Glover Prize

Glover Prize
Awarded for "The work judged the best contemporary painting of the Tasmanian landscape"
Country Tasmania, Australia
Presented by John Glover Society
First awarded 2004
Currently held by Nigel Hewitt, 2015
Official website www.johnglover.com.au

The Glover Prize is an Australian annual art prize awarded for paintings of the landscape of Tasmania[1] The prize was inaugurated in 2004 by the John Glover Society, based in Evandale, Tasmania, in honour of the work of British-born landscape painter John Glover, who lived and painted in the area from 1832 until his death in 1849.[1][2] The current prize amount of A$ 40 000 is the highest for landscape painting in Australia.[3][4][5] The 2012 award was controversial: the winning picture included a depiction of convicted Port Arthur massacre spree killer Martin Bryant in the landscape of Port Arthur.[4]

History

Main article: John Glover (artist)

John Glover lived the last 17 years of his life in northern Tasmania. In 2001, "Mount Wellington and Hobart Town with Natives Dancing and Bathing", one of his many landscape works that were sent beck to England, was sold for more that $1.5 million.[6] The Glover Prize has been described as "a little heart beat, a funny little committee that had a little bit of money and had an idea".[6] By 2010, the prize attracted 270 entrants.[6]

Conditions for the prize

The John Glover Society has specified that the prize is limited to works depicting Tasmanian landscapes.[1][2]

Winners

2004

The winner of the inaugural Prize was Longford based artist Michael McWilliams, for the painting Bandicoot on a Log[7] Bandicoots are small to medium-sized terrestrial marsupials endemic to Australia. The painting now hangs in the departure lounge of Launceston Airport.[7][8] His acrylics on linen work Bush Blankets was awarded the $ 3 000 "People's Choice" 2012 award.[9]

2005

In the second year of the contest, there were more than 130 entries. The winner was Stephen Charles Lees for the painting Wishbone Ridge. Lees, who was born in Sydney, had lived in Tasmanian since 1992.[8][10][11]

2006

Hobart artist David Keeling was awarded the third Glover Prize for 45 Minute Walk - Narawntapu. The winning work was of orthodox oils on canvas medium.[1] The landscape depicted is part of the Narawntapu National Park[1][8]

2007

The winner of the Prize in 2007 was Raymond Arnold, a Queenstown-based printmaker.[12] The painting in acrylics, entitled Western Mountain Ecology, depicts stacks of freshly-sawn Huon pine. The prize amount was then $ 30 000.[8][12]

2008

Hobart Art teacher Neil Haddon was awarded the 2008 Glover Prize for his work Purblind (opiate)[13] The work is enamels on aluminium, and references the cultivation of opium poppies in Tasmanian opium poppy farming industry.[8][13]

2009

Hobart-based artist Matthew Armstrong was awarded the 2009 Prize for the work Transformed at Night ahead of more than 250 other entrants. Armstrong's work depicted Mellifont Street, Hobart.[14]

2010

Queensland-based artist Ian Waldron was selected from among 272 entries to become the first Indigenous Australian to win the Prize with his work Walach Dhaarr (Cockle Creek), a piece created on Tasmanian oak.[15][16] "Walach Dhaarr" in the language of the Aboriginal Tasmanians of that region means "Cockle Creek",[17] a location in Tasmania that Waldron described as significant, both archaeologically and as a "site of positive exchange" between indigenous people and French mariners during the late 18th century.[15]

2011

The 2011 prize was awarded to Launceston artist Josh Foley for Gee’s Lookout.[3][18] The oil painting included pumice in its media.[18] The painting depicts a disused building on the hill overlooking Cataract Gorge in Launceston.[19]

2012

The 2012 winner was awarded to Launceston born Sydney resident artist Rodney Pople for the work Port Arthur.[20]

2013

The 2013 competition attracted 303 entrants; the prize was awarded to Sydney artist Janet Laurence for a work titled Plants Eye View, and depicted a close-up view of flora from the Tarkine region of North-West Tasmania.[21]

2014

The 2014 prize had 42 finalists.[22] The winning work was Looking south from the Labyrinth (to Mt Olympus & Lake St Clair) by New Norfolk born artist Mark Rodda.[23]

2015

The winner of the 2015 prize was Nigel Hewitt for his work Woven, created using wood ash from the 2013 Dunalley bushfires. [24] The work, chosen from 282 entries and 42 finalists, features a forest at Mt Barrow in northern Tasmania. Hewitt divides his time between Perth, Western Australia and Hobart, Tasmania.[25]

2012 award controversy

The 2012 award winning painting depicted Port Arthur and included a representation of Martin Bryant holding a gun.[26] The award received criticism. A former police officer who attended the scene of the Port Arthur Massacre described the work as insensitive and outrageous.[20] The CEO of the Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority was reported as stating that depictions of the massacre were unhelpful to those it affected.[26] Pople addressed the criticism, arguing that the depiction of Byant was a reminder of the brutality of the Port Arthur Prison Colony within a green "surreal beauty" landscape.[26]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Tasmanian wins Glover landscape prize". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 10 March 2006. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  2. 1 2 "The John Glover Society". John Glover Society. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  3. 1 2 Walker, Tim (22 September 2011). "The path of a Glover Art Prize winner". ABC Local Radio. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  4. 1 2 "Martin Bryant painting wins Glover prize". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 9 March 2012. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  5. "Covers coming off Glover art prize", ABC News, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 10 March 2011
  6. 1 2 3 Perry, Bronwyn (4 March 2010). "Record entries for Glover Prize". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
  7. 1 2 Kearney, Annie (10 January 2012). "Longford artist in brush with the past". The Examiner. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 "Glover Prize - former winners". John Glover Society. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  9. Machen, Mary (14 March 2012). "More popular, less controversial art winner". The Examiner. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  10. Southern Tas painter wins art honours, ABC News, 12 March 2005
  11. "Stephen Lees", Tasmanian Life, retrieved 10 April 2012
  12. 1 2 "Glover prize to best in West". The Advocate. Fairfax Media. 10 March 2007. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  13. 1 2 "Hobart teacher wins prestigious art prize". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 7 March 2008. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  14. "Reluctant entrant wins Tas art prize". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 7 March 2009. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  15. 1 2 "Queensland landscape artist wins Glover Prize". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 5 March 2010. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  16. Perry, Bronwyn (5 March 2010). "Indigenous man takes out Glover Prize". Lateline. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  17. Boland, Michaela (8 March 2010). "History resonates in winning island landscape". The Australian. News Limited. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  18. 1 2 Richards, Blair (12 March 2011). "Wild take grabs Glover Prize". The Mercury. News Limited. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  19. Scott, Luke (May 2011). "Glover win for UTAS landscape artist" (PDF). UniTas. University of Tasmania. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  20. 1 2 "Martin Bryant painting causes controversy". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. 10 March 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
  21. "Tarkine picture takes landscape prize". ABC News (Australia). Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 9 March 2013. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
  22. Bryan, Emily (7 March 2014). "Highlands painting claims rich Glover art prize". ABC News (Australia). Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
  23. "Mark Rodda - Looking South from the Labyrinth (to Mt Olympus & Lake St Clair), 2014". John Glover Society. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
  24. "Glover prize: Winning landscape by Nigel Hewitt uses ash from Dunalley bushfire". ABC News (Australia). Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 6 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  25. "Nigel Hewitt - Woven, 2015". John Glover Society. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  26. 1 2 3 Clark, Nick (10 March 2012). "Bryant painting prize outrage". The Mercury. News Limited. Retrieved 12 March 2012.

External links

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