The Miles Art Awards 2020
Tauranga Art Gallery Toi Tauranga, in partnership with the Venetta Miles Trust, is delighted to announce the winners of the Miles Art Award 2020. The Miles Art Award 2020 is the Bay of Plenty’s premier art award, with a cash prize of $10,000 for the Supreme Award.
The Miles Art Awards 2020 exclusive event took place on Friday 13th March, a crowd of friends and family filled the Tauranga Art Gallery in support of the 40 finalists and waited with excitement to hear the announcement of the selected winners from guest judge Sarah Hudson.
Judge Sarah Hudson, impressed by the broad range of creative works entered this year, chose winning works that were “moving, edgy, politically-minded and bold”.
The Supreme Award went to Tauranga artist Israel Randell for her work ‘Wahi Ngaro, 2019’ a striking installation of electroluminescent wire. In her artist’s statement, she explains of her winning work, “Wahi Ngaro, the ‘hidden realm’, examines this notion of the void, an in-between space - or the places from which all things originate from. The triangle, a primordial shape, refers to the wharetangata (womb), symbolic of the space from which we come from and return to. Both physically and subliminally, this installation delves into our understanding of, and interaction with Te Korekore.”
Judge Sarah Hudson says “This artist has created a surprising, edgy work that grounds us deep down into the bones of this land. I enjoy the subtle sound element of the work which I read as screaming into the void. Entering an installation piece into an open competition is a bold move, the striking visual impact of Wahi Ngaro and its strong conceptual foundations rooted in mātauranga Māori has resulted in a very moving experience for the audience.”
99 entries were submitted for consideration in this year’s Miles Art Awards and 40 finalists were selected, a diverse display of the talent and passion of artists who currently live in the Tauranga district and the wider WBOP region.
The art works submitted have never been exhibited previously in a public exhibition.
Also presented were the following awards:
The Incubator Emerging Artist Award to Adrienne Ranson for Cloud, Rock, Mountain No.2, 2019
The Ethel MacMillan Award to Brylee Courtney for Black Arena, 2019
The Tauranga Mayor’s Award to Kevin McCardell for Plight of the Bumblebee, 2020
The Friends of the Tauranga Art Gallery Award to Zig Beatnik for Anarchist, 2018
And the People’s Choice Award which is open for nominations by the public until the 24th May with the announcement during the following week. The winner will receive a feature article in the Bay of Plenty Times.
Judge:
Sarah Hudson is currently based in Whakatane and is the Curator of Te Koputu a te whanga toi, the Whakatane Library and Exhibition Centre.
Sarah completed a Masters Degree in Fine Arts with distinction through Massey University and her works have been exhibited at Blak Dot Gallery, Melbourne the Oberhausen International Short Film Festival in Germany, the TransOcean Visual Exchange in Barbados and the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in New Plymouth, the Dowse Gallery, Lower Hutt and the Christchurch Art Gallery.
