YOU CAN HAVE YOUR SAY IN BRIBIE’S GALA ART PRIZE

The prizes have been given, but there’s still a chance for you to have a say in the 2023 Matthew Flinders Art Prize awards this year.

Come vote for your favourite for the People’s Choice award. But be quick. It's announced on July 29!

The prize-winners in the 2023 Matthew Flinders Art Prize exhibition at the Bribie Community Arts Centre were awarded on Opening Night, July 14. Councillor Brooke Savige officiated as 180 guests, sponsors, artists, friends and BICAS volunteers gathered under a starry winter sky in the Centre courtyard.

Judges, Cassandra Lehman and Sean Leahy had a tough job selecting the works that merited awards this year out of the more than 180 entries in the competition.

They congratulated all entrants and stressed the awards were an encouragement to ALL artists to keep going and extend their art experience.

The first prize of $5000 went to Dr Jean Bennett, from Maleny, for her jesmonite sculpture “Hope & Despair’’. Judges were awed by its layers of meaning, revealed anew with each viewing and the variety of techniques displayed.

The second prize of $2000 went to Felicity Rutherford, from the Sunshine Coast, for her painting “ A Night on the Town’’. Judges praised her deft use of colour and precision to capture a place in time.

Highly Commended awards of $500 each went to Cheryl Mortimer, from Ningi, for her mixed media work, “Bribie Creek’’ and Helen Dennis, from Chinchilla. for her acrylic work

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“Ephemeral Lagoon Ripples’’. Both attracted praise for their subtlety of colour and application.

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Prize of $500 went to Dina Breen, from Bribie, for her colourful and joyous mixed media work “Grandma’s China Cabinet’’, which the judges described as “fun and wonderful’’.

The new award, selected by the exhibition hanging team and made for the first time this year, the “Matty’’ went to Colin Neu. Colin, from Banksia Beach, made “Mechanical Nature’’, a wood and brass wind-up nature study. It continues to delight visitors to the gallery as its creatures move in delicate mesmerising motion.

The MFAP exhibition runs until August 4. You can meet and chat with various artists each day of the exhibition, demonstrating their skills in the Gallery foyer.

And there’s a haul of more than 20 wonderful art prizes made by BICAS members and others in the MFAP Raffle, which is drawn on August 4.

The Bribie Community Arts Centre has extended its hours during the MFAP exhibition. It is open Tuesday to Sunday 9 am – 4 pm and also Mondays 9 am- 1 pm.

On-site, Cafe 191 is open Tuesday to Saturday 9 am – 2 pm, and Sundays & Mondays 9 am – 1 pm.