We acknowledge we live, work and play on Darkinjung Country. We pay our respects to Elders, past, present and emerging and recognise their continued connection to these lands and waterways. We acknowledge our shared responsibility to care for and protect our place and people.
The Gosford Regional Gallery is proud to present the 2022 Gosford Art Prize. Events such as an annual art prize become a regular touchpoint for the community. They give us insight into the health and vibrancy of the sector and frequently reflect the concerns and collective consciousness of the community. The agonizing memories of the Black Summer bushfires inspired winning works by Amanda Hale in 2020 and Nicolette Axiak and Jelena Sinik in 2021. Similarly, the COVID pandemic has inspired many works over the last few years, including winning works by Catherine O’Donnell in 2020 and Vanessa Encarnacao in 2021. We eagerly look forward to discovering what will inspire the winning works for 2022.
There are 133 finalist artworks in 2022, selected by a panel who aimed to include a variety of styles, content and techniques. The finalists include 11 interstate works, demonstrating that the Gosford Art Prize continues to attract attention from across the country. Pleasingly almost one third of the finalists are from the Central Coast, showing the strength of artistic talent in our region. For 32 of the finalists, this was the first time they have entered the Gosford Art Prize.
We were fortunate to secure two very experienced judges this year: Vicky Grima, the Executive Officer for The Australian Ceramics Association and editor of the Journal of Australian Ceramics, and Emily Rolfe, the Curator of Contemporary Visual Arts at Campbelltown Arts Centre. I would like to thank the judges for their thorough deliberations in awarding the prizes. Their comments are included within the catalogue and provide insight into the judging process.
Central Coast Council is proud to present this event which recognises the importance of art and its place within the community.
I would like to invite everyone to vote for their favourite work in the Viewers' Choice Award. This is your chance to comment on the high standard of works and to pick the artwork you feel is most deserving.
Congratulations to all participating artists. The competition was extremely fierce!
Tim Braham
Director - Gosford Regional Gallery
The Gosford Art Prize is a significant facet of the Gosford Regional Gallery’s annual exhibition program. It was initially organised by the community in the early 1970s. When the Gosford Regional Gallery opened in 2000, it became the new permanent home of the Gosford Art Prize. Both the main prize and the Ceramics Prize have grown in popularity and strength over the past 22 years, celebrating the diversity of practices from artists both on the Central Coast and from beyond our region.
A shortlist of finalists are selected for exhibition, with awards presented for artworks chosen by an expert judging panel.
First Prize
Second Prize
Aboriginal Artist Prize Highly Commended Art Prize (x2)
Gosford Ceramics Prize
Highly Commended Ceramic Prize
Viewer’s Choice Award
$15,000
$5,000
$2,500
$1,000
$2,500 $1,000 $500
Selected by votes from visitors to the exhibition and awarded at the end of the exhibition
This year’s finalist exhibition is a diverse group of works in all sorts of ways – in the media presented, the artists and the concepts addressed, and in the stories that they are telling about both local and global issues. The exhibition strongly reflects what people have been going through in the last few years – staying at home or more closely observing their local environment alone or with those close to them. As a result, a lot of the artworks in this finalist exhibition feel relatively quiet and considered. As judges, we unanimously agreed on the artworks which are recipients of the prizes. While not an easy task, the winning works gradually emerged with each having a subtle beauty to them along with intriguing stories. For the ceramics award, it was exciting to see a wide variety of surface treatments – lustre, smoke-fired, paraffin wax, and raku, along with a rich diversity of forms – small and intricate, big and bold, delicate and decorated. Overall, the selected prize-winning works were strong, showing a high degree of skill, consideration and integrity. They are impressive works. Congratulations to this year’s finalists and the deserving award winners. We encourage visitors to look at the whole exhibition, then go back to their favourites, to the ones that speak to or challenge them. Read the stories behind the works and enjoy it. We did.
Emily Rolfe is Curator, Contemporary Visual Arts at Campbelltown Arts Centre (C-A-C). Advocating for collaborative, artist-led curatorial models and projects, she has extensive experience in delivering new commissions and curating exhibitions with Australian and international artists.
Emily is part of the curatorial collective that will curate The National 4: Australian Art Now in 2023, presented across the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Carriageworks and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Recent projects include: Co-Curator of Luke Sciberras’s survey exhibition in partnership with Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Luke Sciberras: Side of the Sky (2022), Co-Curator of In Conversation: FX Harsono x Ida Lawrence (2019) and Assistant Curator of Lisa Reihana: Cinemania (2018).
Emily was Assistant Curator at Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney (2014–17). She has managed and edited a number of in-depth publications including Luke Sciberras: Side of the Sky (2022), Lisa Reihana: Cinemania (2018) and Jompet Kuswidananto: After Voices (2016). She holds a Bachelor of Media (Screen and Sound) from the University of New South Wales.
