THE Broken Hill City Art Gallery’s Acquisitive art award, the Pro Hart Outback Art Prize closes for entries on Monday, June 30.
Gallery manager Kathy Graham encouraged local artists to submit work that reflects the spirit and diversity of the outback, in any medium other than AI.
“We’ve got sculptural, we’ve got textiles, 2D, acrylics, watercolours, oils, drawings, prints, etchings, every medium you could possibly think of at the moment, which is great,” she said.
“The sculptural works are always exciting because we don’t receive a great deal, so its nice to see ceramic works getting into the finalists.”
Artworks will be assessed by a panel or judges in early July, and finalists will exhibit on the ground floor of the gallery from August 15.
Ms Graham said the selection panel are a varied group with different tastes.
“What I look for in a finalist and what other panel members look for is probably going to be very different, which is why it’s good to have a group,” she said.
“You’ve got people who are more inclined to be traditionalists, and people that are more contemporary.
“Personally, I look for something that’s a little bit different. It is themed around the outback, but there are so many different interpretations of that.
“From a gallery point of view, I look for things that are different materials because we don’t have a lot of sculptural work and it is an acquisition prize.”
Ms Graham said the judge this year is Brett Adlington, CEO of Museums and Galleries New South Wales.
“He’ll be up here for the opening night,” she said.
“He was also the director of the Lismore Gallery for about 10 years, so he’s in a really good position to be able to assess the works.”
The art prize sees a total prize pool of $23,000, which is supported by the Hart family in honour of Pro Hart.