Art awards continue metamorphosis

It’s time for artists to enter their best work in the Tasman National Art Awards, an event that has come a long way from its humble beginnings nearly 20 years ago to a prestigious art exhibition attracting thousands of people through the door.

Awards chairperson, Anna Pickersgill-Brown, expects more than 300 works to be submitted from around the country and about 125 will be selected for exhibition at the Māpua Community Hall toward the end of September.

Still part of the committee is picture framer and art supplier from Impressions in Richmond, Lewis Della Bosca, who along with his wife Glenys instigated the inaugural awards back in 2006 as a way of contributing to the arts community.

At the time, Marlborough had its own art awards and Lewis says people were calling for Nelson to run its own awards. So, Lewis and Glenys approached Arts Council Nelson to host the event, and they retained the naming rights, Impressions Art Awards, in return for providing the major prize packages.

“It was more localised then and the aim was inclusivity, and anyone who entered work had something exhibited. As it moved to the next level, the quality became the focus. Now, the work selected for the show has become a matter of prestige.”

Over time, the awards have morphed into a truly national event and changed its name to the Tasman National Art Awards, and Anna says the calibre of work is stunning, with both professional and amateur artists submitting work.

She says the awards are now comparable with other major art events around the country, with a prize pool of $16,000 to be divvied up between the winners of the different categories.

It is also huge for Māpua, she says, with about 3,000 people through the door last year to view and potentially buy the artwork, which is all for sale.

This year, Lewis says they are working on running sponsored workshops alongside the exhibition in the Māpua Community Hall to involve the community and that could lead to creating an art festival around the awards in the future.

“I would like to see the whole thing become more than just an exhibition for the two weeks and more of a festival with workshops and other things going on, so that it becomes a real Māpua event and gets the community in behind it.”

Entries open this week and close at the end of June, with the exhibition opening on 20 September and running through to 5 October.