Vicki Grima began her career as a secondary teacher sharing her passion for integrating visual arts through the whole curriculum with teachers and students. Vicki’s practice developed while sharing and teaching visual art to adults throughout Australia. Vicki’s expertise in ceramics stems from both her experience in the studio and as Executive Officer for The Australian Ceramics Association, with its dynamic membership of over 1,500 studio potters, and as Editor of the tri-annual print publication, the Journal of Australian Ceramics. Vicki is in daily communication with the national and international ceramics community, helping to maintain relevance for new ways of working with the medium while honouring the rich history of ceramics practice in Australia.
This text-based mirror-work reflects the lack of representation for Iranian queerness and the absence of a transcultural signifier. It copies and transcribes the exact text from the Iranian Wikipedia page for the word ‘queer’ – that denies the existence of such a concept in the Farsi language – and transforms the text into an abstract mirror-work. The Kufic calligraphy used in this work is the earliest hand-written alphabet used to record Quran and is the most geometric, illegible and abstract form of Arabic and Farsi script. Utilising fractured mirrors, the text becomes less legible and transformed into a queer code.
Mixed media, hand-cut mirrors and plaster on aluminium Di Bond (text-based mirror-work)
Whenever I visit her, she gives me cuttings.
All of mine are from familiar places (Bell & Hawkes, Generations p 25)
I make records of myself and my experiences. I fossick through the notions that devalue the domestic sphere and emphasise the anecdotal and the personal story in my practice. The small stories that give things meaning or enable understanding. I diffidently use myself as a reference point from which to begin. To document my journeys, I like to celebrate the unwanted and the discarded. I recycle / layer / collage / stitch domestic materials, especially vintage books and paper.
Vintage paper collage / acrylic paint
This lyrical work is
and,
the scribbly gum moth hatchling originating from
work imagines a ritualistic gathering of
Slender ceramic cylinders in three clay
an organic language, then
imparting smoke into the surface of the
that
Gondwana.
I work mainly with stoneware
bark trees to share
secret dialect.
Horse hair Raku fired ceramic
Ceramic clay and glaze. Kintsugi resin.
and fire in a gas
is derived from
3
1
Katerina Apale
Indissoluble Connection
Oil on canvas
$4,300
2 Russell Austin
Free to Air Oil on canvas
$2,200
Jelena Sinik & Nicolette
Axiak
101 Days of Lockdown
Duel Channel HD Video NFS
4 Maree Azzopardi Pilgrimage #2 Bushfire charcoal, pigment & hand embroidered thread on mulberry folding paper $3,500
5 Peter Baka Caroline Bay Winter Crying Acrylic on timber $585
10 Wendy Bills Abundance
Oil on canvas $3,300
11 Karen Bloomfield
Keeping her pretty Oil on canvas $2,900
12
20 Seong Cho
Moment seized me, I seized the Moment XV
$2,800 21 Benjamin Cole
Warmer Decision 2 Photography
$2,500
29
Monika Viktoria Diak
Effigies
Oyster shells, fabric, beads, embroidery $150 each 30 Dana Dion Picnic Spot Acrylic and mixed media on canvas
$11,000
Geoffrey Breen Road House Oil on canvas $3,250
13
22 Karen Coull
The Sunday Tablecloth
Vintage paper collage and acrylic paint
$1,100
Helena Brunner
Putty beach in SpringBouddi NP Acrylic on board $500 14
23
Wendy Cummins
Just thinking
Felted merino wool on cotton scrim and linen
31 Jon Ellis
Greek fishermen, dog and empty chair Oil on canvas
$3,500
Chenaya BancroftDavis Peace and Prosperity Print $700
7 Frances Barrett
A Song for Katthy
Single Channel HD Video $5,000
Muamer Cajic Inselberg Colour pencil on paper $2,500 15 Brooke Cameron Darkinjung Girl Acrylic on canvas NFS 16 Sharon Candy Todays Visual Study
Acrylic and pastels on canvas $3,400
17 Rachel Carroll
$1,600 24 Bruce Daniel Perisher Sentinel Oil on canvas NFS 25
Simone Darcy
Leather Back Seat Shag Archival inkjet print
$1,600
26
32 Margaret Fortey Backyard Blitz Drawing on silk $3,500
33 Ariella Friend Burnt Forest Algorithm Recycled timber, acrylic, PVA glue $3,250
34 Keith Fyfe Out of the House No.3 (Pink Moon) Mixed media
$2,000
Inel Date
The Waters Edge Oil on canvas
$1,650 27
35
Robert Bennetts
Pondering the cube in Covid
Oil pastel, pencil, stonehenge paper 300 gm $2,750
Leah Bennetts
On The Rise
Unique state linocut, woodblock & collage on archival paper $1,200
