Art Judge Michael Goff had difficulty choosing just four winners for the yearly Corowa Federation Art Exhibition that had just shy of 400 entries, which was a great turn out for the event. Custom showcases are a great way to show off the wonderful artwork by the community of the area, as we saw in the 19th annual series, which kicked off Friday night with a formal opening by Federation Councillor, Paul Miegel.
The audience enjoyed refreshments, drinks, and nibbles while browsing all of the nice artwork on display at Corowa’s Memorial Hall. Corowa Federation Art Show Secretary Marj Saines reported the opening attracted an amazing gathering of locals and visitors from all around the area.
The exhibition will remain open between now and January 28, from 10am to 4pm, with admission prices being only at $5, and children under 16 are free. The goal this year was to reach up to the expectation of 94 neighborhood and intersate artists submitting about 400 works to shine at our standing showcase this year, which will be majorly up in numbers on this past year with artwork submissions.
When it came to the winning artwork selection it was tricky for judges to decide. Section one for oil/acrylic category was won by Gregory Smith, for his work titled Gown of Gold. Corowa Federation Art Show committee member Mauread Conroy said the painting had quite a simple idea but was very powerful, with a great deal of detail which made you want to appear at it up close. The section two winner for work on paper was won by Barbara Beasley Southgate for her work titled Quietly Grazing, Mansfield.
Corowa Federation Art Show volunteer Paula Rich made the remark that it was a lovely landscape with the scraggy old gum tree and grass, with Mauread adding that it seemed like you could walk right into the film.
Section three winner for the category of mini or small paintings, was won by Ern Trembath for the masterpiece, which was a set, titled A bit of Light. Section four was subjective and was won by Geoff Paynter for the job titled Tooborac Shapes. This year another award was created; the Corowa Federation Art Excellence Medal for the best overall work in the four classes, which was won by Gregory Smith for his work titled Gown of Gold. This will become a very prestigious award through the years, as this exhibition advances and gains more support from the local communities and surrounding areas. Many favourable comments were made by the judges, who said the standard was very high, making it hard to judge as work was at its very best yet. Organisers decided because of the massive entry of photography this past year, to separate the art from the photography and have an extra event for the photographers to be held in the Art Space in the Civic Centre in March. This event will run from opening night on March 9 until March 18. Entry forms for the photographic competition will be on hand in the forthcoming Art Show.
Art exhibitions are a major event of any town as they unite the community, and bring happiness and curiosity shine in all of us. Art exhibitions help towns with funding, and other aspects of building and making the town sociable for everybody, no matter what age. We know that art exhibitions will continue to grow in our area, with many up and coming creative individuals in the works.
