Exhibition from 17th February until 6th March 2016
Kristine Ballard
Visual Artist & Judge
“Proud to be a judge in the ArtSHINE “Celebrate Diversity” Art Competition.
Just like the theme, the artworks entered were diverse in medium and style. Diversity can mean many things and it was great to see so many interpretations.
As with all engaging artworks, it generated new conversations about the topic and made us re-evaluate the topic. Because of this I would say that all entrants successfully met the task. We want to thank everyone who entered the competition and they should all be very proud of their efforts.
Selecting a stand out artwork was a challenge. We looked for a piece that would demonstrate skill in medium and creativity in content.
We hope you will join us at the opening this Thursday evening to view the works and understand how diversity can bring us together as a community!”
The People’s Choice Award
Please vote for your favourite artist and for your chance to win a $50 ArtSHINE Gallery Gift voucher.
© Girija kulkarni
Celebrate Diversity #01
“We Are Family”
40cm x 30cm
$200.
Girija is an artist by mind and birth…Even before she could do maths she had better graso of the addition of colours and their outcomes. Girija was born and brought up in Western India.
Girija complete her formal education in reputed College of Arts and graduated in Commercial Arts. Although she is very much comfortable in all medium like oil, water, acrylic and digital authoring suites like Adobe Illustator and Flash, she prefers to find solace in fine art authored by human hands.
Diversity Statement:
“To me diversity is our strength. We are all diverse people. And celebrating our differences, as well as our common interests, helps unite and educate us. To understand others perspectives, to broaden our own, and to fully experience and educate ourselves. People all around need to understand and learn to appreciate other cultures and this is one way to accomplish that. Through each other’s diversity we become more aware of our own.
Not only do we become more aware we gain a sense of pride for the diversity of our own culture. Because diversity makes the world go round! I have tried to represent the diversity in my painting as all the continents are eggs in one big nest of mother earth. My painting is called as “WE ARE FAMILY”.
“Celebrate Diversity” Art Prize- Entry 02
Vote Now for “The people’s Choice Award”
© Helen Dubrovich
Celebrate Diversity #02
“Same Same But Different”
41cm x 31cm
$250.00
Helen has chosen to work in a variety of mediums with various subject matter, rather than sticking to the one genre as she felt staying with one type of subject and one medium would lead to boredom not only to herself but to her viewers. Helen’s interest in art was reawakened again after travelling extensively overseas and she resumed painting realizing this was her true passion.
Helen has always loved the Impressionists which influenced her style but has also been open to learning new techniques which she has incorporated into her art. Working in oils and watercolor, depicting various subjects, she then started to expand into acrylics and pastels. Her art has been shown at various exhibitions over the years and Helen continues to strive to bring variety to her work which encompasses images which are imaginative, at times romantic and colorful.
Check out Helen’s interview with ArtSHINE
Diversity Statement:
Diversity can be found everywhere. People, cultures, religions, plants, ideas, thought and expression.
I decided to paint these beautiful cats and called the painting “Same, Same but Different”
These cats belong to a friend and I was taken by their beauty. So diverse, so different but so similar underneath their coats. Two are Bengal cats which are a hybrid of the Asian Leopard Cat and domestic cats. The other is a beautiful Persian cat. They are diverse but like people and animals they have similar needs and desires. That needs to be respected.
“Celebrate Diversity” Art Prize- Entry 03
Vote Now for “The people’s Choice Award”
© Angela Iliadis
Celebrate Diversity #03
“Dare to be Different ”
Photographic Art – Mixed Media Works
31cm x 39 cm
$120.00
Artist Statement:
Angela is a mixed media, visual artist with an artistic practice spanning painting, drawing, printmaking and photographic art. Angela’s use of layering, texturing and colouring is presented in vibrant colours. Dare to be Different was created using the layering of collage, printmaking and painting using photography and computer software.
