Hutchins Art Prize 2011
The Hutchins Art Prize Gala Opening and presentation of awards by the Governor of Tasmania The Honourable Peter Underwood AC on Monday 17th October was a lively event in the Long Gallery attended by around 300 art lovers from the Hutchins community and beyond.
Helen Wright, notable Tasmanian printmaker, won the Hutchins Art Prize valued at $15,000 with her relief print The Exquisite Corpse of Seaweed Man. Natasha Dusenjko from Melbourne won the $2,000 Hillross Award (Judges’ Special Commendation) for her mixed media print The Night Sky/Abyssinia 0.001 – 0.006. The Artery Student Award ($1,000 worth of art materials from Artery) was won by UTAS student Ashlee Irwin for her digital print After Holbein. The panel of four judges chaired by Kirsty Grant, Senior Curator of 20th Century Australian Art at the National Gallery of Victoria, was faced with a challenging task selecting winners in a very strong field. The 2011 exhibition was of a particularly high standard featuring the considerable variation and experimentation it is possible to achieve with works on paper.
The show has been very well attended. Most people leave with the belief that they have just seen a very significant exhibition of contemporary art. Some openly acknowledge that the Hutchins Art Prize sets the standard for group art shows in Tasmania.