Ben Apfelbaum

WOOLLAHRA GALLERY AT REDLEAF OPENS WITH 20TH WOOLLAHRA SMALL SCULPTURE EXHIBITION

Joanne Capon, Judge & Susan Wynne, Mayor with Rhonda Sharpe’s Desert Woman with the winning entry, Mustache, Cooloman & Pretty Clothes
Jenny Herbert-Smith and her Brutalist Dance
Kate Coyne and  her ‘Weight of the World On My Shoulders’
Mechelle Bounpraseuth – My Parents Come From Laos, The Land of Condiments
Michael Harrell – Politics
Patrick Corrigan – Community Philanthropist

To celebrate the inauguration of the new arts space at the Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf,  the Woollahra Small Sculpture  Prize was on display for its 20th anniversary exhibition of finalists.

There was a record over 800 entries most of which were initially considered via Zoom. The finalists and winner were recently selected after Covid 19 restrictions were slightly eased.

The three judges were Dr Lara Strongman, Director Curatorial and Digital, Museum of Contemporary Art, Joanna Capon OAM, Art Historian/Curator and Industrial Archeologist and Jenny Lee AO, artist and fashion designer.

The media preview was presided over by Woollahra Mayor Susan Wynne and Sebastian Goldspink, Woollahra Gallery’s at Redleaf Coordinator.

Also in attendance was Councillor Anthony Marano, Chairman of the exhibition and Patrick Corrigan, 2021-2022 Community Philanthropist.

Special commendation with the prizemoney of $2.000
was awarded to ‘My Parents Come From Laos, The Land Of Condiments’ by Mechelle Bounpraseuth whilst ‘Politics?’ by Michael Harel was highly commended.

The Mayor’s Award with the prize money of $1,000 was won by Kate Coyne’s ‘Weight Of The World On My Shoulders’. Mayor Susan Wynne liked it so much that she acquired it.

Representing her fellow panel of judges, Joanna Capon announced the winner of the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize was Rhonda Sharpe for her work ‘Desert Woman With Mustache, Cooloman and Pretty Clothes’. Ms Capon praised it, for among other things, its striking originality and storytelling power. The winners prize money was increased to $25,000 this year. The winner is a Luritja woman and Yarrenyty Aritere artist.

Also exhibited in the Gallery downstairs were the 19 winners of the previous sculpture awards.

It was further announced that the existing sculpture by New Zealand artist Sam Harrison’s ‘Seeded Woman II’ in the Blackburn Gardens will receive two already commissioned sculpture companions.

There will be a Viewer’s Choice Award worth $1,000 which will in all likelihood be announced at the conclusion of the exhibition.

The Gallery opens to the public on Thursday 4th November 2021. The Gallery’s hours are Wednesdays to Fridays 10am to 6pm and Saturdays and Sundays 10am to 5pm. The Gallery is closed on Public Holidays.

For further details go to www.woollahragallery.com.au. You can follow the Gallery  on instagram @ woollahragallery.

Text and images, apart from featured image supplied by Woollahra Council, by Ben Apfelbaum.  

 

 

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.