It’s time to get your entries in for Opunake’s 2010 Taranaki Art Awards, a highlight of Taranaki’s creative calendar this spring. Formerly known as the Taranaki Art Review, the annual awards are a national competition offering an opportunity for artists to exhibit and sell their work, with the added bonus of a $10,000 prize pool.
The awards are divided into seven categories: Painting, Rural Taranaki, 3D, Watercolour, Fibre Art, Toi Tu Taranaki and Photography. Entrants in the Rural Taranaki section must reside in Taranaki and the 3D section includes sculpture in any media. Toi Tu Taranaki is the new name of the Aotearoa award, sponsored by Tui Ora Ltd & Parininihi Ki Waitotara Trust. Defined as ‘How Taranaki sees Aotearoa’, the award invites new, emerging and established artists to take a look at Aotearoa thorough a distinctively Taranaki lens – to say something of where they live, what they do and who they are in a way that is filtered by the prominence of Taranaki in our shared stories.
In its ninth year, the awards could not be such a great success without the generous support from sponsors, the Opunake community and committed volunteers. The major sponsors this year are: TSB Community Trust, Shell Todd Oil Services Ltd, Fred & Eunice Rodie Charitable Trust, Tui Ora Ltd, Parininihi Ki Waitotara Trust, NZ Community Trust, Pub Charity, Gibson Plumbing, Taranaki Thoroughbred Racing, Malcolm Campbell Livestock, Opunake Businesses, Michael Hill Jeweller, South Taranaki District Council, Egmont Plains Community Board and South Taranaki Creative Communities.
The Taranaki Art Awards Committee are pleased to announce the judges for this year, Darcy Nicholas and Mary-Jane Duffy. Raised in Waitara, Taranaki, Darcy Nicholas is a leading contemporary Maori painter, sculptor, writer, curator, event manager and commentator on art. Darcy has exhibited in Canada, USA, Japan, Britain, Africa, France and India, and has been part of international touring shows throughout Britain, Australia and Europe. His work is held in private and public collections in many countries. In 1984 he won a Fulbright Award to study American Indian and African American art and movements, and in 2005 he won the Creative Wellington Award. In 2010 he was awarded a Queens Service Order for his work in Museums. Darcy is currently General Manager of Community Services for Porirua City and is also responsible for Management of Pataka, Porirua Museum of Arts and Cultures.
Mary-Jane Duffy co-directs the Mary Newton Gallery in Wellington with Paula Newton. She formerly worked in museums and public galleries in Timaru and Wellington. She is a writer of essays and poems, and also teaches on the Creative Writing Programme at Whitireia Community Polytechnic.
Their collective experience will be vital when faced with the daunting task of picking the winners.
The Awards ceremony is on Friday 29 October and offers a great night of entertainment, diverse NZ artwork and a chance to meet the artists. Be sure to mark this date in your diaries. The Taranaki Art Awards Exhibition will be on display 10am-5pm daily, from 29 October – 6 November at Sandfords Event Centre, Opunake. Corrected pick up dates for unsold artwork is Sunday 7 & Monday 8 November.
Get your entries in no later than 14 September 2010. For entries forms and further information, visit the website: www.taranakiartawards.co.nz, or contact Debbie Campbell (06) 7618192 or Suzie Stanley (06) 761 8879.