An intricate lace cape from Lynton artist Judith Brown has won the $50,000 top award in this year’s Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize.
Flight of Fancy, created with bulbs, leaves and paper, is inspired by nature’s beauty.
“Nature’s recurring seasons of growth, perfection, decline and renaissance are a gift to us all. The constant exchange of form and style in nature’s palette challenge the artist to create a canvas, rich with allusions and symbolism. Through the fragile complexities and nuances of delicate forms this piece is a celebration of her unadorned beauty,” says Judith Brown.
The judges said: “Judith Brown’s Flight of Fancy is a creation of extraordinary delicacy and technical accomplishment. It participates in the European tradition of the protective mantle while employing non-precious Australian materials, the fragile coating of the disdained Watsonia bulb, leaves and paper. Invoking the cycle of nature and replete with allusion and symbolism, Flight of Fancy is a work of singular originality and rare beauty.”
Other winners are:
Paintings: Claudine Marzik (Smithfield, QLD) for her work Limestone belt Cairns West (acrylic on canvas).
Works on Paper: Young Soon Jin (Prospect, SA) for her work Enoki (pencil on paper).
Sculpture: Nick Mount (Leabrook, SA) for Fruit Salad #090312 (blown Glass, olive branches and American oak).
Youth prize: Llewelyn Ash (Sellicks Beach, SA) for Above and Below (glass).
Top judges from the art and science worlds chose winners from a record 859 entries, submitted from across the globe in the Paintings, Works on Paper, Sculpture and Objects, and Youth categories. The finalist pool includes both world-renowned and emerging artists, from as far as the United States and Italy.
One of Australia’s most prestigious art competitions, the Waterhouse is unique in its mission to encourage exploration of the sciences through high-calibre art.
The 2013 new-look competition has changed its name from “Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize” to better fit our mission to encourage creative exploration of the sciences. The South Australian Museum encouraged artists to do more to generate scientific debate, find dynamic ways to represent our research and contribute to artistic dialogue about the most pressing issues facing our planet.
South Australian Museum Acting Director and Scientist, Professor Andrew Lowe, has congratulated the winners and says their work is evidence of the essential role of the Waterhouse in both the arts and science worlds.
“As a scientist, I know that collaboration between art and science can create debate, greater understanding and has the potential to generate new knowledge and ideas that benefit both fields. It can open up new ways of interpreting the world around us through exploration, creativity and collaboration,” he says.
“The Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize is, in my view, a harkening back to the humanist approach of the Renaissance period, which encouraged versatility and a desire to acquire universal learning in order to develop one’s full potential.”
A creative platform for innovation
The Waterhouse has contributed millions of dollars to the development of the arts in Australia. The touring exhibition of artworks not only delight and inspire audiences, but prompt engagement with ideas related to biology, palaeontology, chemistry and other fields, that might otherwise be reserved for specialists in each area.
South Australian Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy Tom Koutsantonis says the Waterhouse Prize is a reminder that science is a critical element that underpins the State’s economic growth.
“South Australia is fortunate to possess enormous resources wealth,” Mr Koutsantonis said.
“Congratulations to all of the entrants and in particular the winners of this year’s Prize for reminding us of the meaning and potential of science.”
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