2025 Award Winners

Sophie Travers, CEO of Australian Tapestry Workshop

Major Prize Most Outstanding Work $15,000

Comments from Guest Judge, Sophie Travers:
I am an enormous fan of painting and there was so much glorious painting in this exhibition. It was very hard to choose a winner and I must commend every artist who submitted work. The piece that I finally kept returning to was one of the larger paintings, which at first surprised me, given how taken I was by the almost humble, quiet nature of the sculpture I selected. The similarity I see in my choices is that I am drawn to energy in an artwork, and while the glass piece had a quiet presence, it also exuded a great deal of confidence. This painting has a wild and joyous energy that asserts itself with the same confidence. I love art that takes risks and I see in this painting a freedom within the genre of landscape painting that is uninhibited by conventions and norms. Whilst the piece is large and the mark making almost breaks free of the canvas, the colour palette is beautifully mastered and there is a great deal of restraint in the distribution of clear space between the gestures. This is the kind of painting that refuses to sit still and like the glasswork, whoever is lucky enough to live with this piece will see something new in it each time. There is space for the imagination and space for the changing light in a room to shift and unsettle the viewer and bring new ideas to the surface each time it is seen- whether with a quick glance or with a long, slow look. It is always hard to put into words what an art work is doing, but if I feel something as well as think something, then I know it is good. So I can tell from the rush of thoughts and feelings I have about this work that it is great. Congratulations to the winner.

Banner Image: Detail of artwork by Valerie Sparks.