Flying Arts Alliance

Art for Life

Winners have been announced for the 2018 Queensland Regional Art Awards (QRAA).

This year, eight regional Queensland artists have shared in a $25,000 prize pool.

The Queensland Regional Art Awards is Flying Arts Alliance’s annual visual arts prize and exhibition for established and emerging artists living in regional and remote Queensland.

In 2018, the QRAA theme was ‘Wanderlust’.  Artists were asked to embrace a spirit of adventure and discover something unique about their own community or one that they visited within the state, to produce works reflecting their diverse Queensland communities.

170 Artworks were submitted to the awards this year from across Queensland. The awards also attracted over 2000 votes for People’s Choice through an online gallery which displayed all submitted artworks.

Judges awarded the $10,000 Holding Redlich and Flying Arts “Art for Life” Award to Rockhampton artist Erin Dunne for Destination Duaringa, an artbook inspired by a quintessential central Queensland road trip.

Bianca Acimovic, Awards judge, and Director of the Rockhampton Regional Art Gallery said “this piece really celebrates what this award is about. This one stands out as a really strong presentation piece.”

2018 Prize Winner List:

  • Destination Duaringa, Erin Dunne (Rockhampton) – The Flying Arts ‘Art for Life’ Award, thanks to Holding Redlich and the Flying Arts Alliance 500 Club Donors – $10,000 cash, non-acquisitive
  • Killara Display Homes, The Ly (Loganholme) – The Annie Tan Memorial Watercolour Award, thanks to The Booth Memorial Fund of Annie Tan (Yuh Siew) and the Geoff Booth Foundation – $3,000 cash, non-acquisitive
  • Mist #3, Lillian Whitaker (North Maleny) – Betty Crombie Young Artist Development Award, thanks to David Crombie – $2,000 cash, non-acquisitive
  • Dawn to Dusk, Suzy Furness (Ilkley) – Textile Art Award, thanks to Janet de Boer and Art for Life donor – $1,500 cash, non-acquisitive
  • Streets of Your Town, Rebecca Lewis (East Ipswich) – Digital Art Award, thanks to The Edge, State Library of Queensland, The Johnson and Flying Arts – Fully funded one-week residency at The Edge, SLQ including 7 nights accommodation at The Johnson, valued at $4,000
  • Mitchell, Feathertop and Flinders, Karen Stephens (Winton) – Remote Artist Award, brought to you by USQ Artsworx – Fully funded one-week residency at McGregor Summer School (Jan 2019) valued at $2,500
  • If Trees Could Talk, Hayley Roberts (Narangba) – People’s Choice Award (Adult), thanks to Ironlak Art and Design – $1250 Ironlak art materials voucher
  • Where the ocean meets the sea, Caitlin Broderick (Toowoomba) – People’s Choice Award (Youth), thanks to Ironlak Art and Design – $750 Ironlak art materials voucher

In addition to Bianca, Bruce Heiser -Director of the Heiser Projects, and Renai Grace- Director, Museum of Brisbane, also judged the competition. 

Flying Arts Executive Officer, Kerryanne Farrer said: 

“I am thrilled Flying Arts continues contributing to a vibrant visual arts sector in regional Queensland through the awards in 2018.

“We would like to congratulate all entrants of this year’s competition – the number and quality of entries was exceptional, and demonstrate the wealth of artistic talent across regional Queensland communities. The staggering support of both valued partners and participating artists continues to make this award possible each year.”

Holding Redlich’s Queensland Managing Partner, Paul Venus, said the firm is very excited about its new partnership with Flying Arts. “Support of the arts is part of our DNA,” Paul said. 

“We have been looking for a way to do so in Queensland and make a genuine contribution to the arts and broader communities. Partnering with Flying Arts enables us to do both and we’re excited to co-sponsor the ‘Art for Life’ Award this year to be the Touring Exhibition Partner from next year,” he added.

A total of 26 artworks have been selected to tour in the Wanderlust exhibition, curated by Acimovic. The exhibition, supported by Holding Redlich, will tour to Brisbane and a number of regional centres in 2019 to 2020, including Somerset, Winton, Goondiwindi, Chinchilla, Toowoomba, and Ingham.

For more information about the Queensland Regional Art Awards and the Wanderlust Queensland Touring Exhibition, please contact Flying Arts on 07 3216 1322 or email info@flyingarts.org.au 

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Images of winning and touring works can be found here.

For higher resolution images for publication or to receive artist contact information for interview, please contact comms@flyingarts.org.au.