“Celebrate Diversity” Art Prize- Entry 04
Vote Now for “The people’s Choice Award”
© Anthony Van Lam
Celebrate Diversity #04
“Celebrate Primary Diversity”
Mix Media on Canvas
41 x 31cm
$200.00
The stylistic, expressive paintings of Australian artist Anthony Van Lam are as tranquil and magical as they are profound. Working in mix media on canvas or on paper, he paints from a range of subject matter to explore how lines, colours, organic shapes, flowers, animals and surface patterns intersect in unique ways to create form. With a background in fashion design, the artist has an excellent sense of composition and is able to place objects expertly in the picture plane, finding new meanings in familiar subject by isolating them and manipulating forms in terms of scale, color, and shadow.
Known for his bold and colourful designs in fashion, Anthony’s paintings reveal his true passion for flowers that are immediately eye-catching. His current works capture exotic water lilies in a perfume lake. Elegantly depicted, they offer tranquility, calmness and allow you to leave your stresses behind when you look at one of his artworks. Perhaps the hallmark of Anthony Van Lam’s work is his remarkable use of color and the way he is able to manipulate light and shadow to bring his work to an entirely new level. Indeed, there is an ethereal component to his work, a sense of the surreal. In the end, these engaging paintings encourage us to find the magical in the everyday.
Diversity Statement:
Diversity starts with three primary colours! Excepting the blending of these colours we will realise the diversity of secondary and tertiary colours! We are all the same but we are so different in many ways ! If we live with this principles we will learn to Celebrate diversity!
“Celebrate Diversity” Art Prize- Entry 05
Vote Now for “The people’s Choice Award”
© Judith Price
Celebrate Diversity #05
“We are all the same and we are all different. What great friends we will be.”
Mix Media Framed 37cmx 30cm
$350.00
Judith Price is an artist living on the Central Coast, just north of Sydney, Australia. Exasperated by the rubbish she picked up daily on her local beach and concerned about the creatures affected by it, Judith resolved to do something about it. The rubbish became not only her medium, but the inspiration for artworks, bringing attention to the issue of over-consumption and the resulting waste. Judith has had two solo exhibitions since 2011 and participates in many collaborative events both in the local area and in Sydney.
Diversity Statement:
In celebrating differences it is important to address the fact that we have many similarities. In this artwork, a generic human shape forms the “sameness” but each figure in this collection has its own characteristics using variants of colour, pattern, medium and materials. The title of this artwork is a simple quote from a children’s book by Kelly Moran. “We are all the same and we are all different. What great friends we will be.” Highlighting the fact that a positive take on diversity can be so very simple.
© David Hayden
Celebrate Diversity #06
“We built this City”
Mixed materials on board
30cm x 22cm
$170.00
Artist Statement:
Working from his home studio in Waterloo Sydney. David creates Mini Sculptures using made and found objects and small figurines. Transforming the collected and assembled materials using extremes of scale to create an intimate world of surprise. Delighting the viewer with a comic quirkiness in a slightly surreal way.
“Celebrate Diversity” Art Prize- Entry 07
Vote Now for “The people’s Choice Award”
© Mel Sky
Celebrate Diversity #07
“Enchante”
Acrylic on canvas
42cm x 30cm
$200.00
Artist Statement:
I often think our lives and colours have a lot in common. Every colour is beautiful and has its own individuality and characters so are our lives. We are different in many ways but we are the same “Beautiful Human Being”
“Celebrate Diversity” Art Prize- Entry 08
Vote Now for “The people’s Choice Award”
© James Mathurin
Celebrate Diversity #08
“Components”
Lithographic Print
40cm x 30cm
$100.00
James Mathurin is a Londoner, living and working in Sydney, who primarily works in a mixture of traditional pencil and ink linework and digital, and also photography and graphic design. James holds a BA in Illustration from Middlesex University, and has worked in advertising and stand-alone pieces. Comics, animation and science (both real and fictional) have always been influences that turn up in his art.
