𝙈16 𝘼𝙧𝙩𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙜 𝘿𝙧𝙖𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙋𝙧𝙞𝙯𝙚 2022

Image: Alisa Zhao, Jellyfish, 2022. Pastels, 30 x 21 cm

Gallery 2

Friday 2 December - Friday 16 December 2022

This is the second year of M16 offering a drawing prize for younger artists. The prize will be split into two categories: junior (years k-6) and senior (years 7-12)

The M16 Young Drawers Prize is for drawings that are made in traditional drawing media and techniques and is open to primary or secondary school entrants from the ACT and surrounds. Entries must be of artworks made in the past year and must not be larger than A4 (30 x 21 cm.

Prizes sponsored by Capital Chemist

Senior Prize: Art supplies voucher valued at $300

Junior Prize: Art supplies voucher valued at $200

2022 𝙈16 𝘼𝙧𝙩𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝘿𝙧𝙖𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙋𝙧𝙞𝙯𝙚

Gallery 1

Friday 2 December - Friday 16 December 2022

With huge thanks to our sponsor The Cogito Group we are pleased to announce the winner of the 2022 M16 Artspace Drawing Prize is Study for a Line ( Semi-circle) by Mark Shorter!

In second place, sponsored by Delta Cleaning Services is Studenica by artist Damon Kowarsky.

Also sponsored by Delta Cleaning Services the Local Artist Award goes to Melissa Emerson for her work I know your face.

The drawing prize has been a staple in M16 Artspace’s exhibition Calendar since 2006. It attracts hundreds of entries from across Australia and internationally.

The M16 Drawing Prize is for drawing in either traditional drawing media and techniques, or non-traditional works that extend understanding of what drawing may be within contemporary art practice.

The judges for this year’s prize are Megan Monte, curator and inaugural Director Ngununggulla and Dr. Sarina Noordhuis-Fairfax, Canberra-based artist, writer, curator and Curator, Australian Prints and Drawings at the National Gallery of Australia.

Image: Belle Palmer, Art Wanker, 2022. Pigment on canvas, 155 x 110 cm. Image courtesy of Fiona Little.

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2022 Finalists

First Prize $10,000

Sponsored by

2022 Winner: Mark Shorter

Study for a Line (Semi-circle)
2022
Pewter
1000 x 600 x 200 cm
Image courtesy of Fiona Little

Artist Statement
Five semi-circles are cast in pewter from an aluminium mould and the lengths of semi-circles have been soldered together to create a loop. 

I am testing how a line can hold in space.

Five is an awkward number, it makes two and a half circles. Pewter has the tensile strength that can hold and be manipulated in space so that when the loop is joined it buckles and bends in unexpected ways.

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Runner up $1000

Sponsored by Delta Cleaning Services

Damon Kowarsky

Studenica
2021
Pen and ink, watercolour, and colour pencil on BFK Rives
60 x 150 cm
Image courtesy of the artist.

Artist Statement

'Studenica' was made following a 2019 residency in the 12th century monastery of the same name in the Serbian mountains. During the long, long covid lockdowns of 2021 I wanted to escape through art to a place I remember as being full of light and colour and amazingly lush vegetation. The hills at Studenica rise steeply from the river valley so it seems that more than half the sky is taken up by trees, and interspersed here and there with houses and small farms. It was truly a wonderful place to be.

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Local Artist Award valued at $700

Sponsored by Braddon Framing and Megalo Print Studio

Melissa Emerson

I know your face
2022
Hand embroidery on fruit netting
23 x 25 x 0.5 cm
Image courtesy of Fiona Little.

Artist Statement
I have an inherent need to document my experiences and feelings of motherhood. My work often features my children, as seen through my own eyes. This piece is called “I know your face”. It represents the changes that occur over time and the acceptance I have that I cannot hold on to particular moments or control future events. My son is looking directly at me, and I at him. We are speaking in unspoken words, acknowledging that we are both present, understanding that I know him, I get him, through a single glance. He is wrapped up in a sleeping bag, comforted and secure in the strength of our connection. His innocence and trust in me radiates.

