If you are interested in any of these activities, have particular skills you can contributed or want to learn and be involved, then call into the Gallery to pick up an application form.

If you would like further information, please call the gallery on 99647170

If you are interested in contributing to this project, please contact the gallery on 99647170 or via email on grag@artgallery.wa.gov.au.

All contributions greatfully received until 4pm Friday 25th May 2012.

All original images will be returned to the owners.

Setting up an Art Gallery (Vimeo Video) from ABC Open Mid West WA.

Find out first hand how the 2012 Mid West Art Prize was put on display in the gallery in the 4 minute ABC produced short film which includes fascinating time lapse imagery along with an interview with Gallery Director, James Davies.

The second annual Mid West Art Prize Exhibition opened at the Geraldton Regional Art Gallery on Saturday 3 March 2012. The evening, which included the announcement of award winning works, was attended by some 275 people including exhibiting artists from around the State.

The City of Greater Geraldton is committed to this event and together with the support of our greatly appreciated sponsors, an amount of $45 000 in non acquisitive awards was once again made available.

Open to artists from throughout Western Australia, the Gallery received some 330 works vying for inclusion. Of these, 76 made it to the final display. All selected works are required to be new creations thereby ensuring an exhibition of quality, freshness and variety. Assisting the Gallery Director with the selection of works was Paul Uhlmann, Senior Lecturer and Printmaking Course Coordinator from the Edith Cowan University (Mt Lawley).

The exhibition judges in 2012 were; Fremantle Arts Centre Curator, Dr Ric Spencer and founder, CEO and Artistic Director of IASKA, Marco Marcon.

The Mid West Art Prize is not only an excellent opportunity and challenge for artists both local and state-wide; it also forms an excellent educational tool reaching out to include a wide cross section of the community. It continues to provide a sound method for the acquisition of art works for the City Collection and contributes significantly to the cultural development of the Mid West.

Whilst only in its second year, the Mid West Art Prize is already recognised by the City of Greater Geraldton and Art Gallery of Western Australia as a significant cultural event, not only for the Mid West but all of Western Australia.

The exhibition continues until Sunday May 27.

The award winning works are;

• $3500 96.5WAFM Youth Award. Alicia Hart. “Monitor’s Garden”

  

  Executed in the photorealist style, this is a beautifully and painstakingly crafted painting depicting a monitor lizard in a garden setting. This work exhibits strong painting skills and an excellent, sensitive use of media.

• $5 000 Mid West Aboriginal Award. Margaret Danischewsky. “Beach to Bush Collection”

  

  A series of three highly colourful woven baskets based upon the colours and rhythms found in the local mid west landscape. Decorative but also functional, these works have been beautifully hand crafted from a mixture of natural and commercial fibres and textiles.

• $5 000 GRAG Mid West Award. Marianne Penberthy. “The Remnant Diaries Re. Collections”

  

  Composed of old teabags containing remnants of private documents and photos, this work is an intensely personal exploration of thoughts, conversations and actions both past and present.

• $5 000 Eastman Poletti Sherwood Mid West Award. Gabrielle Woodhams; “Red Tutu For Lucy”

  

  A deceptively simple work, Red Tutu for Lucy is in fact a highly polished and technically brilliant piece of printmaking. This work continues the artist’s exploration of textures and subtle colours contained in the familiar.

  Purchased for the City of Greater Geraldton Art Collection.

• Minerals and Metals Group $5 000 Highly Commended. Olga Cironis “Take it All”

  

  Once again, Olga Cironis takes the ordinary and creates the magical. Cironis has taken the domestic, mundane and very familiar form of the woven carpet and transformed it into a highly charged commentary on consumerism and waste. This theme has been an ongoing one for the artist over several years although the theme tends to manifest itself in a variety of clever ways.

  Purchased for the City of Greater Geraldton Art Collection.

• CGG $20 000 Award for Excellence. Biddy Timbinah – “My Father’s Country”

  

  A personal exploration of the artist’s family and land in the North of WA. Beautifully crafted with an innate use of colour and textures recreating the rhythms found in the geography of the land of her father – as seen from the bird’s eye perspective. This is a work of great sensitivity created with an honesty and passion rarely seen and even harder to master.