After the floods the bees went missing Acrylic on board $750 18 John Chapman Exhausted Digital photography $800 19 Susanna Chen Chow Wollombi Awakening Acrylic on canvas $3,500
Charmaine Davis Washpool calling Acrylic on canvas
$2,700
28
Aidan Gageler That’s Not How I Remember It Dye Sublimation Photograph on Alumin ium
$3,000
36 Molly Gill
Janine Debenham
Holding Falling Memories (from the Almost Invisible series)
Cardboard Drypoint and Carborundum with relief prints and watercolour on 300gsm Rives BFK
$1,500
Driftwood Lady: Forrest ers Beach Watercolour NFS
83
92
101
111
Anton Pulvirenti
Waterview Park, looking towards Gosford hospital
Acrylic on canvas
$4,500 84 Ron Smith
Your Choice
Acrylic on canvas
$900 85
Garry Purchase
Perseverance
Acrylic on canvas
NFS 86 Kylie Cassidy
I am
Acrylic on canvas with emu feathers
NFS 87 Yulia Pustoshkina
Tiger of the Year Oil on canvas
$8,400 88 Ben Rak Skins
Single channel video $1,000 89
Ann Rayment
History in the Rock
Acrylic, collage and ink on linen $2,700
90 Bree Riley
The Weight of the Things I’ve Seen
Acrylic on canvas with floating timber frame $3,200
91
Michael Schiavello
Dams 1-8
Bluo (laundry optical whitener) and PVA on bleached huck cloths NFS 93
Zoe Sernack
Petrichor
Acrylic on board $1,200 94
Peter Smeeth
Cathy Wilcox, Cartoonist Oil on canvas NFS 95 Peter Smeeth
In Arte Veritas Oil and acrylic on canvas NFS 96 Lauri Smith Gloria’s Nightly Dance Silicone, foam, metal, mohair, pressed flowers, resin NFS 97
Beverly Smith My travelling map to Culture Natural dyes and pigment on watercolour paper $2,200 98
Cecilia Smith
“EXIT” Oil on board $650 99
Marcia Staples
Family Acrylic $800 102 Laurie Sword
Banksia in Blue Acrylic paint on canvas $650 103
Ali Tahayori
There is no queer in Iran Mixed Media, hand-cut mirrors and plaster on aluminium Di Bond NFS 104 Claire Tozer Web
Acrylic and ink on canvas $8,500
Simon Welsh
Fruit Cake Collage $600 112 Sally West The Violist Oil on canvas $13,300
113
Bruce Whatley
Remember When Oil on canvas
NFS
114
David K Wiggs
Regrowth-North Head To The Northern Beaches and Beyond-Plein air Oil on canvas $9,000
Antoinette Tyndall
Still Life with Peaches Oil on canvas $740 106 Kate Nielsen Bottlebrush with Patterned Curtain Oil on canvas $6,200 107
Bronwyn Van de Graaff From the Gardenoranges and lemons Oil on canvas NFS 108
115 Lucy Ray
An overgrown clearing, two ravens, a mirror, peaches and pool chairs. Graphite on paper, mounted to panel $1,600
116
Aliki Yiorkas Candy Scales Oil on canvas $550
117
Leanne Berelowitz
Moment to Moment
Stoneware clay
$1,200
118
Peter Steggall Forest
Ceramic clay and glaze and kintsugi resin $750 119
Tamasin Pepper Pebble Form
Stoneware with engobes and glaze $880 120 Ali White R’evolution Stoneware with non-com mercial slips, glaze and underglaze. NFS
121 Paul Hurst
Mother & son
Grogged clay with underglaze and stains
NFS
122
Jooyun Lim
Functional geometry 2022 -Language (Jewellery box) Clay $6,300 123
Gillian Hodes
Ocean Cliff Nerikomi Vessel
Stoneware, pigments, internally glazed $895 124
Lihnida Krstanoska-Blazeska HotPants Clay, slip, glaze, gold lustres $1,500
125
Alan Adrian Mendoza
Toro
Raku ceramic
NFS 126
Belinda Piggott
Galactic Mineral Cluster
Recycled stoneware clays, iron, copper, manganese
$985
127
Brett Smout Vase with sunshine Porcelain
NFS 128 Helen Shin Things change over time Clay $350
129
David Boyle Secret Meeting of the Bouddi Scribbly Bark Horsehair raku fired ceramic
$150 each 130
Jillian Nalty
The Love Slug Porcelain and paraffin $900
131
Simon Russell Coote Lithic Assemblage Ceramic
$90 each or $630 132 Susie Choi Shape shifter Porcelain, stoneware, glaze, lustres $700 133 Kit Fong Wong Still Life Porcelain $180each
Julie-Anne Rogers
Burnt #2
Mixed media $1,500
Brenda Gael Smith Banksia Filigree Textiles $950 100 Mike Staniford White Roads Acrylic on canvas $2,950
Sue Rosalind Vesely Stairway From Heaven Oil on canvas $2,600 109 Willemina Villari Mini Holiday, the Pool and Postcard Wire, painted rice paper $790 each 110
Donella Waters Struggling Acrylic on canvas $2,000
Gosford Regional Gallery team
Director Tim BrahamCurator
Jasmine Kean
Community Gallery Officer Liana Magrath
Support Officer Sally Smith
Retail and Visitor Experience Officer Helena Walsh
Reception Officers Karen Randall Michelle Cormack Kay O’Carroll Gallery Technicians Michael McIntyre Tim ParishWith thanks to our team of volunteers
Special thanks to our supporters, who make the Gosford Art Prize possible
Gosford Regional Gallery is proudly owned and operated by Central Coast Council
Star 104.5 is our official media partner
Central Coast Potters Society
Private Donors