29 Feb Whanganui Arts Review winners: Judge impressed by range and vitality of entries
By Staff Reporter at Whanganui Chronicle.
Whanganui Arts review judge Linda Tyler with the 2020 winning pattillo Open Award entry Parrot Tulips – A Study in Sugar by Tracy Byatt.
A sweet creation by Tracy Byatt has won the open award at the 2020 pattillo Whanganui Arts review.
The awards were announced at a function held last night at the Whanganui War Memorial Centre.
The entries this year were judged by Linda Tyler, convenor of museums and cultural heritage at the University of Auckland.
She has taught art history at Canterbury, Victoria, Waikato and Auckland universities, and at Unitec and Otago Polytechnic, and been an art curator at Waikato Museum, the Hocken Library and Gus Fisher Gallery.
Tyler was impressed by the interesting range of work in this year’s Art Review.
“It’s billed as a snapshot of the creative output of the region now, but it’s much more than that as it gives you a sense of the vitality of particular media – there are fibre works, glass, ceramics, wood, photography, painting interesting multimedia and lens-based practice going on.
“Even though it’s Whanganui, which you might think of a small place in the regions, it’s absolutely up-to-date and contemporary in the way that artists dealing with concepts and are able to realise their ideas in the variety of different kinds of media.”
Tracy Byatt won the 2020 pattillo Open Award with a prize of $5000 and the pattillo project 2021 for her work Parrot Tulips – A Study in Sugar.
Tyler said her selection would be “a surprise to many people”.
“I chose that work because I felt that it is a really exemplary example of craftsmanship but also it had this really intriguing quality to it because it comes from an era when there were competing socio-economic demands for the tulip, and the way in which she has rendered the flowers themselves deceives the eye – it’s sort of a trompe l’oeil effect and makes you very interested in the materials and the method she has used to create it.
“With that very minimal lens, she is able to create the sense of a bygone era and transport us back the 17th century which I thought extraordinary really for somebody working in this era.”
A new award this year is the $1000 Article & Money Poppins Excellence Award which was won by Catherine Macdonald for her pencil and watercolour drawing Just a Moment.
“It has a wry sense of humour which really appealed to me and matched the style of the drawing and I loved the beautiful little watercolour touches which highlighted different aspects of the scenes,” Tyler said.
Brydee Rood was awarded the $1000 Dalgleish Architects Excellence Award for her two-part video installation with table and mixed media work A Remedy for Hopelessness / I. Te Henga Gorse Collection Ritual / II. A Hopeful Table.
“Everything about the presentation – the mixture of the media, the film, the little table of tools and implements seemed to fit together and underline her concept beautifully,” Tyler said.
Artists submitted a record breaking 207 artworks to the 2020 pattillo Whanganui Arts Review. Photo / Michael McKeagg
The winners of $200 awards are:
• Edith Collier Trust Merit Award – Leigh Anderton-Hall for Ovastrung.
• Friends of the Sarjeant Gallery Merit Award – Andrea du Chatenier for Flowers that Bloom at Midnight.
• Renata’s Art & Framing Merit Award – Richard Wotton for Amelia Jury.
• The Whanganui River Markets Trust Merit Award – Casey Baxter for Nga mata o Tawhirimatea.
• Wanganui Garden Services Ltd Merit Award – Andrea Gardner for I Wish I Were You.
• Barnicoat & Healy Merit Award – Lorene Taurewarewa for The Island.
• Recaffeinate Merit Award – Tom Turner for A Journey.
• Rivercity Picture Framers Ltd Merit Award – Margaret Silverwood for Escape Artist #2.
• WDC Youth Committee Youth Recognition Award – Nat Kirk for Healing.
Tyler said she thought 15-year-old Nat Kirk’s entry “remarkable” because of his feeling for the subject and his technical facility.
“I really tried in my judging to value everything equally – there were some beautiful examples of traditional Māori weaving, ceramic work, examples of book work including a sequential pastel log or journal towards recovery.
“I have found it a very enjoyable experience.”
The winning works, along with all the 2020 finalist submissions, will be exhibited at the Sarjeant Gallery, 38 Taupō Quay, until May 17.
Click here to see the original article at nzherald.co.nz