His art and tutorials can be found at his ‘James Mathurin Art’ blog, his photography can be seen on his tumblr ‘Stuff Wot I Done’, and his humorous infographics (yes, that is a thing) can be seen on his ‘Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Need To Know’ blog.
Diversity Statement
Diversity has always been an important aspect in the background of my work, and making it the focus of this project proved to be quite challenging. The circuit board idea reflects one of the benefits of diversity: the quality of various different ‘components’ of society forming connections to become more than the sum of their parts. I based this piece on faces from Sydney, or who I thought represented the diverse groups in the city; a mixture of gender, ethnicity, sexuality, physical and mental ability. I composed the machine versions of the faces on Bristol Board with pencil and design pens, and designed the circuitry linking them, then scanned and digitally coloured the image.
“Celebrate Diversity” Art Prize- Entry 09
Vote Now for “The people’s Choice Award”
© Richard Dobbie
Celebrate Diversity #09
“Kliftown Boy Diversity + Inclusivity”
Photograph & Digital
40cm x 30cm
$45.00 Print, $95 Framed
Rick is an ex-Australian Army Officer with a passion for adventure travel and photography.
An Art Student before joining the Army Rick has now come full circle combining his passion for adventure travel, personal development, exploration and photography/art.
Rick’s journeys have afforded many opportunities to see and photograph the rare and unusual. From polar bears in the Arctic to lions hunting in Africa, scenes from across South East Asia, to penguins in Antarctica.
Through the auspices of his company SAFAR, Rick leads small groups on adventure travel journeys exploring leadership and teamwork and the world at large – “journeys for the journeys within” and of course the opportunity to capture this special world in a photograph.
Recently he has begun to combine some of his photographs with digital effects to create graphic artworks.
Diversity Statement
This particular artwork created especially for the “Celebrating Diversity” competition, “Kliptown Boy – Diversity+Inclusivity” is a photograph of a young boy at the Kliptown Youth Program school in Soweto, South Africa. Rick combined this photograph with digital effects and added the text about resilience in the face of adversity. The message is about embracing diversity by being inclusive of all.
“Celebrate Diversity” Art Prize- Entry 10
Vote Now for “The people’s Choice Award”
Celebrate Diversity #10
“One People – Many Journeys”
Acrylic Paint and Collage on Canvas
42cm x 30cm
$200.00
I have been amateur artist for the past 6 years, tutored by the Sydney artist Gabriel Jones. In the main I paint impressionist/abstract Australian landscapes. In 2015 I was awarded the People’s Choice award Prize for my work art entitled the “Urban Greenway Cyclists in the ArtEst Gallery 2015 Greenway Art Exhibition”.
Diversity Statement
One People – Many Journeys – This work simply acknowledges that our Aboriginal and Indigenous people were Australia’s original inhabitants and over the passage of time our country has evolved into a rich multicultural country and society.
“Celebrate Diversity” Art Prize- Entry 11
Vote Now for “The people’s Choice Award”
© Marie Widolf
“ Space Odyssey”
Pen and Ink
30cm x 42cm
$300.00
Celebrate Diversity #12
“But One in a sea of Many”
Illustration/Mixed media (Ink, Graphite, Watercolour)
53cm x 43 cm Framed
$150.00
© Kirana Haag
Celebrate Diversity #13
“The Source”
Mixed materials on Arches Paper
37cm x 37cm
$900.00
Artist Statement
I am clairvoyant and clairsentient. All my life I have seen and felt angels, guides, colours, pictures and energies around people and things, animate and inanimate.My artworks are the diaries of my inner eyes and ears; of the energies above and beyond this one reality we call the “real world”. I am a channel, a feeling, hearing, seeing “phone line” with a paintbrush on the end of it to make the invisible, visible.
It is the freedom to express very big and to be “loud”, to touch and to be real, I enjoy most in my art. Painting is for me a physical and ethereal process, a fast and strong dance with light.
I am a midwife of dreams; a light dancer and my art creates and holds a certain energy. With that, I am fulfilling my soul contract.
