrafted work A Lamp for the Library, representing the concept that the world of ideas communicated through books cannot be accessed without light.
Highly commended awards were presented to Lizzie Buckmaster Dove for her work World Atlas (Exploration), Rhonda Ayliffe for, Fahrenheit 451, Kylie Douglas for A cutlery of books, Nina Risi for Pages of a song, Kerry Suttonberg for The Getting of Wisdom and Glenese Keavney for A Lamp for the Library.
There are still two more prizes to be awarded before the exhibition closes on September 26: the people’s choice prize where you can come along and cast a vote for your favourite piece and the Packers’ prize, which will both be announced on Thursday September 20 at 1 pm. Artist floor talks will be held at 12pm on September 5, 12 and 19 at the Shoalhaven City Arts Centre.
