Celebrating Art, Artists and the Minnawarra Art Awards

Chantalle Grummet

It is nearly that time of year again where the City of Armadale celebrates art and invites artists to participate in the Armadale Art Festival with the Minnawarra Art Awards. 

The Minnawarra Art Awards is an elevated art event to attract tourism from areas outside our local area and connect local artists with the wider art world, other high caliber artists and the arts industry. At its core the Minnawarra Art Awards are about meshing our local emerging artists with recognised state, national and even internationally known Australian Artists whilst celebrating contemporary art.

Ron Nyisztor has done an amazing job curating a collection for these last few years, combining a sense of community with his perspective as a director of the artist run initiative Nyisztor Studio and extensive experience as an exhibiting artist. Having someone like Ron Nyisztor curate an art collection which speaks of current art practice, conceptual discovery and authentic voices of today attracts high caliber judges. This gives all participating artists an opportunity to get on that contemporary art platform. Having your work judged by people with an informed, current view of today’s art world is daunting but is an amazing opportunity to be seen and grow your art practice. Selected artists are to be celebrated and congratulated as they contribute to the ever changing view of contemporary arts.

'The Sixth Day' by Julie Fearns Pheasant, Winner of The Local Artist Award 2022

If your artworks are not selected it does not mean your art is not of high caliber! The gallery space is limited to about 70 entries. To make a cohesive and balanced exhibition pieces also need to exhibit well together. This means that the Curator Ron Nyisztor has to consider how the pieces will look in the same space, how the audience will respond to it as a whole collection as well as the levels of skill, message and mediums represented. To enter the Minnawarra keep your eye on your inbox or the City of Armadale website for further details soon.

This year the City of Armadale will be collaborating with the Armadale Society of Artists to also present a community art exhibition called Extensions alongside the Minnawarra Art Awards. Run by the Armadale Society of Artists it will be an opportunity for local and regional artists to showcase their art and be promoted during the Armadale Arts Festival for one week. The application process is via the Minnawarra Art Awards Artist Entry Form, where you will also be invited to select one of your works to be exhibited in Extensions, should it not be selected for the Minnawarra Art Awards. The Extension Exhibition is not a curated exhibition or judged, so all artworks entered will be exhibited* and a People’s Choice Award will be awarded at the end. Stay tuned, more details to come! 

Come to the Armadale Society of Artists members meeting tomorrow night, 19th January, Armadale Arena, 6pm, to hear more about both exhibitions. Ron Nyisztor and Kelly Jennings (City of Armadale Major Events and Arts Coordinator) will be talking about the exhibitions so we encourage members and non members to attend. 

* If the artwork is selected to be exhibited in the Minnawarra Art Awards, it will not be exhibited in the Extensions exhibition.