  Purchased for the City of Greater Geraldton Art Collection.

So now you can not only admire the wonderful pieces of artwork on display, you can take a load off and sit in the cool comfort of their boutique cinema and watch stories from ABC Open contributors.

You can watch stories like Muddy Times by James Brockman talking about the importance of water and family.

Reminisce the stunning wildflower season from 2011 with Earth Colours by contributors Myriam Glorieux and Georgia Beardman. 

Enthusiastic people like Johnno sharing his passion for bike riding and Brenten loving waves not girls. 

Geraldton Regional Art Gallery is currently presenting the second Mid-West Art Prize, scheduled to open Saturday 3 March 2012, so it’s a really good time to head down and have a look. 

We will be updating the ABC Open reel each month with new content from our new projects like Now & Then: Series 2 and 110%.

If you would like to contribute and participate with ABC Open feel free to make contact with me here, I would love to hear from you and we might be able to you onto the silver screen!

So, what’s your story?

Marco Marcon was born in Italy and moved to Australia in late 1984. In Italy, Marco Marcon co-founded and directed Murales, one of Rome’s most innovative live music venues of the late 70s, and worked as a writer-producer of cultural programmes for the Italian Broadcasting Corporation. In Australia Marco worked as editor of the art journal Praxis M and lecturer in art theory and cultural studies at several universities. In 1998 he co-founded IASKA, of which he is the CEO/Artistic Director. Marco Marcon has collaborated with artists on several public art projects and published over 110 articles, essays and reviews in various journals, magazines, catalogues and books.

Dr Ric Spencer

Dr Ric Spencer is an artist and writer and currently Curator at Fremantle Arts Centre.  He was until recently (from 2004 – 2010) the art critic at The West Australian newspaper, since 2000 he has been an academic at Curtin University of Technology where he is currently Adjunct Professor. Spencer has been involved in numerous art activities as a writer, artist and project manager. He has shown his own work in Australia, Asia and the UK including at PICA, Linden Centre for Contemporary Art, 1aspace in Hong Kong and Intermedia Space at Glasgow Centre for Contemporary Art and his work has been published in Australian, UK and American arts journals including Art Papers, City Journal and a-n Magazine. He writes for various art publications and has written catalogue essays for many artists including Edward Burtynsky, Narelle Autio, Deborah Pauuwe, Darren Siwes and Maschi Fontana. Spencer holds a first class honours degree from Curtin University and Glasgow School of Art, a Doctorate of Creative Arts from Curtin University and is co-director of Spencer Johnston Art Books.

It is with pride that the Geraldton Regional Art Gallery presents the second Mid-West Art Prize.

Scheduled to open on Saturday 3 March 2012 this award exhibition is open to artists from throughout Western Australia.

The City of Greater Geraldton has renewed its committment to this event and together with the support of our greatly appreciated sponsors, an amount of $45 000 in non-acquisitive awards has again be made available.

The inaugural Mid-West Art Prize as launched in March 2011 was a great success and a fitting beginning for what the Geraldton Regional Art Gallery, City of Greater Geraldton and Art Gallery of Western Australia recognize this exhibition to be; a significant cultural event, not only for the Mid West but all of Western Australia.

Entries will be accepted up until 4pm January 18.
Exhibition concludes 4pm Sunday 27 May 2012.

Youth Award: All of Which, Lewis Allen

Humfrey Land Developments Geraldton Greenough Award: About Love and Nothing Else, Gera Woltjer

Yamaji Art & Grant Woodhams People’s Choice: Alcatraz Abrolhos Island, Paul Lucas

Worley Parsons Mid West Aboriginal Award: Native Title Boundaries, Ruby McIntosh

Minerals and Metals Group Highly Commended Award: Vanishing Points, Tony Windberb

Eastman Poletti Sherwood Architects Mid West Award: Wet Salt Stock Pile Lake McLeod, Karl Monaghan