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UNE competition gives young artists an audience

May 08, 2006

ArtPrize06.jpg
The unique art competition that reveals the creative talent of school students in regional NSW is bigger and better than ever this year.

There are more than 300 entries in the third annual University of New England School Acquisitive Art Prize, coming from 30 schools.

A panel of experts judged the entries at UNE last Friday, choosing 50 finalists. The finalists’ works will be displayed at the New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM) in an exhibition called “Let’s Hang It” that will be on show until Sunday 2 July. The Executive Dean of UNE’s Faculty of Education, Health and Professional Studies, Professor Victor Minichiello, will officially open the exhibition during a public function at NERAM at 6 pm on Friday 12 May.

“We’ve called the exhibition ‘Let’s Hang It’ because art needs an audience,” said Frances Alter, UNE’s lecturer in art education, who chairs the competition’s organising committee. “School students learn the techniques for producing art works, and they improve and perfect these techniques with the support and encouragement of their teachers. At school, it’s an achievement to have one’s work displayed on the art room walls; at home, some proud parents hang their child’s work; but all too often that is the most exposure that the art gets. This event brings exceptional pieces of youth art into the context of art museums and galleries – giving these works a new, raised status among art audiences.”

The well-known New England artist Fay Porter will judge the 50 finalists at NERAM on Tuesday 9 May, choosing the winning entries in the four age categories: Infants (prize $50), Primary (prize $100), Junior Secondary (prize $200), and Senior Secondary (prize $300). At the official opening of the exhibition on Friday, Professor Minichiello and Mrs Ann Pettigrew will present the prizes to the category winners, as well as a Certificate of Distinction to each of the finalists.

Ms Alter said the Infants category was a new addition to the competition this year. “We’ve invited students in kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 to submit works, after much lobbying for this from schools,” she said.

“We’ve been given some art supplies by the wholesalers S&S Creativity Unlimited for the prize-winners,” she added. “They say they are interested in the UNE competition because it offers a unique opportunity to be involved in an art competition for schools throughout much of regional NSW.”

The photograph displayed here shows three of the judges - (from left) Glenda Kupczyk-Romanczuk, Dr Terrence Hays, and Ann Pettigrew - during the process of selecting the 50 finalists from more than 300 entries.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at May 8, 2006 02:45 PM