Funding Boost for Burwood Art Prize 2021
Published on 03 August 2021
Entries are now open for the prestigious Burwood art prize with this year’s entrants in line for the biggest prize pool yet.
Local artists aged over 16 from the Burwood, Strathfield, Ashfield or Canada Bay areas will be battling for a share of $13,500 in the categories of Overall Art Prize, New and Emerging Artist and People’s Choice.
The popularity of the annual competition with the public was confirmed in 2020 with 120 entrants and many members of the community viewing the art work during the exhibition period as well as casting a vote in the People’s Choice award.
Mayor John Faker is hopeful after a challenging year for those in the arts sector that the competition will give them an outlet and a platform to share their work and inspire the community.
“Right now, I know many of our talented artists are experiencing the devastating economic and social impacts of COVID-19,” said Cr Faker.
“With entries now open, I would like to invite our artists to submit their best work that incorporate Burwood’s past, present or future through the form of either a painting or for the first time in 2021 a digital-still medium.
“It’s exciting to see the talent that these artists possess at whatever stage of their journey they are on.
The Burwood community supports art because it is a vital part of our story and of our culture,” Cr Faker concluded.
Last year Fan Dongwang, Eleanor Dillon, and Shirley Yin produced outstanding artworks when they took out the three key prizes: only time will tell which talented locals will join them in 2021.
Entry to the 2021 Burwood Art Prize is free and submissions must be received by October 1.
Find out more bout the prize and how to enter
Pictured is a 2020 work 'Arrow of Time by Oscar Garcia.
Oscar had this to say about is work - ‘Arrow of Time' is part of a body of work I am currently developing, with the aim of depicting some of the changes that are taking place within Burwood and its surrounding neighbourhoods. Having lived in the area for over thirty years I have witnessed much of this transformation, although seemingly recent, it is often forgotten as a gradual and constant process. One that in this case takes us back to a land once called Wangal and today, a small cosmopolitan metropolis many of us locals call home. My focus with this painting, was to capture a sense of time and harmony with the old and new, the modern high rise buildings and the more historically iconic structures. The vibrant lights and colours representing modernity and diversity and the complexity found in busy centres, altogether with the timeless presence of native trees that remind us of an ancient past.