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The 2018 Sunshine Coast Art Prize is now open for entries

Caloundra Regional Gallery invites artists from across Australia to submit a 2D art piece for the $25,000 prize.

8 Feb 2018 12:00

Andrea Simpson

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Image: Raquel Ormella | Worker’s Blues #1 | 2016 | work uniforms, hi-vis fabric, cotton | 140 x 140 cm. Winner, Sunshine Coast Art Prize 2017, acquired with funds provided by Audi Centre Sunshine Coast & Sunshine Coast Council, Sunshine Coast Art Collection.

The Sunshine Coast Art Prize, presented by Caloundra Regional Gallery and Sunshine Coast Council, is seeking entries for its 2018 prize, open to all artists who are residents of Australia, working in any 2D media.

Now celebrating its 13^thyear the Major Art Prize offers a substantial $25,000 in prize money, with the winning work acquired for the Sunshine Coast Art Collection. Additional, non-acquisitive prize categories include the Highly Commended award ($5,000) and the People’s Choice category ($2,500).

The judge for this year’s prize is Dr Campbell Gray, Director of the University of Queensland Museum.

Each year the Sunshine Coast Art Prize attracts the interest of some of Australia’s most prominent artists.

‘Last year, it was fantastic to see high profile interstate artists including Helga Groves, Robert Owen and Paul Yore as finalists, alongside locally based artists Joseph Daws and Jennifer Herd, who also won the Highly Commended Prize,’ said Hamish Sawyer, Curator at Caloundra Regional Gallery.

‘Each year the winning work is acquired for the Sunshine Coast Art Collection, with previous winners including Tony Albert, Scott Redford and Michael Cook all subsequently gifting additional works to the collection.’

Enter the 2018 Sunshine Coast Art Prize

A much-loved gallery in the region, locals and tourists alike look forward to the Finalist Exhibition, opening in August each year.

‘The prize has strong community support and the finalists in previous years have really engaged the community. Wherever possible we have exhibiting artists delivering programming – it’s the perfect way to engage the audience,’ Sawyer said.

When it comes to the specifications of the Art Prize, ensuring the artwork is in two dimensions is the only limiting factor.

‘What we have seen over a long period of time is the diversity of the works entered. Though it is a contemporary art prize, it is interesting to look back at the catalogue of previous prizes and see the particular choices and focus, how reflective the artwork was in terms of what was going on at the time,’ he said.

‘The last two exhibitions were diverse in medium and in subject. Even in the frame work of a 2D Art Prize you do get a sense of the diversity of contemporary practice. Last year’s winner was Raquel Ormella‘s Worker’s Blues #1, one of the artist’s textile banners – the first time a textile work had won the prize – and a lot of our local artists who work with textiles loved seeing a work of this media win the prize.’