Burwood Art Prize

Key entry information:

• Entrants must be 16 and up (as at 1 October 2021)
• Entrants must work, live, study or have a demonstrated connection to Burwood, Ashfield, Canada Bay or Strathfield Local Government areas
• One artwork is permitted per entrant
• The artwork must be in the form of a painting or digital still medium ( this includes digital photographic work)
• The theme for this year's art prize must incorporate Burwood in the past, present or future in the artwork
• Paintings must be no larger than 100cm by 100cm (including the frame) and weigh no more than 25kg (including the frame)
• Paintings must be framed or have a solid backing area to allow for hooks to be attached (if your canvas is stretched over a wooden frame this will suffice as Council can attach the hooks to the wood)
• If the painting depicts identifiable people or groups written consent of the people depicted must be obtained
• Paintings and digital-still artwork MUST provide a high resolution JPEG image at the time of online entry submission
• Digital-still artwork size MUST be 1080P (1920x1080)

The 2021 Art Prize has an increased prize pool of $13,500, with three award categories:

• Burwood Art Prize - $10,000 acquisitive
• New and Emerging Artist - $2,500 acquisitive
• People’s Choice  - $1,000 non-acquisitive

Burwood Art Prize and New and Emerging Artist award’s will be selected by the 2021 Burwood Art Prize judging panel. The artwork with the highest number votes at the end of the exhibition will win the People’s Choice Award. Visitors and entrants will be able to vote online when viewing the 2021 Burwood Art Prize Exhibition, with one vote per person.  

• Entries close: 1 October 2021 by 5pm
• Painted Artwork submitted to Burwood Library and Hub: 22 October 2021 10am - 2pm, 23 October 2021 10am - 3pm and 25 October 2021 3pm - 6pm
• Opening night Ceremony in Burwood Library and Hub and winners announced: 5 November 2021 
• Burwood Art Prize Exhibition in Burwood Library and Hub: 5 November - 12 December 2021
• Painted Artwork Collection: 16 December 10am - 4pm and 17 December 2021 3pm - 7pm 
• People's Choice Award Winner announced: February 2022 TBC

Once entries close all entrants will be contacted by Council via email in October to confirm dates and arrange painted artwork submission.   

Danella Bennett
Manager Strategic Projects, Public Art
Create NSW, Department of Premier and Cabinet

Create NSW’s Manager Strategic Projects, Public Art, Danella Bennett, works with local councils and across government to activate and enliven public spaces with challenging works that tap into local culture and history, relate to site and reflect local community. Previously Bennett has worked as a freelance producer and in local government supporting contemporary artists and local community to develop public and participatory art. 

Amrit Gill
Artistic Director/CEO
4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art

Amrit is an arts and cultural worker with experience in producing, programming, strategy, international relations, community development and social enterprise. From 2013 to early 2021 Amrit worked for the Australia Council for the Arts in various roles. As the Council’s Director of International Development, she led on international strategic investment across artforms, overseeing the Venice Biennale project and implementation of the agency's first international arts strategy, expanding engagement and investment in Asia and global First Nations exchange. Earlier in her career, Amrit held roles at Milk Crate Theatre, the British Council Australia, and Information and Cultural Exchange (ICE). She holds a Bachelor of Art Theory and a Bachelor of Arts (History) from the University of New South Wales.

Louise Zhang
Artist 

Louise Zhang (b.1991) is a Chinese-Australian multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans painting, sculpture and installation. Zhang explores the dynamics of aesthetics, contrasting the attractive and repulsive in order to navigate the senses of fear, anxiety and a sense of otherness reflecting her identity. Her work is inspired by horror cinema, Chinese mythology and botany, adopting and placing symbols and motifs in compositions of harmonic dissonance.

