2013 Kedumba Drawing Award
The postponed Official Opening was held on 2nd November and was attended by over one hundred Kedumba supporters. Eight participating artists were welcomed by the Director, Jeffrey Plummer.
These artists were Louisa Chircop, Mathew Lynn, Ann Cape, Sophie Cape, Ambrose Reisch, Tim Allen and Judy Morris who had travelled from South Australia. (the first three had their drawings acquired for the Kedumba Collection).Despite threats of fires and the postponement of the Official Opening of the 2013 Kedumba Drawing Award the judging went ahead as planned. The judge, Angus Nivison, spent two days of deliberation before making his final decision on the drawings to be acquired for the public Kedumba Collection of Australian Drawings. These were announced at a very small gathering late on Saturday 26 October.
Angus commented on the high standard of drawings and thought the new venue, Wild Valley Art Park gallery at Wentworth Falls, exhibited the drawings well and was an interesting venue.
His selections are below:
Nigel Killalea: Fading Light/Corambirra Point
Mathew Lynn: Final night at Vulcans
Joanna Logue: Garden
Louisa Chircop: Life Studies
Kerry McInnis: Bushpool dingoes, Ndhala
Jude Roberts: Drawdown I
Eleanor Millard: Railway Cottage, Lismore
Leith Maguire: Gutted
Kedumba Drawing Award 2013
27th October to 30th November
Open daily 10am to 4pmWild Valley Art Park, 321 Blaxland Road,
Wentworth Falls, NSW 2780.
Invited Artists
Tony Ameneiro
Peter Cameron
Anne Cape
Sophie Cape
Gaye Chapman
Louisa Chircop
Neil Cuthbert
Nigel Killalea
Joanna Logue
Mathew Lynn
Guy Maestri
Stephen Mallick
Kerry McInnis
Eleanor Millard
Judy Morris
Stephen Nova
Andy Quilty
Ambrose Reisch
Mary Ann Runciman
Wendy Teakel
Craig Waddell
Jude Roberts
In 1998 I had the good fortune to be included in the Kedumba Drawing Award and to my amazement managed to get purchased. To say I was delighted was an understatement, in fact it was the beginnings of a self-belief in my ability to becoming an artist. What an amazing collection in which to be included and what an honour. Make no mistake the Kedumba Collection is very special indeed and it is among a very few and was, I think, the first award to hand over the judging to just one person. So over the years each judge’s selection has given the Kedumba Collection a wonderful Catholic (in the best sense of the word) flavour. Each judge’s peccadilloes, so to speak, are there for all to see whenever the collection is shown. What a wonderful legacy to leave to future generations.
Good drawings have an intensity that major paintings and sculptures don’t. What we see is the thinking hand, the mind of the artist and the essence. I sometimes feel as though I am seeing things that are meant to be private. Drawing and the marks the artist makes are, I guess, like their fingerprints.
Three works from this year’s award have leapt out at me and I must say, in no particular order.
Nigel Killalea
Fading Light, Corambirraa Point.
This has all the qualities I mentioned before plus a mysterious feeling, perhaps broodiness or perhaps a felt presence of past inhabitants. It allowed me to place my story upon it.
Mathew Lynn
Final night at Vulcans
Mathew Lynn – Final Night at Vulcans – 2013
. . . is for me just beautifully intimate and is a wonderful nod at history – Seurat in technique but more than that I thought of Morandi – one of my favourite artists. This drawing is so evocative that it takes me straight to a place I have never been.
Jude Roberts
Drawdown I
Jude Roberts – Drawdown I
. . . also had many of the qualities already mentioned but also it had the space and feel of the land with its stained and drawn marks it allowed my eye to wander and gave me breathing space to meditate and form my own story.
But I kept on buying and I think I may have set a record – I think I have become a compulsive buyer.
Joanne Logue
Garden
Joanna Logue – Garden
. . . is beautiful in the extreme. Understated and mysterious and I thought it was a wonderful addition to the Kedumba Collection.
Louisa Chircop
Life Studies
Louisa Chirop – Life Studies
. . . shows a great facility with line and ostensibly bridging the gap between the literal and the abstract.
(Better image to come . . .)
Eleanor Millard
Railway Cottage, Lismore
Eleanor Millard – Railway Cottage Lismore
. . . is imbibed with atmosphere perhaps in failing light she forces the viewer to complete the scene.
Kerry McInnis
Bushpool Dingoes, Ndhala
Kerry McInnis – Bush Pool Dingoes
I was taken by her talent for the marks and the sense of place. I have never been to this place but I felt a part of the scene. A beautiful work.
Leith Maguire
Gutted
Leith Maguire – Gutted
Was my final selection. I think she will be an artist of the future with such a sure line at a young age.
When I received the catalogue and saw the name Gutted, on Leith Maguire’s drawing, the title appealed to me as I was feeling somewhat gutted because choosing these works was not an easy task and I was very grateful that I had two days to decide. The standard in my humble opinion, is very high and shows the art of drawing is indeed in safe hands and definitely not lost.
So in conclusion I would like to say that my selections were just the opinion of one person and on another day with another judge any one drawing could have been selected. The more I looked the better they were, in fact, I began to feel a little jealous that I had not created them. Thank you and congratulations to all the selected AND participating artists.
Ann Cape – Mid Life was the Trustee approved acquisition by the Director.
The Award Winners
Marlene and Jeffrey Plummer with five of the 2013 Kedumba Drawing Award winners.
Award Recipients And Their Artworks
Public Viewing
The Speeches
The Kedumba Drawing Award is the premier event for drawing in Australia. It is an acquisitive Award and new works, selected annually, become part of the Permanent Public Kedumba Collection.
Each year, twenty four Australian artists are invited to participate in the Award and submit work which will be hung for the judge to consider. The artists are drawn from recommendations of State, Regional and Private Galleries, from the Kedumba Artist Trustees, from submissions of individual artists and from personal enquiry by the Director and Curator.
The Award is judged each year by an eminent Australian artist. The judge does not award a Prize, but selects for acquisition several works, which he or she envisages will enhance the Kedumba Collection. This has enabled the careful and diverse expansion of the Collection and explains why the Kedumba Drawing Award is regarded as the most important drawing Award in Australia.
The Kedumba Award, in my opinion, which is shared by others, is the most important event for drawing in the country because of the resultant Collection. John Olsen AO OBE