A felting group at Art Central. Photos: Supplied.
An art exhibition and two art prizes have been announced for two groups of Eurobodalla artists who often struggle to show their work.
The Possum Youth Prize is open to Eurobodalla artists aged between 15 and 30 while the Possum Indigenous Prize is open to all Aboriginal residents in Eurobodalla. Entries will feature in an exhibition in Moruya in June.
The art prizes are organised and delivered by Arts Council of Eurobodalla Inc (Art Central) and sponsored in partnership with South East Arts.
Art Central’s public officer Bernie O’Neil said there were limited exhibition opportunities in the Eurobodalla and those exhibition opportunities tended to go to established artists.
Ms O’Neil said that before the Black Summer bushfires and COVID, Art Central had substantial engagement with some young and Indigenous artists.
“That fell away when the centre was closed for two years and they have not come back,” she said.
Since then, other pressures have intensified including availability and cost of rental accommodation, lack of public transport and living costs, and unlike many other local government areas, TAFE NSW does not offer training in any art fields in the Eurobodalla.
Ms O’Neil said Art Central recognised there were people making art and wanting to make art who were not receiving the support they should “so this is our way of trying to address that”.
Lion (detail) by Joey Muller.
“Art has such a strong healing impact and mental health benefits,” she said. “It is good for individuals, good for the community and it builds social capital.”
She hopes the new prizes and exhibition start conversations with those groups of artists so that Art Central can understand how they would like to be supported.
Entries opened on 20 April and close at 4 pm on 14 May. Art Central will accept entries of digital stills, sculpture, mixed media, fibre, ceramics, painting, drawing, printmaking and photography. Conditions of entry include size and weight limits on what works will be considered. Artists can offer their entries for sale. There is no fee to enter art works.
Each winner of the youth and Indigenous prizes will receive $1000 in cash.
Second and third prize winners in each category will receive three free lessons at Art Central in Moruya.
“Those artists will attend Art Central’s existing classes which puts them into a functioning collaborative arts space,” Ms O’Neil said. “There will be a range of opportunities.”
The two judges are Aboriginal poet, playwright, author and artist Julie Janson and photographer, printmaker and teacher Steve Fox.
Emu Dreaming on Yuin Country by Morgan Kurrajong.
Art Central will be curating and hanging the exhibition. “People will see their work hung beautifully in a proper gallery which is important because many people don’t get to see their work hung,” Ms O’Neil said.
The idea for the exhibition and prizes came from a conversation between South East Arts executive director Kate Bradbury, Ms Janson, who is a board member of South East Arts and on Eurobodalla Shire Council’s Aboriginal Advisory Committee, and Ms O’Neil.
“We were talking about how we weren’t engaging so well with those groups of artists and all three of us were keen to address that, and South East Arts had some funds to put towards it,” Ms O’Neil said. That came in part from the Australian Government Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support program.
Ms O’Neil said the drivers for the art prizes and exhibition were very similar to why many artists recently spoke at Eurobodalla Shire Council’s public forum in favour of establishing a Creative Arts Advisory Committee.
“The argument is the same,” she said. “There are creative activities happening, but the voices of those theatre groups, musicians and artists aren’t being heard. They don’t have an opportunity to engage with our local authority and say what is important to them.”
Ms O’Neil said the advisory committee gave the creative arts community a voice to councillors so that they would be much better informed on how to support the arts and make optimal use of council’s limited resources.
“The best decision-making is the best-informed decision-making,” she said. “You need to get the right information to get the best decision and having an advisory committee is a way to do that.”
The exhibition will open at 5 pm on 5 June and close at 2 pm on 13 June at the Mechanics Institute, Page Street, Moruya. Friends and family are all welcome to the opening.
