The first Tauranga National Art Awards was held from 10 – 16 November 2008. The organisers were proud to have the Farmer Motor Group as their major sponsors and the event was held at their new Auto Village in Hewletts Road , Tauranga. There was wonderful and enthusiastic support from the many other sponsors for each award - without them this event would never have happened.
The four selectors had an almost impossible task on their hands to select only 70 artworks from the 380 that were entered. The venue in the Audi showroom at Farmers Autovillage Extreme dictated only enough space for 70 works to allow the entire exhibition the justice they deserved. The standard was so high in every artwork entered. The final outcome was an exhibition of the highest standard with a wide variety of media and content and something for everyone. There was over 2,000 visitors to the exhibition and many praised it as one of the best they had ever been to.
On Wednesday night they had the award ceremony and auction as well as the official opening of Farmers Autovillage Extreme. Some 1,000 guests were present and 6 of the 11 award winning works sold under the hammer while the other 5 all attracted bidding which, unfortunately, fell short of the reserves. It was an exciting evening with the award winning artists joining in the spirit of the event which all helped to raise the money so desperately needed for the little children of Homes of Hope.
In the days that followed, another 8 works were sold and the organizers were proud to hand the Homes of Hope a cheque for just over $8,000. Thank you to all the artists for taking part in this event and giving so generously to the children of Homes of Hope.
Overall Comments by the Judge
Ross HemeraAssociate ProfessorSchool of Visual and Material CultureCollege of Creative ArtsMassey University , Wellington
The dominant characteristic of the exhibition is the pictorial orientation of the majority of the works. This provincial aspect tends to reaffirm the strength of the local art community. While a creative consistency is apparent there is the expected diversity of subject matter reflecting the obvious importance of interpretation and rendition for each individual artist. The pursuit of excellence in the use and execution of media and technical process seems to be an important and consistent theme throughout the exhibition. In assessing this exhibition I have looked for Aotearoa New Zealand perspectives, universal themes and local significance.
The NZ Art Guild was the proud sponsor of the Watercolour Award won by Nick Eggleston and also sponsored an annual subscription for the 10 other 11 winners
For full details on the winning artworks and to see the judges comments go to http://www.carronsass.com/
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