Finalists

Mark Booth

Mark Booth lives and works in the Upper Hunter Valley, NSW, and has recently been awarded a Scholarship to undertake a Master of Fine Arts at UNSW Art & Design. 

Mark has featured in numerous shows, including a major solo exhibition at Bathurst Regional Art Gallery in 2015. He has been a finalist in many art prizes including Sculpture at Scenic World, where he won the Major Award in 2017.  

Mark has also received two NAVA Grants and undertaken residences at The Armory in Sydney Olympic Park, and Phasmid Studios in Berlin. 

Jennifer Cochrane

Jennifer Cochrane lives and works in Perth, WA. She completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Curtin University in 1988 and has exhibited her work nationally and internationally.

While Jennifer’s practice stems from a strong history of object-based art, her works are becoming increasingly diverse in their production. She has created sculptures and site-specific installations for exhibitions and public spaces over the last 20 years. At the core of her practice is an emphasis on process-oriented production, which inevitably involves repetitive labour-intensive techniques. Jennifer consistently explores perspective and point of view, and how these concepts impact upon interpretation and understanding.

Chris Edwards

“Growing up on the mid-north coast of NSW exposed me to life by the sea with my extended family, Koori (Aboriginal) traditions and culture, and instilled in me the importance of community. I decided to commence an apprenticeship in building immediately after school, then my true calling - art and design. I haven't looked back; it is my passion. I have been designing for 10 years now and draw my inspiration for my designs and art from significant places and childhood stories told to me by my Elders of my Koori heritage.” 

Chris has created commissioned sculptures for the Nambucca Shire Council (2018), Wollongong City Council (2018), Urban Growth NSW (2017), Western Sydney University (2016), and private residences (2015), and has led and been involved in a variety of community projects. His work has attracted many accolades, including the AILA NSW Award of Excellence (2018), the Youth Engagement Award from the ‘Artkids’ program by Wirriimbi Designs (2014), and the National Landcom Award Mentorship (2014).

Merran Esson

Merran Esson has exhibited in the Muswellbrook Art Prize (2019); the Ravenswood Women’s Art Prize (2018 & 2019); the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize (2014, 2016 & 2019); Sculpture in the Valley (2017); Sculpture at Scenic World (2017, 2018 & 2019); Sculpture by the Sea (2016); the National Gallery of Australia; the Art Gallery of South Australia; the Art Gallery of Western Australia; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Gaffer Gallery, Hong Kong; as well as in numerous other exhibitions and galleries in Korea, Taiwan, Sweden, Pakistan, Spain, Japan and Australia. Her awards include the Muswellbrook Ceramics Award (2019); Highly Commended in the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize (2014); the Poyntzpass Pioneer Ceramic Award (2008); a NAS Studio Residency at the Cite Internationale des Arts Paris (2006); the Gold Coast Ceramic Award (2005); the Port Hacking Award (2000); and the Austceram Award (1994). 

Merran lectures at the National Art School, and was Head of Ceramics from 2009 to 2016. She is also a member of the International Academy of Ceramics, Switzerland. 

Harrie Fasher

Harrie Fasher won Sculpture by the Sea’s Rio Tinto Award at Cottesloe in 2018 and received the Helen Lempriere Scholarship and the Andrea Stretton Memorial Prize in 2017. Working from Portland, NSW, she produces large-scale sculptures that embody tension and movement in steel and bronze. Harrie has work in public and private collections both within Australia and internationally. She has an extensive exhibition history and has work in collections including the National Museum of Australia, and Bathurst and Orange Regional Art Galleries.

John Fitzmaurice

Full-time North Avoca sculptor, John Fitzmaurice, has a background in building and design. He works in a variety of materials, with stainless steel being his favoured medium. John’s works are inspired by natural forms and everyday objects which are transformed with abstraction and humour. John works exclusively on every stage of his creations, with durability and high quality finishes defining each piece. His works are represented in public, corporate, and private collections.

Jim Flook

Jim Flook is a multi-disciplinary sculptor working in a broad range of materials and processes mainly steel fabrication, stone carving and bronze casting. He has over 30 years’ experience as a practicing architect, with a strong interest in public space place-making. 

Jim has trained at the University of NSW, the University of Technology Sydney, the National Art School, Miller and Meadowbank TAFE, and Sydney Sculpture School. Most recently, he was a finalist in Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi (2018); Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe (2019); and Bayside Council (2019). 

Martin George

“In this troubled world of earthquakes, floods, wars and global warming, it is a sheer delight to find a dedicated sculptor with such an ironic sense of humour and a highly developed sense of the ridiculous. While Martin George can undoubtedly make a totally convincing piece of modernist sculpture, viewable from all directions and immaculately constructed, he also likes in catching the spectator unawares. Things are frequently not quite as they first seem.”  

- Ken Scarlett OAM 

Akira Kamada

Akira Kamada is a Shoalhaven-based sculptor and installation artist whose largely-ephemeral work frequently reflects his concern for the natural environment and social justice issues. Akira began showing his work publicly in the early 2000’s. His was first selected to feature in the University of Western Sydney Acquisitive Sculpture Show and Sculpture by the Sea Bondi in 2006. Thereafter, he became a regular participant of both indoor and outdoor art shows. 

Akira has won a number of awards, including the North Sydney Art Prize, and has work in several public collections such as that of Western Sydney University and South Australia’s Granite Island Sculpture Park. 

Bec Litvan

Bec Litvan is a Sydney-based multidisciplinary artist and designer. Her sole inspiration is her mother, who was diagnosed with and survived a rare form of stage 3 breast cancer.

