WA is gearing up for a bumper wildflower season and to celebrate the abundance of our unique flora and highlight the importance of its conservation, the York Branch of the Wildflower Society of Western Australia and York’s Gallery 152 have launched the York Botanic Art Prize.
Artists from across Australia and working in any medium are invited to submit expressions of interest for the Award which has a prize pool of $8,000.
Entries don’t need to be scientific illustrations, nor necessarily representative work – the only limitation is that the subject must reference Western Australia’s flora.
Western Australia is renowned worldwide for its incredible diversity of plant life, with some of the richest biodiversity on the planet. Many are endemic to this land.
“This is an innovative and exciting way to encourage people to engage with and learn more about WA’s extraordinary flora and the Wildflower Society, in particular the York branch, is pleased to be able to provide funding to support this new initiative”.
Wildflower Society of WA’s President Kevin Thiele
The prize is particularly timely given that the arts and cultural sector has been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, with independent artists amongst the hardest hit.
Regional areas are also suffering. An important agricultural centre in WA’s Wheatbelt, York is the state’s oldest inland town and sits in Ballardong Noongar country on the threshold that leads to WA’s incredibly rich flora.
York Shire president Denese Smythe said with regional areas also being severely affected, it’s also a way of bringing intrastate and hopefully, interstate, tourism back to WA when travel restrictions start to be lifted.
Finalists will be exhibited at Gallery 152 in York, Western Australia, from 31 October, 2020 – 3 January, 2021.
The award will be judged by Professor Kingsley Dixon, Helen Turner, Gregory Pryor and Angela Stewart and the winner announced at the formal opening on Sunday, 1 November.
Entries by Expression of Interest close Sunday 12 July, 2020 11.59pm AWST.
For more information and to apply, visit the website http://gallery152.com.au/ybap/index.php
