Winners of 2006 Wallace Art Awards Announced

Media Release: 25 September 2006

Winners of 2006 Wallace Art Awards Announced

The Paramount Winner of the prestigious 2006 Wallace Art Awards is Auckland artist Rohan Wealleans. The winner of the Development Award is Dunedin artist Maryrose Crook.

Established in 1991, the Wallace Art Awards celebrate contemporary New Zealand painting, sculpture drawing, and unique photography. They encourage the visual arts in New Zealand and reward those producing outstanding work with educational grants. Entry is restricted to New Zealand citizens and permanent residents. The 2006 Wallace Art Awards amount to more than $58,000.

James Wallace, Chairman of the Wallace Arts Trust described Rohan Wealleans’ winning paint, fibreglass and steel sculpture titled Tingler as “something unique, featuring the many wonderful patterns and textures revealed when peeling away layers of paint.”

The Paramount Award winner receives $35,000 for a six-month residency in New York with the International Studio and Curatorial Program, and a bronze trophy by leading New Zealand sculptor Terry Stringer. Previous paramount winners of the Wallace Art Awards include New Zealand artists Jeffrey Harris, Bill Hammond, Gregor Kregar, Jim Speers, Fatu Feu’u, Elizabeth Thomson, Jim Speers, Judy Millar and Sara Hughes.

The winner of the Development Award, Maryrose Crook, receives a $15,000 three-month overseas residency.

Mr Wallace said Maryrose Crook’s Song of the Grey Ghost “shows great imagination. It brings together overworked decorative elements - the pink and white terraces and native flora and fauna - to create a highly original and successful work.”

The 2006 Wallace Art Awards were presented by Creative New Zealand Chairman Christopher Doig at the opening of the exhibitions of finalists in Auckland tonight.

Awards were also presented to Peter Madden for his sculpture Step Lightly ($3000 Glaister Ennor Award), Andrew McLeod for his painting Rainbow Apple Tree ($1500 Runner Up Award), Heather Straka for her painting Pacific Rose ($1500 Runner Up Award) and to Hamish Palmer for his painting Pull up to my bumper baby (Jury Award)

The winners were selected from 472 entries by a judging panel comprising Dick Frizzell, Sara Hughes, Helen Kedgley, Denys Watkins and Richard Fahey.

The exhibition of winners and finalists will be open for public viewing at the Aotea Centre from 26 September to 18 October. It will then relocate to Pataka Gallery in Porirua where it will be open for public viewing from 30 October 2006 to 6 February 2007.

A Salon de Refusé, comprising finalists not selected by the judging panel for the main exhibition, is also open for public viewing from 26 September until 18 October at The Wallace Arts Trust Gallery, 305 Queen Street, Auckland City. A People’s Choice Award will be voted by the public attending the exhibitions.

Mr Wallace concludes “the Wallace Art Awards celebrate excellence within the New Zealand art scene, and help identify, encourage and support New Zealand’s emerging artists. In later years as they have developed and the prize money increased, the awards have also attracted senior New Zealand artists."

“I am delighted that after 15 years the awards are still going strong and the diverse range of entries this year will certainly result in very lively exhibitions. I encourage anyone with an interest in New Zealand art and its future to come and view both the main exhibition and the Salon de Refusé.”

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In the mid 1960s James Wallace began collecting New Zealand art, particularly that of emerging artists. In 1992 he transferred his collection to the newly formed charitable Wallace Arts Trust and proceeded to fund the Trust so that it could continue to add to the collection and support the arts in New Zealand in general. The Trust currently numbers more than 4,000 works, many of which are on permanent revolving loan to some 20 institutions, from universities, schools and science research establishments to the Middlemore Hospital Children’s ward.

ENDS

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