CREATIVE JUICE

Tasmanian artist Neil Haddon admits it has been a “fantastic” few months for him.

Tasmanian artist Neil Haddon admits it has been a “fantastic” few months for him since winning the $100,000 Hadley’s Art Prize earlier this year. But despite the prestigious accolade, which comes with one of the world’s most generous cash prizes for a landscape award, he says a career in art is far from easy.

Which is why he considers art contests such as the $20,000 Bruny Island Art Prize, which he and 28 other Australian artists have been short-listed for, so vital for artists.

“The business I work in — making art — it’s a very fickle business,’’ the 51-year-old from West Hobart says.

“And it’s tough. Of course it’s been a fantastic six months for me … I’m making hay while the sun shines. Art competitions are really important for that … they give artists an opportunity to get their work seen, to possibly sell work and maybe even win [some money]. It’s a really necessary part of the economy.’’

Born in England, Haddon lived and worked in Spain for several years in his 20s before meeting his Tasmanian wife in Barcelona and moving to a tiny island state he’d never heard of.

As a boy, Haddon showed “a bit of aptitude for art at school and no aptitude for mathematics’’ so an art career was a “done deal” for him. Like many artists he’s worked extra jobs to support his career and currently teaches part-time at the University of Tasmania’s art school.

“I haven’t ever questioned whether I should or shouldn’t be doing it,’’ he says of his painting career. “’How can I make it happen?’ has only ever been the question for me.’’

So he was of course delighted to be chosen as a finalist in the Bruny Island Art Prize — the winner of which will be announced today at 2pm.

The biennial art prize — also known as Bruny18 — focuses on paintings that explore concepts of identity and environment, including the relationship between people and the physical world. The 2018 theme is Art of Adaptation.

This was the perfect fit for Haddon, who happened to be working on a large painting titled No Prospect, No Refuge — which deals with the complicated landscape migrants encounter when they move to a new place — when the awards theme was announced.

The awards were held for the first time in 2016. But this year the prize has more than doubled to $20,000, with a $2000 award for the People’s Choice winner.

The awards have attracted more than 200 entries from across Australia — including work by nine Tasmanian artists — and have been judged by Australian artist Fiona Hall, the director of Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art Elizabeth Ann Macgregor and MONA curator Jarrod Rawlins.

The art prize is an initiative of The Bruny Island Foundation for the Arts, a not-for-profit organisation based on Bruny Island, curated by Dr Caroline Rannersberger, a Bruny-based artist and arts foundation member.

The Bruny18 exhibition opens at Alonnah Hall today with paintings on display until next Sunday from 10am-4pm daily. The exhibition will move to Kingston Beach Arts Hub from October 24-28, 10am-4pm daily. brunyislandartprize.com