Visiting artist wins award
An artist exhibiting her work for the first time beat off a record number of entrants to win a Taranaki arts event.
Nour Hassan’s painting, Beat, was judged the best among 87 mixed media entries at Ha¯ wera’s Lysaght Watt Trust awards on May 3. The theme this year was ‘rising’, and Hassan, of Auckland, submitted a picture of a woman’s face coming out of the water.
‘‘I just drove down as I wanted to be part of my first exhibition, so it feels pretty awesome and really surreal to have won this,’’ she said. ‘‘I didn’t know I’d won it till I got here today.’’
She said the painting was part of a series and the inspiration came from her own relationship with water.
The awards have been running since 2013 and Lysaght Watt Gallery chairwoman Lynne Walker said they usually attracted around 70 entries. She put this year’s increase in numbers down to the ‘rising’ theme.
‘‘It’s a theme which obviously appealed to a wide range of people as we’ve had entries from Dunedin right through to Northland,’’ she said.
Judge Bill Millbank, from Whanganui, chose the winners of six categories that included both 3D and 2D awards as well as best local artist award.
‘‘A good 20 or 30 of the works stood out almost immediately,’’ he said.
Results: Overall Winner Nour Hassan, Auckland, Beat. Highly Commended 3D - Blue W, Dunedin, Repotted. Highly Commended 2D - Joon Hee Par, Auckland - Sweet Dreams II. Commended 3D - Di West, Northland - Star Finder. Commended 2D - Sophie Prendergast - Transition. Local Artist - Jean Finer, Ha¯ wera - On, Upward Through the Herbfields.