Wanganui National Art Exhibition and Award

The first Wanganui National Art Exhibition and Award was launched in September 2009 at the Wanganui Community Arts Centre.

Twenty works were entered by artists from the Wanganui, Hawke’s Bay and Wellington regions. The convener Aaron Potaka, of Optiv101 Fine Arts and Multimedia Studios, was pleased to present New Zealand’s newest art exhibition and award to the city and expects entries and prize to grow.

“This city has a reputation for nurturing and promoting the arts, and with the Wanganui National, now the city has stepped up to take on those responsibilities for contemporary art for all of New Zealand,” Potaka says.

He says that he is honoured to have talented artists exhibiting and being ambassadors for the Wanganui National Art Exhibition and Award.

A panel of graphic novelist Dylan Horrocks, printmaker Rowan Gardiner and the convener, Potaka, selected Glory by Esther Topfer of Wanganui, as Best in Show. The panellists were impressed with all works, commenting that they were at the forefront of contemporary art in New Zealand. The decision to select a winner for the award was difficult to make.

The winning work is a silkscreen of paints and mixed media on glass. The work has sophistication and appeal to it. The work is grounded with dark blues and blacks, and the gold and pink in the figures are very alluring. The production process was innovative and fresh, and materials integrated into the work were delightfully quirky.

The inaugural Wanganui National Art Exhibition and Award was an encouraging success, viewed by 670 people over an exhibition period of two weeks, and four patrons bought works. Potaka looks forward to the 2010 event.

Entry forms and conditions will be released three months prior to the event, provisionally scheduled for September 2010 at the Wanganui Community Arts Centre. Entry is open to all artists living and working in New Zealand, and up to three works will be eligible per artist for an overall $30 entry fee.

Updates on the Wanganui National Art Exhibition and Award can be obtained from http://wanganuinational.blogspot.com.

Entry forms for the 2010 Wanganui National Art Exhibition and Award, available from May 30th 2010 can be downloaded from http://www.24bar7.com.