2024 River of Art Prize announced at Narooma
Annika Romeyn’s watercolour monotype print “Passing Through” has won the prestigious River of Art Prize for 2024. Over eighty people gathered at the Narooma Gallery on Friday 27 September for the judges’ decision.
The judges, Cath Bowdler and Tony Oates both said, “We can’t take our eyes off Ms Romeyn’s work,” and they were impressed by the artist’s use of light, detail and texture.
Ms Romeyn from Wanniassa, ACT, when asked how she interprets her piece, said “This represents breaking my journey at Guerilla Bay, Yuin Country: revisiting place to mark the passage of weather, time, life. Letting the ungraspable blue of the horizon seep into this one-off painterly print.”
Described by the artist Cathy Laudenbach, of Moruya Heads, as an imaginary composite photograph, simultaneously evoking beauty and chaos, nature and destruction – the Runner-Up Prize went to her work “What Remains, Remains”.
The judges said Ms Laudenbach’s entry was full of beautiful shifts in tone and its scale assisted in delivering its powerful message.
Highly Commended was a difficult task for the judges of the River of Art Prize, with the quality of this year’s entries really impressing Judges Bowdler and Oates. In the end, they agreed to award the Runner-Up prize to Katherine Boland’s image known as “Burn Orange No. 1”. The artist says the image is a statement on “our inaction on climate change and environmental destruction”. Ms Boland is a practicing artist from Merimbula.
Chair of River of Art, Leanne Joyce said, “We are really pleased with the quality of entries this year, as well as the quantity – it’s a great way to mark our 20th year. We invite the public to view the River of Art exhibition from now until the end of the long weekend at the Narooma Gallery and in the cottage behind, for the Salon des Refusés.”
Entries this year included a mix of paintings, photographs, pastels, watercolours, mixed media, ceramics, sculpture, lithographics/prints, glass, jewellery and textiles. Entrants were from around Australia, but predominantly from the Eurobodalla, the home of the River of Art.
The River of Art Prize is supported by the Narooma School of Arts. The River of Art festival runs from 27 September to 7 October from Durras to Bermagui and includes exhibitions, open studios, workshops and performances.
The River of Art Prize exhibition is open throughout the festival at the Narooma Gallery, with the Salon des Refusés on exhibition in the cottage behind the gallery. The public are asked to vote on the People’s Choice Award in both the gallery and the Salon, with the winners being announced on Tuesday 8 October.
Full details of the River of Art Prize exhibition and all the events throughout the 11 day festival can be found at www.riverofArt.com.au