Entry Form

Artwork of the Year Winner  
$5,000 Acquisitive Prize

Artist: Fan  Dongwang
Pandemic Body
Acrylic on canvas board

Artist Statement:  
Overwhelmed by hostile environment, the aching, longing and multicolored Pandemic BODY is suspended, floating, fragmented, perplexed, isolated, emerging and submerging, shrinking and extending, and struggling to regain control and survive.

New and Emerging Artist Winner
$2,500 Acquisitive Prize

Eleanor Dillon
Bush Reverie
Acrylic paint on canvas

Artist Statement: 
My painting, ‘Bush Reverie’, captures the uncontainable, disorderly nature of the bush, with it’s sprawling foliage and scattered twigs, whilst also conveying it’s beauty through a vibrant and harmonious colour scheme, with the hazy purple of the background providing a dream-like quality. This use of an unrealistic colour scheme provides a sense of tranquility and calm to represent the beauty of the bush.

People’s Choice Award Winner
$1,000 Non-Acquisitive Prize

Artist: Shirley Yin
Sands of Time
Acrylic on canvas 

Artist Statement: 
While we are in a period of chaos and uncertainty, this piece serves as a reminder that we are only in a temporary moment. Wherever you are in the world, the sky and the sea unites us all and brings a sense of consistency. But amongst this sense of consistency, there is constant change happening through time. This landscape is a juxtaposition, it may be gloomy at one point, but without the ebb and flow of life, it is easy to forget that sunnier and more serene days lie ahead.

You can view Information about the prizes, judging panel as well as all of the artworks entered in the 2020 Burwood Art Prize online Catalogue.

2020 Burwood Art Prize Catalogue(PDF, 18MB)

2020 Burwood Art Prize Live Stream 

2020 Burwood Art Prize Winners 

Artwork of the Year Winner 
$5,000 Acquisitive Prize

Artist: Lachlan Warner
Portrait of a Meditator (Self)
Mixed media: shellac, gold leaf on cardboard

Artist Statement:
The image is a response to the Buddhist conception of both suffering, and the investigation of suffering through meditation. The primary Buddhist image of suffering is that of fire so I paint with fire, played over shellacked gold.

New and Emerging Artist Winner  
$2,500 Acquisitive Prize

Artist: Gabrielle Hawkey
Home
Acrylic On Canvas

Artist Statement:
This work was produced in response to the year 11 Art Camp where I was inspired to capture Glenn Murcutt's interior accommodation at the education centre at Riversdale.

People’s Choice Award Winner
$1,000 Non-Acquisitive Prize

Artist: Anna-Mei Tapia
Seashore
Acrylic, spray paint, gold leaf

Artist Statement:
Textures and layers upon layers of many mediums create a vibrant piece. I hope one viewer is stirred with emotions and feels the connection with the movement and light portrayed in my painting of several elements, water, rocks, clouds, sand and precious gold.  

Artwork of the Year Winner  
$5,000 Acquisitive Prize

Artist: Andrew Tomkins
Slowly Goes the Night, Werri Lagoon
Enamel and ink on polyester

Artist Statement:
Slowly goes the Night aims to capture the period just after sunset on the lagoon, after which the seemingly never ending darkness takes over. 

Art Sustainability Award Winner
$2,500 Acquisitive Prize

Artist: Ronna Zou
A Beautiful Day

Artist Statement: 
I have lovingly worked into this piece, combining attractive street landscape and a sustainable lifestyle. This artwork is not just a watercolour piece, some food colours have been used. I wanted to create "a beautiful day" full of happiness. 

People’s Choice Award Winner
$1,000 Non-Acquisitive Prize

Artist: Penelope Bobbin
Tub Nixawg (Youngest Son) 
Watercolour on paper

Artist Statement: 
This work was inspired by a visit to Vietnam. I enjoy the challenge of painting figurative work and hope to evoke a mood or moment in time, like a small snap shot of someone's life. Whilst trekking in a mountainous region near Sapa we came across a group of small Hmona children looking after each other whilst their parents worked