PAINTING SHORTLISTING PANEL

Tracey Heathwood has worked in the regional arts sector in Queensland for more than twenty years, including positions with Flying Arts Inc., Artspace Mackay, Crossroad Arts Inc., and Mackay Regional Council. Her appointment as Director of Artspace Mackay sees her return to regional galleries after working as a freelance curator, project manager, and arts consultant.

In her role as Artspace Mackay Gallery Director, Heathwood leads a team of professional gallery staff in providing a high-quality community facility, an inspirational exhibition program, a growing, relevant art collection, and engaging public programs.

Eric Nash is an arts professional, artist, writer, and curator, with qualifications in Visual Art (Majoring in Painting), Arts Administration and Management, and a wealth of experience in the gallery sector.

Appointed in 2019 to lead the Benalla Art Gallery - a cultural and architectural icon of northeast Victoria since it opened in 1975, Nash was previously the General Manager for the country’s leading lens-based media gallery, the Centre for Contemporary Photography. He has also developed training programs for Victorian galleries’ peak body, the Public Galleries Association of Victoria, and has strong ties with Townsville having worked for Perc Tucker Regional Gallery and Pinnacles Gallery.

Katherine Edney, who lives and works in Sydney, graduated with a Master of Fine Arts from the College of Fine Arts at the University of New South Wales in 2008. She was a finalist in the 2019 Archibald Prize, the exhibition of which is currently travelling Australia. Edney was also a finalist in the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship in 2012 and 2011, the Portia Geach Memorial Art Award in 2014, 2013, and 2012, the Kilgour Prize in 2016, and the RAW Art Prize in 2019 and 2018.