Winner of the 23rd Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize

Published on 12 September 2024

Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize Winner: Hannah Gartside #19 from the series ‘Bunnies in Love, Lust and Longing’, 2024.

Woollahra Council has proudly announced Hannah Gartside as the winner of the 23rd Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize.

Australia’s most prestigious award for small-scale sculpture, the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize is the first national acquisitive prize for original works up to 80cm in size. At a ceremony held at the gallery, Gartside was awarded the $25,000 prize for #19, a piece in her ongoing series Bunnies in Love, Lust and Longing, 2024 which will be acquired for the Council’s permanent public collection.

After years of functioning as protection against impropriety and cold weather, the second-hand gloves bring to life tender interactions, and moments with oneself, through the form of anthropomorphised rabbits. Both deeply personal and fiercely communal, the works engage fundamental experiences and emotions endemic to our human condition.

Based in Melbourne, Gartside is a sculptor and installation artist working with found fabrics, clothing and ephemera to articulate experiences and sensations of longing, tenderness, care, desire and fury. Prior to her visual art training, Gartside worked as a costume-maker and dresser.

Commenting on the work, judge Liz Nowell said “Bunnies in Love Lost and Longing #19 by Hannah Gartside captivated the judges with its unexpected small scale and confident rendering of form. The use of repurposed gloves imbues the sculpture with a sense of nostalgia and everyday intimacy, evoking tenderness and care. Despite its modest size, the work drew us in with its emotional depth, creating a powerful sense of connection and vulnerability."

On winning the award, Hannah Gartside said: “I am honoured and humbled to have my work win the 2024 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize. I use discarded, worn materials because I believe in their inherent worth and value. These materials act as portals for storytelling, and receptive vessels for emotional expression. At times in my life I have felt devalued or discarded, and I made this work during one of those times. Have you ever heard the phrase, "the poem knows things the poet doesn't"? Well this sculpture showed me what I needed: aloneness, rest, introspection, and quietude. Having this personal work acknowledged in this way is deeply meaningful. I have been working as an artist since I graduated from art school in 2016, and this is my first major prize win, eight years on.”

Also awarded at the opening night ceremony was the Special Commendation Award of $2,000 with Girramay woman and emerging artist Erica Muriata selected for her work Recycled Jawun, 2024.

“Because of its technical execution, whilst remaining wholly experimental, the judges unanimously selected Recycled Jawun 2024 by Girramay artist Erica Muriata for the Special Commendation Prize” said judge Erin Vink. “We congratulate Erica for her innovation and attempts to push the parameters of such an ancient and elegant utilitarian object. Erica's work strongly reinforces to its viewer that Aboriginal culture from Far North Queensland is ever-changing and alive.”

Additionally, Mayor of Woollahra, Richard Shields selected Penny Howard’s After School for the $1,000 Mayor’s Choice Award. “This incredibly evocative and nostalgic work drew me in and reminded me of the afternoon snacks of my childhood. I had an instant emotional response to it,” the Mayor said.

Voting for the $1,000 Viewers’ Choice Award is open until midnight on 20 October, giving members of the public the opportunity to vote for their favourite sculpture via the Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf website. The winner will be announced on 21 October.

Special Commendation Award Winner, Erica Muriata, Recycled Jawun, 2024, wire, paint. Photo courtesy of Jacquie Manning.

The winning sculpture, and all of this year's finalists, representing a rich tapestry of artistic innovation and hailing from every Australian state and territory as well as overseas, are now on display at Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf. The free exhibition runs until 20 October 2024, with all sculptures on sale to the public.

The exhibition marks the final project at the gallery for Gallery Director Pippa Mott ahead of her move to WAMA, The National Centre for Environmental Art, due to open in the Grampians in 2025. “It’s been tremendously fun to produce something a bit more experimental in terms of exhibition design,” said Mott. “We’ve made no attempt to tame the heterogeneity of our finalist works. Audiences will encounter rambunctious clustered displays and industrial exhibition furnishings, running counter to the genteel order of our heritage setting.”

On Saturday 21 September the Gallery will present a program of artist talks, featuring Andrew Lavery, Kirsty Collins, Grace Lee and Karen Black in conversation with Danielle Robson, Bonnie Cowan and Benjamin Clay.

Over the course of the exhibition, artists Kien Situ and Minka Gillian will deliver workshops, and UAP will present a special panel discussion on Professionalising Your Practice in the Public Sphere.

Media Contact:
Jadan Carroll
jadan@commonstate.co
0405 818 120

Media Release: Winner of the 23rd Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize

Find out more about the 2024 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize