Small sculpture artist bowled over by big prize
Image: TENDERNESS by Anita Johnson, Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize 2023. Photo: Jacquie Manning
The 22nd Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize has been awarded to local artist, Anita Johnson for her witty and insightful piece, Tenderness. Johnson receives $25,000 in prize money and her sculpture will be acquired by Woollahra Council, joining previous winners as part of the council’s permanent collection.
Johnson is an assemblage artist whose imagination is stirred by discarded and broken objects. She sees their inherent beauty, the stories they hold, as well as their potential to create something more meaningful in assembly with other objects.
When Johnson found an old, cracked cricket ball, she felt empathy for what it represented. Taking a cast of her own breast she wet-moulded a leather form from it. This was colour-matched and attached to one hemisphere of the cricket ball. The inside of the other half was lined with possum fur.
The two parts are positioned so that the “breast” lies snug within the possum fur, evoking a sense of comfort and safety within a ruptured and competitive environment.
Johnson is thrilled about winning the prize:
“This award will give me some much needed financial breathing space to run with ideas for new artworks,” she said. “But more than that this recognition touches my heart in profound ways that has surprised me and brought me to joyful tears. There has been much dancing and whooping around my house with my son.”
Other awards included a Special Commendation Award of $2,000, given to Robert Michael Young for Cultural Cradle; the Mayor’s Award of $1,000 given to Jamie North for Remainder No.52 ; and a special Judges’ Award of $2,000 given to Nathan Beard for Corsage.
Finalists were selected from an original field of 610 entrants and included new and emerging artists from Australia, USA, United Kingdom, and New Zealand. An exhibition featuring 50 shortlisted will run at the Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf until early November. The judges for this year’s Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize were Alex Seton, Blak Douglas, and Dr Kate Harrison.
“The 50 works displayed within this exhibition are absolutely outstanding,” said Dr Harrison. “From some of the most interesting Indigenous work, to sculptures startling in conceptualisation and craft. I have been amazed by the ingenuity and talent presented by the artists as part of the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize this year.”
A Viewers’ Choice Award of $1,000 is open until midnight on 5 November, giving gallery visitors the opportunity to vote for their favourite sculpture. Voting takes place online via the Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf website.
A number of talks will also take place in the gallery on Saturday, 7 October from 1.30pm, featuring Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize finalists Maria Fernanda Cardoso, Jaqueline Bradley, Anna May Kirk, Amelia Skelton, Braddon Snape, Orson Heidrich, Catherine O’Donnell, Mylyn Nguyen and 2023 winner Anita Johnson.
The talks will be mediated by judge and 2009 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize winner Alex Seton, Managing Principal, Senior Curator, Owen Craven, and Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf Director, Pippa Mott.
All sculptures are on sale to the public with prices ranging from $300 to over $26,000.
