News Release – New Zealand Art Show 2011 18 July 2011

For immediate release
Eleven Finalists Selected For Signature Piece Award

The New Zealand Art Show’s selection panel has selected 11works by 11 artists as finalists for their $5,000 Signature Piece Art Award.

The 11 artworks will be displayed in the specially designated Signature Piece Art Gallery, which is part of the eighth annual art show to be held at the TSB Bank Arena on Wellington’s waterfront from Friday, 29 July to Sunday, 31 July 2011.

The New Zealand Art Show’s executive director Carla Russell says, “The selection panel had a particularly difficult job this year. Not only was the art submitted of a very high standard but, when compared with previous years, but also there was a notable shift away from traditional art forms with artists challenging themselves and their media.”

The Signature Piece Art Award is a people’s choice award. “The winner is decided by a public vote during the show. This provides an excellent opportunity for an artist to gain extra recognition and potentially give their career a valuable kick-start,” Carla Russell says.

The 11artists and their selected works are:
 Susanne Kerr’s painting ‘In a Rut’. Susanne is a Wellington artist who lives and works in Eastbourne
 Ben Timmin’s painting, ‘Resonance’. Ben lives in Kerikeri, Northland
 Saehae Lee’s limited edition photograph, ‘Release Me from Me’. Saehae currently lives in Auckland
 Andrew Moon’s painting, ‘Attachment’. Andrew lives and paints on the Kapiti Coast
 Clare Kim’s pen & ink drawing, ‘Untitled’. Clare lives in Auckland and was a Signature Piece Art Award and Artist Grant finalist in 2010
 Hope Gibbon’s contemporary painting, ‘Pohutukawa Coast’. Hope is from Matakana, north of Auckland
 Karim Sahai’s limited edition photograph, ‘La vague qui me porte’. Karim is a currently a Wellingtonian
 Steve Thomson’s painting ‘Constellation Fecund Gladioli’, Steve is from Wellington and won the 2010 Signature Piece Art Award
 Richard Thurston’s painting ‘Ether’. From Wellington, Richard was the inaugural winesale.co.nz Art Label Award recipient in 2010
 Catherine Robert’s abstract landscape painting, ‘Seven in the days in the bay’. Catherine lives in Wellington
 Jordan Barnes’ painting, ‘Quilters Bookshop’. From New Plymouth, Jordan is the inaugural Artist Grant Award recipient and has lived and painted in Wellington as part of that award for the past six months

The Award winner will be informed and publicly announced, subsequent to the Show on August 5.

The objectives of this Signature Piece Art Award are to: recognise artistic excellence in the visual arts; highlight the work of promising artists for the future; encourage, develop and promote emerging artists to new artistic levels; and give the public a voice as to whom would they like to reward.

“This is the third year we have offered the Signature Piece Art Award. The Award provides yet another way in which the NZ Affordable Art Trust, the charitable trust behind the New Zealand Art Show, can assist and support artists and the arts community,” Carla Russell said.

ENDS