2014 UWS Sculpture Awards winners announced
reprieve
Winner of the 2014 UWS Sculpture Award: Greer Taylor for her sculpture reprieve
"In a forest a tree might fall, but sometimes, if it is not too heavy for its neighbour, or falls slowly enough, it is caught and is able to live on, saved from destruction by its position in the forest. Sometimes this reprieve will enable the tree to regain a strong connection to the earth allowing it to live on, even if its support crumbles.
"This dynamic creates new spaces within a forest, often resulting in the most sculptural of trees. It is though, a dynamic that is only really ‘allowed’ to happen in a wild forest… "
Greer Taylor, artist
Biography
Greer Taylor has worked in many fields of the visual arts: fashion, textile art, graphic design, all providing resource for her current fine art practice.
Her work uses simple geometry, transparency and repeated elements to explore space, vulnerability and change.
Taylor shows in annual solo exhibitions while regularly contributing to group exhibitions. She is actively involved in promoting the arts in the Illawarra as a founding member of Illawarra Association for the Visual Arts.
She is deeply passionate about the natural environment.
Previous exhibitions and awards
Selected group and solo exhibitions
2014 Sculpture 2014, Brenda May Gallery, Waterloo, NSW
2013 ‘zero&one’, solo exhibition, [MARS] Gallery, Port Melbourne, VIC
2013 Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, NSW
2013 Sculpture at Scenic World, Katoomba, NSW
2013 Montalto Sculpture Prize, Mornington Peninsula, VIC
2012 Sculpture at Scenic World, Katoomba, NSW
2012 University of Western Sydney Sculpture Prize, Cambelltown, NSW
2012 Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, NSW
2011 Montalto Sculpture Prize, Mornington Peninsula, VIC
2011 Swell Sculpture Festival, Currumbin, QLD
2011 Lorne Sculpture, Lorne, VIC
2011 Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, NSW
2010 ‘Local:Current’, group survey, Wollongong City Gallery, NSW
2010 Montalto Sculpture Prize, Mornington Peninsula, VIC
2010 Yering Station Sculpture Exhibition and Awards, Yarra Valley, VIC
Awards
2012 Sculpture at Scenic World Acquisitive Prize, Katoomba, NSW
Commissions
2014 Melton Waves Leisure Centre Public Art Project, ‘Rain Stories’, Melton City Council, Melton, VIC
Represented in collections in:
Orange Regional Gallery, NSW
Darwin Museum of Arts and Sciences, NT
Hamton Homes, VIC
Oneness
Winner of the UrbanGrowth Acquisitive Sculpture Award: Michael Purdy for his sculpture Oneness
"This sculpture is one of series of works in which I am attempting to create non-religious sacred objects. Based in the principles of Hatha yoga where opposites paradoxically combine to create a oneness, the balancing of positive and negative space in the design aims at achieving a soothing simplicity, despite the busy complexity of its individual elements. Originally conceived while camping in Murramarang National Park, its conception is testament to the saying…'relaxed is who we are… Stressed is who we think we should be'"
Michael Purdy, artist
Biography
Michael Purdy studied landscape architecture at UNSW and learnt to work with stone while creating sandstone based landscapes around Sydney. Though he has lived on the South Coast of NSW for ten years, his works are best known by regular visitors to Bondi’s Sculpture by the Sea where he has exhibited seven times, winning four awards including People’s Choice in 2005. Commissions include Frazer Motorcyles at Strathfield, Argyle Hotel at The Rocks and the Sydney Seafood School at the Sydney fish markets.
Previous exhibitions and awards
Group and solo exhibitions
2014 Sculpture at Sawmillers
2014 Sculpture on the Edge, Bermagui
2013 Maunsell Wickes at Barry Stern, Gallery, Sydney
2013 Sculpture on the Edge, Bermagui
2012 SXS Bondi, Sydney
2012 Sculpture on the Edge, Bermagui
2012 Maunsell Wickes at Barry Stern, Gallery, Sydney
2011 Arts in the Valley, Kangaroo Valley
2011 SXS Bondi, Sydney
2011 Maunsell Wickes at Barry Stern, Gallery, Sydney
2010 SXS Bondi, Sydney
2010 SXS Cottesloe, WA
2010 Maunsell Wickes at Barry Stern, Gallery, Sydney
Commissions
2010 Surfrider Foundation Commemorative Bowl
2009 Sydney Seafood School
2008 Fraser’s Motorcycles, Concord, Sydney
2008 ‘Steel’ restaurant, Wynyard, Sydney
2008 Students’ memorial, Dapto High School, Illawarra
2007 ‘The Argyle’ nightclub, The Rocks, Sydney
1998 ‘River of Life’ Oncology Ward, Liverpool Hospital, Sydney
Awards
2013 Sculpture on the Edge, Emerging Artists
2013 Shoalhaven Contemporary Art Prize, Highly Commended
2011 Arts in the Valley, Highly Commended
2010 SXS Bondi, Inaugural Sculpture Inside Curator’s Prize
2009 SXS Bondi, Andrea Stretton Memorial Invitation to Cottesloe Award
2005 SXS Bondi, People’s Choice Award
2004 SXS Bondi, Unrepresented Artist Award
Converge
Winner of the Janice Reid Emerging Artist Award: Morgan Shimeld for his sculpture Converge
"The work of Sydney based sculptor, Morgan Shimeld is primarily concerned with the aesthetic and theoretical concepts of the interaction of internal and external spaces. Shimeld’s work is characterised by attention to structure and form, with strong and grounded monolithic shapes, using perspective and precisely angled planes. These geometric elements act to draw the viewer into the work and opposing sides will often have quite a different sense of balance and perspective."
Morgan Shimeld, artist
Previous exhibitions and awards
Group exhibitions
2014 Sculpture at Scenic World 2014, NSW, Finalist
2013 Sculptue 2013, MiCK Gallery, Sydney
2013 Mt Buller Sculpture Award, Victoria, Finalist
2013 Montalto Sculpture Prize 2013, Victoria, Finalist
2013 Sculpture at Scenic World 2013, NSW, Finalist
2012 Heat, Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney
2012 Au Courant, Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney
2012 Sculpture in the vineyards 2012, NSW, Finalist
2012 6 inch show, Defiance Gallery, Sydney, Finalist
2011 Sculpture 11, Brenda May Gallery, Sydney
2011 Group show, Maunsell Wickes Gallery, Sydney
2011 Self Portraits, China Heights Gallery, Sydney
2011 Willoughby Sculpture Prize 2011, Sydney
2010 Sculpture 10, Brenda May Gallery, Sydney
2010 UWS Acquisitive Sculpture Award and Exhibition 2010, UWS, Sydney
2010 Finding Form Creating Space/ Disrupting Space, UWS, Sydney
2010 Sawmillers Reserve Sculpture Prize, Sawmillers Reserve
2010 Deakin University Contemporary Small Sculpture Award, Melbourne
Solo exhibitions
2011 Converge, Brenda May Gallery, Sydney
2008 Tracing Constructs, Brenda May Gallery, Sydney
2007 Architectural Evolution, Brenda May Gallery, Sydney.
Ends
2 May 2014
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