Artists win premier awards

Having your artworks described as "creepy", "peculiar" and full of "flowing gooeyness" may sound unflattering, but they are qualities which won three Dunedin artists premier prizes at the prestigious Portage Ceramic Awards in Auckland last night.

Former Otago Polytechnic School of Art lecturer Jim Cooper shared the country's top ceramic award with present Otago Polytechnic School of Art lecturer Madeleine Child and full-time artist Philip Jarvis, who are known for their distinctively coloured works.

Their works were chosen from almost 200 submitted by artists nationwide, a record number of entries in the award's nine-year history.

Ms Child said she and her partner, Mr Jarvis, were delighted with the award.

They were also fiercely competitive when it came to art competitions, so it was more productive to work together on an entry rather than creating their own entries to submit, she said.

"Working together also brings different skills and ideas to a work.

"When you have two people contributing, it takes the work to places you might not otherwise go."

The couple have recently taken up a three-month artists-in-residence in New South Wales, which gives them time to focus on creating art.

They plan to return to Dunedin next year.

Awards judge Scott Chamberlin, a successful exhibiting ceramicist and Professor of Ceramics at Colorado University, said Mr Cooper's work was unafraid of ceramic orthodoxy and genuinely bold in its pseudo primitiveness handling of clay.

"Beholden to the material lushness and glassy, flowing gooeyness of the medium, Cooper's work is a feast for the eyes."

Prof Chamberlin said Child and Jarvis' work showed extraordinary observation skills which raised wonderful questions about nature versus culture, and paid homage to various disciplines of decoration and ornamentation.

"The work is creepy, peculiar, and also possessing of a stunning beauty much like some of the natural occurrence it is inspired by. One sees a respect for, and deep knowledge of, ceramic processes."

Prof Chamberlin said while the winning works and those selected for exhibition could compete anywhere in the world with confidence, the overall quality of the entries was of concern.

"The majority of the works submitted need to be more contemporary; artists need to take more risks."

The shared prize money of $12,000 went to Cooper for his work Drug Jars and Vendor, and Child and Jarvis for their work Doodads & Doodahs and Widespread Occurrence of Possible Symbioses at a ceremony held in Auckland last night.

Other awards: Merit winners: Phillipa Durkin (Wellington), Kristy Palleson (Wellington) and Emily Siddell (Auckland); John Green Waitakere Artist Award: John Parker, Sang Sool Shim and Keum Sun Lee (West Auckland).

john.lewis@odt.co.nz