Local artist wins $10,000 Rotorua Museum art award
Local Rotorua artist, Kylie Tiuka, has beaten almost 100 artists to take out the $10,000 Rotorua Museum Supreme Art Award with her work Te Korihi (birdsong).
Local Rotorua artist, Kylie Tiuka, has beaten almost 100 artists to take out the $10,000 Rotorua Museum Supreme Art Award with her work Te Korihi (birdsong).
The $4,000 Waimangu Volcanic Valley Sustainable Art Award went to Jane Johnson-Matua for her work Material Culture Artefacts and Sarah Ziessen was named as the Rotorua Museum Emerging Artist for her work Positive Atrophy.
The winners were announced by judge Courtney Johnston to over 250 guests at a special awards night at Rotorua Museum on Friday (9 August), where the three winning works, and 30 other selected finalists are now on display until 28 October 2013.
The winners were chosen from 130 works entered by 98 artists from across the Bay of Plenty. The winners were selected in a blind judging process, based purely on the merits of the art works.
In naming Kylie Tiuka's Te Korohi (Birdsong) as the Supreme Award winner, Johnston described her painting as bringing together mastery of the medium with a sense of mystery that draws you back over and over.'
In awarding the Waimangu Volcanic Valley Sustainable Art Award to Jane Johnson-Matua for her ceramic work Material Culture Artefacts, Johnston said A seemingly careless pile shows itself to be carefully constructed. Ubiquitous plastic forms are rendered in a deeply local material, wild clay from Rotorua, making this work a very fitting recipient for this award.'
Johnston described emerging artist Sarah Ziessen's work Positive Atrophy as bringing together the traditions of abstract painting with the shapes of the natural world Elegant and visually intriguing, Ziessen has made a work that rewards the lingering, slow-moving eye'.
Johnston also made special commendations to Lani Eyles for her work Pecking Order, and to Martin D. Page for his work Mantra I (Note to self).
Having been instrumental in re-instigating the Art Awards after a 10-year absence, Rotorua Museum director Stewart Brown said he was thrilled with the number and calibre of entries.
"The awards have been a great way to re-engage with the arts community and we have had overwhelmingly positive feedback since re-launching them earlier this year. We have some very talented artists in the region, and the awards give us a wonderful opportunity to showcase their work," he said.
Rotorua Museum Art Awards judge Courtney Johnston is a Director of The Dowse Art Museum and a well-known arts writer and commentator. She has had a diverse career in both the private sector and in a range of Wellington arts institutions, specialising in digital outreach projects, and has been the arts correspondent for Radio New Zealand's Nine to Noon programme since 2010.
The Rotorua Museum Art Awards are sponsored by Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust and Waimangu Volcanic Valley, in association with the Friends of Rotorua Museum.
The winners and 30 selected finalists will be on display at Rotorua Museum until 28 October 2013.