Much of my work is created using alternative backgrounds to stitch onto. Often these found backgrounds will enhance the meaning of the piece by the nature of the materials used. This piece is stitched onto fruit netting. Vibrant in colour, and containing qualities such as strength and containment, it replicates my own protectiveness, strength and fragility as a mother. Yet there is a subtle unnerving feeling to the piece caused by stitching onto plastic, a material destined for landfill. The plastic is enveloping my son, heightening my fears that my own worries can be all consuming, worries over what the future will hold for our, my children. Will they be trapped in a world faced with problems such as climate change? Poverty? Uncertainty? I cannot control it, but I know it's there.

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Peoples Choice Award $500

Joanna Gambotto

Hill End Interior 2
2021
Charcoal and pastel on paper
150 x 310 cm
Image courtesy of Fiona Little.

Artist Statement
Hill End Interior 2 and Hill End Interior 3 belong to a body of work developed from my time in Hill End a couple of years ago as part of the Artist in Residence Program. I spent one month visiting local cottages in Hill End and making countless, quick sketches of the interiors, which later evolved into large-scale charcoal drawings. These drawings of cosy and delightfully cluttered interiors are imbued with hospitality and speak of the kind-hearted community. The work highlights the importance of preserving the past and cherishing our cultural heritage. It pays a tribute to the vital role Hill End has played and continues to play in the Australian visual arts, attracting and inspiring generations of artists. The large scale immerses the viewer in the drawing, inviting them to enter the cottage and become a part of the lives of its occupants, enveloped in the curios, architecture and history of this unique town.

View all the 2022 Finalists

Matt Bromhead, Sixty Two Views West, 2022.

Charcoal, pastel on cotton paper, 57 x 77 cm. image courtesy of Fiona Little.

Anh Nguyen, Looking south, 2022.

Oil pastel on paper, 42 x 60 cm. Image courtesy of Fiona Little.

Belle Palmer, Art Wanker, 2022.

Pigment on canvas, 170 x 90 cm. image courtesy of Fiona Little.

Caterina Leone, Self/Take, this is my body, 2022

Silverpoint (.99 silver and 23k gold) and acrylic marker on wood panel 30.5 x 23 cm. Image courtesy of Fiona Little.

Melody Spangaro, The Entanglement, 2022

Water soluble graphite on polypropylene synthetic paper, 290 x 150 cm. Image courtesy of Fiona Little.

Lee Crisp, Towards introception, 2022.

Watercolour on Arches paper, 340 x 810 cm. image courtesy of Fiona Little.

Local Artist Award Winner: Melody Spangaro, I know your face, 2022

Hand embroidery on fruit netting
23 x 25 x 0.5 cm
Image courtesy of Fiona Little.

Louisa Chircop, Sounds of Pulpit Rock Bundanon, 2021

Mixed media (watercolour pencils, watercolour markers, pigment sticks, watercolour, gouache) and photomontage on watercolour paper, 103 x 198 cm. image courtesy of Fiona Little.

Louise Owen, East Antarctica - katabatic winds at Latitude 70 degrees South, 2022

Charcoals, inks, gesso, pastels and collage on paper, 151 x 436 cm. Image courtesy of Fiona Little.

Peoples Choice Award: Joanna Gambotto, Hill End Interior 2, 2021.

Charcoal and pastel on paper, 150 x 310 cm. Image courtesy of Fiona Little.

Tom O'Hern, Trash dog, 2022.

Pen on paper, 152 x 190 cm. image courtesy of the artist.

Sally Mumford, Pushing Out, Crowding In, 2022.

Graphite on Stonehenge 250gsm, 76 x 56 cm. Image courtesy of Fiona Little.

Ryan Forster, Castle, 2021.

Pen, 65 x 102 cm. image courtesy of Fiona Little,

Roz Hall, Kinetics of Uncertainty: "Time Blindness", 2022

Porcelain, underglaze crayon & repurposed electric fan, 50 x 40 x 40 cm. Image courtesy of Fiona Little.

Runner Up: Damon Kowarsky, Studenica, 2021.

Pen and ink, watercolour, and colour pencil on BFK Rives, 60 x 150 cm. Image courtesy of Fiona Little.

Winner: Mark Shorter,Study for a Line (Semi-circle), 2022

Pewter, 1000 x 600 x 200 cm. Image courtesy of Fiona Little.

Todd Fuller, Call and response - bugle boy and the electric boogaloos (Image still), 2022.

Digital video: live animation and live performance, 6:06 minutes. image courtesy of the artist.