The 2013 Community Printmakers (CPM) National Print Prize Awards and exhibition were launched with a presentation ceremony at the Gallery in Murwillumbah on Saturday 20 April.

This year’s judge, Anne Ryan, Curator of Australian Prints at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, made the announcement of her decisions to an excited crowd of 275 people.

The awards’ major prize, the Tweed Shire Council $5000 Acquisitive Award, was won by Lismore artist Alexi Keywan with her etching You are here.

Commenting about her piece, the winning artist said: “My work aims to decontextualise place, use and purpose of our built environment, which most often signifies literal narratives, as observations of the human condition”.

Judge Anne Ryan commented on the winning work: “This deceptively simple intaglio print suggests both the cosmos, in the dark, ‘starry’ black of the aquatint, and the earth, in the harshly contrasting white of the background, like sunlight casting shadows in midsummer. The image struck me immediately when I saw it, and continued to engage my attention upon repeat viewings. It is beautifully executed and presented and was a worthy winner of the major acquisitive prize”.

The Friends of the Tweed River Art Gallery Acquisitive Prize of $2000 was awarded to Anne Starling from Turramurra in Sydney for her skilful and detailed linocut and woodblock, Harvest.

Anne Starling was not able to attend the opening but said: “I would like to thank the Community Printmakers and the Tweed River Art Gallery for the opportunity to exhibit in the Print Award and I am very honoured to receive The Friends of Tweed River Art Gallery Award. This award plays a vital role in promoting printmaking on a national level”.

Woolloomooloo artist Christopher Newman’s screenprint Afterglow (black and white) was awarded the $1000 Tony Abernethy Memorial Award for entries which examined the human condition.

Gallery Director Susi Muddiman enjoyed selecting another three works for the Gallery through the CPM Director’s Choice Award.

Victorian artist Graeme Drendell’s print is an evocative etching Stand Tall Doctor Scobie. The artist explained “Dr Scobie was a wonderful and well-loved family doctor who looked after me when I was a small. He was a welcome face when I was alone in Mildura hospital, far from home with rheumatic fever. He also took out my tonsils later”.

Two beautiful mezzotints Inception III and Becalmed by Cleo Wilkinson from Indooroopilly were also chosen by Susi Muddiman.

The awards also included four non-acquisitive prizes:

• Brisbane printmaker Meredith Macleod won the Leslie J Pulman $500 Humour in Art Award with her etching and aquatint Keeper of secrets 7.

• Steven Giese from Clunes won the $400 Barbara Carroll Award For Socio/Political Comment for linocut Carbon addiction.

• Sally Anderson from Sydney received the $500 Nortec Young Artist Award for her etching, lithograph and collagraph Looking for bookmarks in fruit trees II.

• Robin Saunders from Ocean Shores won the $500 CPM Member’s Award with her engraving on muslin Kimberley Doodling.

Highly Commended Awards:

• Kaye Greene from Austins Ferry, Tasmania for her lithograph Revisiting the island tree.

• Carolyn Dodds from Macleay’s Island, Queensland with her etching Commuting – two weeks on BART.

• Elizabeth Banfield from Mount Dandenong, Victoria with her linocut artist book Shyness.

Photo captions:
1. Lismore artist, Alexi Keywan, with her etching You are here, which won the Tweed Shire Council $5000 Acquisitive Award, the major award at the 2013 Community Printmakers (CPM) National Print Prize Awards.