2023 Bendigo Community Bank Port Lincoln Art Prize

The Port Lincoln Art Prize exhibition is an annual event open to all Australian residents. The Port Lincoln Art Prize provides a prestigious competition for the many artists who enter and the opportunity to have their efforts publicly acknowledged with the chance to win cash prizes.

The annual Port Lincoln Art Prize commenced in 2008 and has grown and developed into a significant award and exhibition for the region attracting artwork from Australia wide.

Entries are invited from local, South Australian and interstate artists, working in any 2D and 3D mediums other than photography.

Meet Our Judge

Rachel McElwee (pictured below), holds the position of Director at the Hahndorf Academy - an art gallery and heritage museum in Hahndorf, Adelaide. With a Masters Degree in Visual Arts, and experience working in the arts sector, Rachel’s passion is to support and encourage artists and to engage community.

MAJOR AWARD

Artist: Emma Fuss

Title: Small Box of Things

Statement: This painting was made for Painted Melodies, a collaborative project featuring local musicians and visual artists, for SALT Festival 2022. It is inspired by Jodi Martin’s beautiful song, Not Afraid Anymore. In the song, Jodi describes leaving her childhood home and embarking on a new life stage, and includes the line “hand me my guitar and my small bag of things”.

As my oldest child enters adolescence, I find myself imagining a time in the not-too-distant future when he too will leave home with a small bag of things… and I’m also reflecting on his early years and the collection of childhood things he will leave behind. These precious items, once so treasured by him, now sit in a cardboard box at the back of a store room shelf, largely forgotten by him... beautiful, ordinary items that evoke priceless memories of early motherhood for me.

RETIRE AUSTRALIA LOCAL ARTIST AWARD

Artist: Lea Jericho

Title: Sounds of the Rainbow

Statement: The sound is the first thing that captures your attention, and as you focus on the direction of where it comes from, there’s a flash of colour...

Bright red, yellow, orange, blue and green, travelling at speed. Up into the eucalypts, where the beautiful blossoms are flowering – there! You spot them –

Ever chattering, the beautiful Rainbow Lorikeet, so aptly named.

One wonders how they have time to eat, with their constant deafening chatter.

SCULPTURE AWARD

Artist: Martin Van Rooijen

Title: Music Lover 44

Statement: The latest sculpture in this 44 part series. The aim is to combine the human figure and the shape of the cello.

Contrast of wood is used to create interest.

Light wood - Huon Pine. Dark wood - Gum.

Straight and curved, rough and smooth.

The sculpture is carved out of a local railway sleeper.

PORT LINCOLN ROTARY CLUB YOUTH AWARD

Artist: Kobe Dodd

Title: The Chase

Statement: I am a Ngarrindjeri artist. Ngarrindjeri country is located near Murray Bridge in South Australia.

This painting shows a funny memory of me and my family being chased by emus in the Coffin Bay National Park. We were there to collect cockles to eat. Me, my brother and two friends went for a walk into the bushes and saw a baby emu and as we approached it we saw the father emu (who looks after the chicks) and then other emus chased us out of the bushes and we ran as fast as we could laughing and screaming. We were lucky we got a head start on them and we rushed back to the car. The emus gave up the chase once we were out of the bush area.

The complementary colour palette that I have used makes the colours stand out from each other and reflects the colours of the landscape in the National Park. I achieved perspective by making the circle patterns bigger at the front and going smaller to the back on the sand and in the ocean.

I added details to the bushes in the foreground of the painting to bring the focus to the emus and the story.

PORT LINCOLN ARTS COUNCIL YOUTH HIGHLY COMMENDED AWARD

Artist: Jasmine Tiller

Title: Eyes

Statement: Most of these drawings were inspired by the eyes of my family members. I spend a lot of time on the iris, and I really enjoy the challenge of creating the unique colours and patterns in each eye. I also really like how the reflection in the eyes can tell a story of their own.

MERIT AWARD

Artist: Mark Richards

Title: Jellyfish

Statement: Always had to check before jumping in the water at the Port Lincoln jetty incase there were jellyfish.

MERIT AWARD

Artist: Elizabeth Hammond

Title: Making the Best of Things

Statement: This painting reflects on the difficult times people have had to face, in particular Covid, where inside became so very important. What did you have to sustain you during this time? For some it was making things or being engrossed in their passion. The glimpse of the outside environment represents how important nature is to us all, and the shape of the rooms with its partial opening of space reminds us of a future “Opening up”.

MERIT AWARD

Artist: Sharlisha Roderick-Varcoe

Title: Sister and Brothers

Statement: The two concentric shapes in the centre of the painting represent the females in my family, my sister and me. We have a very strong connection. The semi circles around the outside show my seven brothers. The yellow represents the sand at the beach where my family spends lots of time together.