Bec’s work consistently explores the dichotomy of content and form. Working with themes of disability, and breast cancer in particular, she aims to create works that are interactive and immersive in order to contest and comment on societal standards of the ‘taboo’ and ‘inappropriate’. 

Ludwig Mlcek

Ludwig Mlcek is a Czech-born sculptor with art and engineering qualifications, who lives and works in Rylstone, NSW. He has participated in sculpture symposiums in Europe and exhibits widely in Australia. Ludwig has won the Hunters Hill Sculpture Prize and has been a finalist in Sculpture by the Sea, the Western Sydney University Sculpture Award, Sculpture at Scenic World, Harbour Sculpture, and Sculpture in the Vineyards. He has also exhibited at Sculpture on the Wharf, the Bungendore Woodworks Gallery, the Historic Houses Trust and the National Trust. Ludwig was awarded an Allens Arthur Robinson Scholarship and the Kandos Centenary Celebration Sculpture Commission by the Mid-Western Regional Council.

Ingrid Morley

Ingrid Morley was awarded an Australia-China Council residency for Sculpture in 2006. In 2011, her work in both An Urban Environment at the Powerhouse Museum, and the University of Western Sydney’s Sculpture Award and Exhibition, were ‘highly commended’. She won the North Sydney Major Award for Art in 2015, and completed an Artists in Residence program at Hill End in the same year.

Since 2015, Ingrid has completed a large commissioned work for Columbia Aged Care in Oberon, and has won numerous awards for her work, including the Swell Major Award for Sculpture in Queensland. Ingrid has been developing new work since 2017.

Vlasé Nikoleski

Vlasé Nikoleski has completed a Diploma and Graduate Diploma from the National Gallery of Victoria Art School and the Victorian College for the Arts, and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of NSW.

Since 1972, Vlasé has displayed work in 35 selected solo shows, and 59 group exhibitions. He has also exhibited in 31 sculpture awards and has completed 26 important commissions. Vlasé is also represented in public and private collections in Australia and overseas.

Denese Oates

Denese Oates is an Australian sculptor, born in Orange, NSW. Throughout 1974 - 1977, Denese studied at Alexander Mackie College, CAE, completing her Diploma of Art Education.

Since 1976, Denese has displayed her work in numerous solo exhibitions, has participated in many group exhibitions, and is represented in numerous public and private collections. She was also the winner of the Site Specific Award in the North Sydney Art Prize exhibition in 2017.

John Petrie

John Petrie is a Sydney-based sculptor. He has exhibited widely and has received several awards and commissions.

Kirsteen Pieterse

Kirsteen Pieterse works primarily in sculpture, and has been a full-time professional artist for 15 years, working towards exhibitions as well as undertaking public commissions. She has had six solo exhibitions in Sydney with Martin Browne Contemporary, and another most recently in June 2019 with Utopia Art Sydney. 

Since 2008, Kirsteen has had public artworks placed in Australia, Scotland, China, and Hong Kong. Her most recent commissions were two works for the Hong Kong Jockey Club Clubhouse and wall-based pieces for Cathay Pacific Airlines’ business class lounges: two in Hong Kong International airport and one in Shanghai Pudong airport. Kirsteen’s other work includes freestanding sculptures for both indoors and outdoors.John Petrie is a Sydney-based sculptor. He has exhibited widely and has received several awards and commissions.

Louis Pratt

Louis Pratt is a multidisciplinary contemporary artist working in sculpture, painting, and video. He is best known for his use of coal and new technology in the production of sculpture, and has already achieved significant recognition in pioneering these applications to sculpture.

A two-time finalist in the Wynne Prize, Louis’s other notable accolades include winning the Mount Buller Sculpture Prize, Wollongong Sculpture Prize and the Tom Bass Figurative Sculpture Prize.

Louis’s works express a strong social conscience and speak to the issues that are relevant today.

Samantha Stephenson

Samantha Stephenson was born in Sydney, Australia. Working predominately in steel, she has a Master of Fine Art (Sculpture) from the National Art School. Samantha is represented by Robin Gibson Gallery and was a finalist in the 2019 Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize. She has also exhibited at Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi in 2014, and was selected for a Clitheroe Foundation Emerging Sculptor Mentorship Program (2015 and 2017).

Jayanto Tan

Jayanto Tan is a visual artist who was born to a Chinese-Malay-Sumatran Christian mother and Chinese-Guangdong Taoist father, in a village in North Sumatra. As a Chinese-Indonesian immigrant living in Sydney, who fled poverty and political repression in search of a better life, his practice blends Eastern and Western mythologies with the reality of current events.

Jayanto has been a finalist in several prizes, including the North Sydney Art Prize, the Fisher's Ghost Art Award, and the Rookwood Cemetery Sculpture Walk. Recently, he has also had a solo show at Firstdraft and received funding from the Inner West Council for EDGE Activations.

Arthur Wicks

Arthur Wicks has exhibited in over 80 solo shows since 1966. Highlights of his career include exhibiting at WWAG; the Charles Nodrum Gallery, Richmond; Maitland Regional Art Gallery; Macquarie University Gallery; the ADFA Assembly Hall, Canberra; the Performance Space, Sydney; the Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin; Donguy Galleries, Paris; Pratt Graphics Center, New York City; and at Studio Nundah, Canberra.

Arthur has also had solo shows tour regional and city galleries throughout Victoria, Wester Australia, New South Wales and Queensland.