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Winner 2015 NZPPA announced- judges speech

12^th February 2015   by Dr. Anne Kirker        

I was delighted to be asked to judge this year’s New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Award. As a New Zealander living in Australia it has given me an opportunity to immerse myself in a diverse range of art making from this country which shows concerns and approaches being explored at the present. Clearly painting and an expanded idea of printmaking remains very relevant for our times. With this exhibition of 50 works (there were 370 works entered for the Award), it has been possible to explore how artists approach issues around their lives and how they develop narratives that we can relate to. It allows us to observe both the light hearted and whimsical and the dark and unsettling. Aside from the figurative, abstract art is featured which is both hard edge and geometric, and organic and free form. Acknowledgment of the art of the past can be seen but equally the effects of social media and the internet on our hybrid and globalized world.

After careful deliberation over several months the Hamilton Gardens Pavilion hosted the finalists and I spent a day choosing the winner and merit awardees. It was a difficult task as all the exhibits were of a high calibre. I decided to award the Grand Prize to Nicol Sanders - O’Shea from Tauranga, for her intriguing diptych Exchanges. This work resembles two mirrors in ornate frames based on family dynamics and recalls illustrations from the 1950s and early 1960’s as well as the Pop art phenomenon. The images in their oval formats can seem nostalgic until you realise that we are looking at a less clichéd side of childhood, one that is full of fear and anxiety.  This work is also revisionist in the sense of screenprinting as rather than being editioned this work plays on the notion of seriality through the repetitive printed elements within the composition as a whole.

I have chosen three merit awards for NZPPA 2015, AR 2014-13 by David Brown of Wellington, The Meeting (after Courbet) by Michael Collins of Christchurch and The Pretenders by Susanne Kerr of Lower Hutt.

A special thanks goes to our sponsors, especially the Philip Vela Family Trust 

People's Choice Award

NZPPA 2015 Voting  People’s Choice Brings Winner !

The WSA hosts the annual New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Award for 2015. This year we have had 50 very different pieces of work in our competition. Out of the lot we have had some Colourful and some Black and White, some were paintings and some were from printmakers.  How do you pick a winner?  You let the People vote on them.

The people came flocking in to the exhibition as it stood hanging in the Pavilion at Hamilton Garden’s for the Art Festival. Some were artists themselves. Others were Teachers, students, and children but all got the opportunity to look at the lovely exhibit. Comments were made by amateurs and experts alike and as each person little or big began to exit the building they were reminded to vote in the little grey box in the middle of the room.

A little grey box, a small square piece of paper and a pen, was all that stood between winning and not. We would diligently add up all the pieces of paper and place the count by the number of painting. Thousands of people visited the exhibition. Some did not feel they had the right to vote others couldn’t wait to place a number on the paper and put it in the box. Finally a winner has been chosen.

Brigid Allan is the artist of “Blacker Than the Night”. The painting is an acrylic on board. The artist wrote: ‘With ‘attention to life’, my recollections are embodied in my work. The relationship between image and movement became actualized through paint as our perception coexists with past, present and future.’

Gordon Harris is sponsoring this Award and will graciously grant Brigid Allan a gift certificate for $300 to use as she so feels in their vast art supply store, 386 Anglesea Street, Hamilton 3204. 

Finalists announced for New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Award 2015

Media Release
Friday, 28 November 2014

Choosing from almost 370 entries submitted by New Zealand artists throughout the country, Judge Dr Anne Kirker has selected 50 finalist artworks for the 2015 New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Award.

This award is our country’s most valuable, acquisitive cash award for New Zealand artists in the fields of painting and printmaking. The $20,000 prize is very generously sponsored by the Philip Vela Family Trust and they also purchase the winning artwork for their collection. Success in this competition has been a springboard for many of the winning artists who have moved on to significant careers in the contemporary art field.

The judge for 2015 is Dr Anne Kirker. Her experience includes curatorial work in leading galleries in New Zealand and Australia. She was Adjunct Associate Professor at Queensland College of Art and now works as an independent art consultant, curator and writer.

The finalist works will be exhibited during the Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival. The winner will be announced on 13 February 2015 at the awards ceremony; there will also be two merit awards presented. The public are invited to vote for the Peoples’ Choice award during the exhibition and the popular favourite wins a prize of art materials donated by Gordon Harris.

The exhibition is the major visual arts event at the Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival and is FREE to the public. The exhibition will run from 14th February until Thursday 26th February 2014.

The New Zealand Painting and Printmaking 2015 finalists are:

1 Brigid Allan - Owhango
2 Lydia Barbour - Cromwell
3 Michael Barker - Te Aroha
4 BàtE (Bon à tirer and Emboss) - Port Chalmers
5 Philippa Bentley - Auckland
6 David Brown - Wellington
8 Beatrice Carlson - Devonport
7 Casey Carsel - Auckland
9 Anne Carter Jones - Hamilton
10 Lisa Chandler - Richmond
11 Jamie Chapman - Auckland
12 Elliot Coffin - Ashburton
13 Michael Collins - Christchurch
14 Deborah Crowe - Auckland
15 Janet de Wagt - Dunedin
16 Edwards+Johann - Christchurch
17 Neil Emmerson - Dunedin
18 Lani Eyles - Rotorua
19 Joanna Fieldes - Auckland
20 Viky Garden - Auckland
21 Jacquie Haselden - Taupiri
22 Sal Higgens - Auckland
23 Niki Hill - Auckland
24 Susanne Kerr - Lower Hutt
25 Anita Levering - Auckland
26 Prue Mac Dougall - Auckland
27 Jacqueline Macleod - Christchurch
28 Jacqueline Macleod - Christchurch
29 Peter Miller - Auckland
30 Sarah Mitchell Munro - Hamilton
31 Rosemary Mortimer - Wellington
32 Toni Mosley - Auckland
33 Olav Nielsen - Dunedin
34 Kheang Ov - Auckland
35 Emma Panting - Nelson
36 Joon-Hee Park - Auckland
37 Shin-young Park - Singapore
38 John Pusateri - Auckland
39 Rosy and Rich - Puhoi
40 Aiko Robinson - Christchurch
41 Nicol Sanders-O'Shea - Tauranga
42 Bevan Shaw - Wellington
43 Zain Sorrenson & Maree Glass - Hamilton
44 Tertius - Hamilton
45 Jon Tootill - Papakura
46 Sheyne Tuffery - Wellington
47 Janna van Hasselt - Christchurch
48 Amanda Watson - Raglan
49 Grace Wright - Auckland
50 Sarah Ziessen - Rotorua

Judge announced for the New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Award 2015

We are proud to announce Dr. Anne Kirker will judge the New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Award 2015. The annual $20,000 prize is sponsored by The Philip Vela Family Trust. Dr. Kirker has curated at major New Zealand and Australian galleries, and published a survey on New Zealand women artists. She will also judge this year's Fremantle Print Award.