The churchie emerging art prize, formerly the churchie national emerging art prize and also known informally as the churchie, is a national Australian non-acquisitive art award and art exhibition, established in 1987.

History

The award was established in 1987 as an initiative of the

Anglican Church Grammar School The Anglican Church Grammar School (ACGS), formerly the Church of England Grammar School and commonly referred to as Churchie, is an independent, Anglican, day and boarding school for boys, located in East Brisbane, an inner suburb of Brisbane, ...

in Brisbane (known as "Churchie"). Brand + Slater Architects became the major prize sponsors from around 1998. From 2010, the finalists were exhibited in the

Griffith University Art Gallery The Queensland College of Art (QCA) is a specialist arts and design college located in South Bank, Brisbane, and Southport on the Gold Coast of Queensland in Australia. Founded in 1881, the college is the oldest arts institution in Australia. ...

(GUAG) at the

Queensland College of Art The Queensland College of Art (QCA) is a specialist arts and design college located in South Bank, Brisbane, and Southport on the Gold Coast of Queensland in Australia. Founded in 1881, the college is the oldest arts institution in Australia. A ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. Its name was at that time "the churchie national emerging art prize". GUAG established a partnership with the school, and staff members from the school sat on the Emerging Art Committee as well as developing educational materials to complement the exhibition, aimed at school-age students. Since 2019 and , the

Institute of Modern Art The Institute of Modern Art (IMA) is a public art gallery located in the Judith Wright Arts Centre in the Brisbane inner-city suburb of Fortitude Valley, which features contemporary artworks and showcases emerging artists in a series of group an ...

has hosted the awards.

Description

Its aim is to help develop the careers of emerging artists. This term refers to artists who already have a body of work and some profile as an artist, but "not yet fully established in their artistic career". All finalists' work is displayed at the gallery in a curated exhibition. it has a prize pool of , with the major prize of sponsored by BSPN Architecture. There is also a People's Choice Award of (), decided by visitors to the exhibition of the work of all finalists at the end of the exhibition run. All work in the exhibition is available for sale.

Past events and winners

*2012: Guest judge Maura Reily **Major Prize Winner – Heath Franco **Highly Commended –

Agatha Gothe-Snape Agatha Gothe-Snape (born 1980) is an Australian artist who lives and works in Sydney, Australia. Her works range from digital slide presentations to performances to works on paper and, more recently, collaborative sound installations. A number of ...

**Highly commended – Sam Cranstoun **Highly commended – Genevieve Kemarr Loy *2013: Guest judge

Roslyn Oxley Roslyn Oxley is an Australian gallerist and art dealer. With her husband Tony Oxley, she owns and operates Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, which opened in March 1982 with an exhibition by Gareth Sansom. In January 2013, Roslyn Oxley, together with Tony ...

; Peter McKay, Curator of

QAGOMA The Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, colloquially known as QAGOMA, is an art museum in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It consists of the Queensland Art Gallery (QAG), which is the main building, and a second gallery, the Ga ...

, was on the finalists committee. Only 32 finalists were selected and included in the exhibition at GUAG, which was the smallest ever number until then. **Major prize – Amy Tam (aka Liberté Grace), for her video ''The Perfect Boy Myth (version 1)'' **commended – Becc Orszag, for three drawings **commended – Annika Koops, for her photograph ''Sissy'' *2014: Guest judge

Alexie Glass-Kantor Alexie Glass-Kantor (née Glass) is an Australian artist and gallery director. she is the Executive Director of Artspace Visual Arts Centre in Sydney. Early life and education Alexie Glass was born in Sydney, New South Wales Glass-Kantor recei ...

, Executive Director of

ARTSPACE Visual Arts Centre Artspace, officially Artspace Visual Arts Centre, formerly stylised ARTSPACE Visual Arts Centre, is a leading international residency-based contemporary art centre, housed in the historic Gunnery Building in Woolloomooloo, fronting Sydney Harbo ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

; 42 finalists *2015:

Michaela Gleave Michaela Gleave (born 1980) is a Sydney-based Australian conceptual artist best known for her use of light and her monumental site specific art works engaging with space, time and matter. She was a 2012-2013 artist-in-residence at CSIRO Astronom ...

*2016: Guest judge Kelly Gellatly, Director of the

Ian Potter Museum of Art The Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne in Melbourne, Australia was established in 1972. It houses the art collection of the University of Melbourne. Current director, Kelly Gellatly, was appointed in 2013. It is not to be con ...

at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

*2021: Guest judge

Rhana Devenport Rhana Jean Devenport (born 1960) is an Australian-born art curator and museum professional. She was director of the Auckland Art Gallery from 2013 to 2018, and is director of the Art Gallery of South Australia in Adelaide. Early life Devenpor ...

, Director of the

Art Gallery of South Australia The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...

; exhibition curated by Grace Herbert. **Major prize () – Nina Sanadze,

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

-born artist now living in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, for ''Apotheosis'', s sculptural work **Special Commendation Prize () – Kyra Mancktelow, based in Brisbane **Commendation () – Riana Head-Toussaint, based in Sydney **Commendation () – Visaya Hoffie, based in Brisbane

References

External links

*{{official, http://churchieemergingart.com/ Australian art awards 1987 establishments in Australia