Country Energy - Countryscapes 2008

Countryscapes 2008

Initiated in 2003, the $35,000 Country Energy Art Prize for Landscape Painting was established to encourage and showcase the wealth of artistic talent in country and coastal New South Wales and develop the State’s visual arts industry as a whole.

Now in its sixth year, the prize is Australia’s richest annual landscape art prize, attracting entries from previous Archibald and Blake Prize winners to first time entrants.

On 13 February 2008 Country Energy launched its sixth annual landscape art prize in Broken Hill, home to New South Wales’ oldest regional art gallery.

The art prize is open to anyone who lives within Country Energy’s network area and artists are encouraged to enter all artistic styles, mediums and contexts – ranging from figurative to abstract, charcoal to traditional oil paint.

Being ‘non acquisitive’, the winning artist can keep or sell their own work and still receive a significant monetary prize.

It’s expected that entries in the 2008 competition will surpass all previous years as the reputation of the prize grows across the state.

Entries close on 22 July 2008. Finalists will be chosen in August 2008. The panel of judges who will select the finalist artworks are Christopher Hodges (Artist), Judith White (Artist), Joe Eisenberg OAM (Cultural Director Maitland Regional Art Gallery), and Craig Murray, Country Energy managing director.

Finalists will be exhibited at the Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery from 29 October to 30 November, and in Sydney in early 2009.

The Head of Australian Painting at Sotheby's Australia, Georgina Pemberton, will select the prize winner on 29 October 2008 at the Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery.

To download the 2008 entry form, click here.

2007 winner

Tim Winters winner 2007 $35,000 Country Energy Art Prize for Landscape Painting

Tim Winters of Stuart Town, North Western NSW was announced as the 2007 winner of the highly-coveted prize with his work Bare Bones / Channel Country.

The judging panel to select the finalists was made up of artists Bronwyn Bancroft and David Fairbairn, Cultural Director of Maitland Regional Art Gallery Joseph Eisenberg, and Country Energy’s managing director, Craig Murray. This year’s overall judge was renowned Australian artist Peter Kingston.