Wagin Woolorama: Art Show launches new Melva Powell Artist Encouragement Award with $500 prize

One of the Wheatbelt’s biggest country art shows is tripling its president’s choice prize offering in honour of its 50th anniversary and launching a new prize to encourage up and coming artists. Organisers of this year’s Wagin Woolorama Art Show recently announced the annual president’s choice award would this year be named the Wagin Woolorama 50th Year Presidents Choice Award. The rules are simple: artwork must have been entered in one of the pre-existing classes in the art show and then selected for the president’s choice award. To celebrate this year’s 50th anniversary of the Wagin Woolorama, the theme is “rural”. Art show steward Fiona Dawson said the theme was a “real celebration of rural life”. “The layout of the exhibits for this year will something different to give the public a much clearer view of the wonderful creations that range from school aged children exhibits right through to the show stalwarts with their craft and cooking entries,” she said. “Around the walls will be a selection from past years Wagin Woolorama Art Prize Winners in celebration of our 50 years of Woolorama.” Wagin Woolorama president Paul Powell will have the difficult task of selecting his favourite piece from the huge selection before announcing the winner. The Wagin Woolorama Art Show is arguably one of the most popular in WA, with $1000 up for grabs for the top gong — the Wagin Woolorama Art Prize for the most outstanding exhibit. The show, which prides itself on being inclusive, has a total prize pool of $5500. Other stalwart prizes include the Local Artist Award and the People’s Choice Award (both worth $150 each) as well as the $250 each Moffat Family Award and the Lane, Buck and Higgins Award. This year, there will be a new award on the scene with the Melva Powell Artist Encouragement Award set to give $500 to up and coming artists to buy art supplies. Mrs Dawson said the prize had been named after one of the many winners of the overall prize, Melva Powell, who took out the 1982 Wagin Woolorama Art Prize. The piece, named Summer Storms, had been hanging in the Wagin Library and was one of the earliest winners Mrs Dawson could find in Wagin. Melva died in the early 2000s, but her legacy has been long-lasting. She was mother to Mr Powell, a music teacher to Mrs Dawson, and a grandmother to many. “I mentioned to Paul that I had found this fantastic painting from 1982, which is amazing, and it was won by Paul’s mother and it is quite fitting that he is president this year,” Mrs Dawson said. The art section steward shared this with Mr Powell, and he — along with his two daughters Narelle and Helen — decided to honour Melva with the new award with all family members coming onboard. “We wanted to give a cash prize but then we thought if it was in the form of art vouchers it could be spent on their passion,” Mrs Dawson said. “Everyone is struggling, and sometimes when when you win cash, it is so easy to just put that money towards the power bill rather than on things you really and truly love. Mrs Dawson said art entries had been strong this year, with plenty of interest from people who had exhibited in years gone by and a few that had not exhibited for more than five years “People are very keen to get into it, COVID had really thrown people around and I have had a lot of inquiries from previous exhibitors from a long time ago that I haven’t had the pleasure of having anything to do with since I started five years ago” she said. Judging the art show for the second year will be Kendenup-based artist Stephanie Dimmock. Ms Dimmock moved to the Great Southern in 2001 when she took up a temporary role at Wagin District High School before starting a nearly-15 year career at the then-called CY O’Connor TAFE in Narrogin, Great Southern TAFE, Narrogin TAFE and Southern Regional TAFE. She specialises in uplifting and imaginative works with a focus on acrylic and mixed media art, depicting local landscapes, still life, figures and portraits. Wagin art show classes include oil or acrylic, watercolour, any media and any theme with a 100 word artist statement, other media, pastel, small painting, and sculpture. The Wagin Woolorama Art Show will be located in the Eric Farrow Pavilion and is open from 9am to 5pm on March 10, and 9am to 4pm on March 11.