Moreton Bay Region Art Awards - 2018 winners

Overall winners

Portrait of a Greek man and son

Samuel Scoufos
Artist statement: This is a portrait of Brisbane writer/director Stephen Kanaris and his son. A child at heart, he struggles with the push and pull between leading a creative life and the doldrums of day-to-day routines. This image represents on a wider level, one’s own battle with growing up, getting older, becoming burdened with responsibility and the constant, ongoing yearning to replay aspects of our youth.

Transition

Simon Degroot
Artist statement: I use painting to explore a process of translation and recognition in relation to a contemporary context of image sharing and exchange. I use existing visual elements from various sources including art history, technology and the built environment to explore how abstract forms are re-employed in contemporary abstraction.

People's Choice Award

Johnny Pascoe no.1

Carla Adams
Artist statement: There's a distinct connection between the gaze and the implied landscape. I can't look at Johnny's face without my mind's eye picturing him in his Kimberley landscape. The immediacy and raw qualities of drawing in pen speak to the uncomplicated relationship between man and country.

Local Artist Award

Inspiration Machine

Nadine Sawyer
Artist statement: 'Inspiration Machine' is light, poetic and joyous and forges into landscapes of boundless creativity. I see all parts of life connecting poetically and the most eloquent way for me to express my insights is through paint.

Brian Burke Award

Find One Self series

Joanne Braddy
Artist statement: These ceramics are a symbol of what so many people go through in their lives. I have had depression episodes most of my life. Whenever I lose myself, feeling of hopelessness is pulling you down. There comes a realisation of feeling broken, then finding strength inside to push back the feeling of hopelessness and a fight to find ‘One Self’.

Merit Awards

Cryos

Barbara Penrose
Artist statement: I paint in order to visualise something that can only be found in the painting process. Bringing forward and screening off, it's an equivalent of William Blake's notion that progress can only be made through the contraries.

Two Bowls: Volcano and Rock Pool

Peter Biddulph
Artist statement: The bowls combine unglazed clay exteriors with complementary glazed interiors. The black bowl is made of Scarva stoneware and glazed with a gold and silver iridescent glaze to emulate seared, blackened rocks and lava flow. Rock Pool is made of Los Altos Stoneware glazed with a mottled grey/cream matte glaze with an overlaid pale blue transparent glaze to emulate water in a sandstone hollow.

Storm

Lucy Anderson
Artist statement: Exploring themes of landscape and emotion. Painted in response to the 2017 Queensland storms and consequential floods.

Johnny Pascoe no.1

Carla Adams
Artist statement: There's a distinct connection between the gaze and the implied landscape. I can't look at Johnny's face without my mind's eye picturing him in his Kimberley landscape. The immediacy and raw qualities of drawing in pen speak to the uncomplicated relationship between man and country.

Story

Samir Hamaiel
Artist statement: An alternative (though commonplace) view of an everyday Brisbane icon, this work celebrates the complexity of engineering design in the Story Bridge, framed by a searing blue Queensland sky.

Ubirr Escarpment - NT

Joanne Kerr
Artist statement: This work evolved from drawings and watercolours done in Kakadu. The rock escarpments rise up from the surrounding flatness with a presence that begs to be drawn. I have played with the sharp contrast of shadows and textures to create a monumental feel to the escarpment. Use of old newspaper adds a human dimension to a harsh but striking environment.