Judges for IHC Telecom Art Awards 2009
15 June 2009 The judges of this year’s IHC Telecom Art Awards, the major showcase of work by artists with intellectual disabilities, are designer Denise L’Estrange-Corbet; artists Dick Frizzell and Karl Maughan; and director of Wellington’s City Gallery Paula Savage. Entries close on 3 July.
Established in 2004, the IHC Telecom Art Awards encourage and recognise the creativity of New Zealanders with an intellectual disability. Last year’s awards attracted entries from 650 people.
Dick Frizzell first judged the IHC Telecom Art Awards in 2006. “I was delighted to find at the top end that the quality was fantastic.” He is expecting to see more top talent this time. “I am very interested in art that gets there under the wire; that gets there around those other systems of theory and intellectualisation.”
Karl Maughan says that many artists try hard to break free from their learning to express themselves. Because of this constraint, people with a disability might in fact be freer to create.
“When people are maybe struggling in other ways to connect with society, they can find a connection in art. Art comes from all kinds of places,” he says.
Regional exhibitions
The regional art exhibitions will be held in Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch during July. Members of the public will be able to view the artworks at SANDZ Gallery, Hamilton; Alpha Art Studio, Wellington; Gallery O, The Arts Centre, Christchurch. The ten finalists selected from each region will be announced in July.
Work from the 30 finalists will be exhibited at Chaffers Gallery, Wellington, from 18 September to 14 October 2009.
The awards to the four winners will be presented at a function in Wellington on Wednesday 23 September 2009 at Chaffers Dock function centre. First prize is $5000, second prize is $2000, and third and fourth place winners each receive $1000.
IHC thanks Telecom for supporting the IHC Telecom Art Awards as part of its Community Connection sponsorship programme.