Quality and range at 21st Sandy Point Easter Art Show

Consistent quality and a broad range of styles, media and subjects were the hallmarks of the 21^st  Sandy Point Easter Art Show 2024.

Presented over a four-day period in the Sandy Point Community Centre, from Good Friday evening March 29 to Easter Monday afternoon April 1, this year’s Art Show featured 126 entries along with 16 works by junior artists.

Angus Wishart’s Self Portrait at 28 won the Best in Show prize of $500 after coming first in the oil painting category.

Ling Wang’s acrylic painting Crimson Rosella received runner-up in both the Best in Show and the Senior Joyce Crawford People’s Choice, while her Bright Eyes, also in acrylic, actually won the Senior Joyce Crawford People’s Choice by popular vote.

Helen Nkansah’s Soft Landing was awarded the Mixed Media blue rosette, while Karin Lalor came first in the Gouache category with her Pink Protea.

View from Walkerville North by Mary Shaw won the Watercolour section, and Jenine Pallant’s Rabbit and Nana’s Love, won first and runner-up respectively in the Drawing category.

First place in the Sculpture section went to Glenn Murray for Balance, and Steve Dunlop’s Three Weigh Tie image of red capsicums on a set of scales won the Photography blue.

Banksia with Spinebills by Bron Elmore came first in the Acrylic category.

Arielle Humphreys’ first-place winning entry in the Junior Pencil section, Time, also attracted the Junior Best in Show award and the Junior Joyce Crawford People’s Choice.

Runner-up in the Junior Joyce Crawford People’s Choice was Archie Henning with Working Dog.

The 21^st Sandy Point Easter Art Show 2024 was officially opened on Good Friday evening by Waratah North art teacher, printmaker and active local and regional arts advocate Wally Birkenbeil, assisted by Gippsland South MLA Danny O’Brien.

Wally, together with his wife and fellow art teacher Di Farmer and  a number of others, had “the pleasure and privilege of hanging this show.

“Congratulations to all of the winners,” he said.

“I also want to acknowledge the volunteer judges whose job is gruelling, and also the artists themselves, because it’s quite personal putting your work out for others to judge.

“Thank you to all of the Arts Show’s sponsors for supporting and understanding the significance of the arts and its place in our community,” Wally said.

“Thanks, too, to the members of the community who come out to support the artists, and well done to the Art Show’s organising committee; all those big and little tasks!”

Wally talked a little about the history and the continuing evolution of the South Gippsland arts community, noting that since he and Di moved here in the early 1980s, “there has been significant growth and interest in the arts, not just visual but also music, dance and theatre.

“Important and interesting artists live in our district and we now have a plethora of arty spaces and activities,” he said.

“Sandy Point dipped its toe into the [art show] water in 2003 and I remember trying to manoeuvre around the exhibits in the old [TP Taylor Hall] community building.

“And now in this Centre we have a professional hanging system, light and lots of breathing space, and it’s a testament to this community that this show continues and builds strongly on its past,” Wally said.

“We need show like this to provide everyone with opportunities and incentives for making art and to be able to engage meaningfully with art and artists.”

The major sponsors for the 21^st Sandy Point Easter Art Show 2024 were South Gippsland Shire Council, the Toora and District and Foster Community Bank branches of the Bendigo Bank, and Fish Creek artist Gillian Carpenter’s Artwork Studio 757.

Art Show organising committee member and opening night master of ceremonies John Stanecki expressed the committee’s appreciation for all of the support the Art Show is given by the artists and the judges, the visitors and the people who buy artworks, and the sponsors and other providers.

“I also want to thank the Art Show committee’s members themselves and all of our volunteers for all of the hard work that goes into making this event such a success,” he said.

Accompanied by his councillor colleagues Jenni Keerie and John Schelling at the Art Show opening, South Gippsland Shire Cr Scott Rae observed that “art is like beauty; it’s in the eye of the beholder” and that the Shire was proud to support the Sandy Point community’s own arts event.

Toora and District and Foster Community Bank board member Joe Bucello said the Corner Inlet district had recently celebrated its Community Bank’s 25^th birthday, and that the Bank had been supporting the Sandy Point Easter Art Show for the past 15 years.

The other sponsors behind the 21st Sandy Point Easter Art Show 2024 were Bravtec Cleaning, MGS Architects, Southern Sass Hair Studio, Wallace & Wallace Sculpture & Photography, Alison Lester, Atoll Travel, SEJ Real Estate, Paragreen Real Estate, Prom Coast Holidays, Waratah Ice Cream Company, Johnoelec Pty Ltd, Sally Gibson and Di Cooper, South Gippsland Concrete, Williams Tracy and Associates, Barnes Fencing, Prom Coast Electrics, Rob Davies Carpet Cleaning, Steve Coad Plumbing, Sandy Point General Store, Narkabundah Wildflower Nursery, and The Mirror.

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