By Andrew Paloczi
BERRYS Creek artist Melanie Caple is one of three judges selecting this year’s John Leslie Art Prize winner, with the recipient to earn $20,000.
The outcome will be announced this Friday, September 9 at Sale’s Gippsland Art Gallery, where the John Leslie exhibition is held.
While entries must be landscape works, they can be realistic or abstract in nature.
John Leslie OBE was passionate about the arts and Gippsland, and the acquisitive prize named in his honour as Patron of the Gippsland Art Gallery is awarded every two years, having begun in the year 2000.
After John passed away in 2016, the support of the John Leslie Foundation has enabled the continuation of the prize.
Melanie is an associate curator at the Gippsland Art Gallery, having begun there last year when awarded a contract to stage the visiting Archibald Prize exhibition.
“That involved managing it from a project manager perspective, but also working with the Art Gallery of New South Wales and bringing the exhibition (to Gippsland) and staging it,” Melanie said.
That project occupied most of last year, with Melanie more recently co-curating a Gippsland Art Gallery exhibition titled Fragile Earth.
“It was lovely to be asked to stay on to be part of the John Leslie,” she said.
Art historian, writer and curator Dr Sheridan Palmer and Gippsland Art Gallery director Simon Gregg are the other judges of the John Leslie Art Prize.
The trio of judges were charged with the responsibility of selecting 50 finalists from 455 entries.
“It was really difficult,” Melanie said of the task.
“We did it remotely, looking at images of the works, and we didn’t know the artists’ details.”
Melanie said while everyone is naturally more attracted to some works than others, the key to judging is restricting one’s subjective views as much as possible and judging each work on its merits.
She believes the works of selected finalists provide a great showcase of the high-quality entries received.
While the finalists include a mix of interstate and Victorian artists, a second non-acquisitive prize of $1,000 will be won by a Gippsland artist.
The John Leslie Art Prize exhibition of finalists runs until November 27, with Melanie encouraging Gippslanders to come and enjoy the high quality and varied works.
