Fleurieu Art Prize

The Fleurieu Art Prize was established in 1998, in South Australia. Named after the Fleurieu Peninsula, the first exhibitions were held in the venues surrounding this area.[4] Over the years, the prize has undergone multiple name changes and has been referred to as the Fleurieu Biennale Art Prize. Founders of the prize include artist David Dridan, vigneron Greg Trott, and businessman Tony Parkinson.[5] Upon its founding, the Prize was funded and supported by major local wineries and other local, South Australian businesses.[6]

Between 1998 and 2018, the prize was awarded ten times. The most recent award was given to two artists; James Tylor and Laura Willis for their painting Hidden Landscapes: Kangaroo Island.[7] These artists received a monetary prize of $25,000 (AUD) for their collaborative work. In 2016, Tony Albert was awarded $65,000 (AUD) for his wall installation The Hand You're Dealt, making the Fleurieu Art Prize the richest landscape prize in the world for that year.[8] Similarly, in 2016 the Prize was awarded in conjunction with the community-run festival exhibition, the Fleurieu Food + Wine Art Prize. The FF + WAP award requirements stipulated "any paintings with a food and wine theme"[9] were eligible for a non-acquisitive prize of $10,000 Australian dollars as well as consequent exposure during the community exhibit made in concurrence with the Fleurieu Art Prize exhibition. At the Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art in Adelaide, along with the Fleurieu Art Prize winner Tony Albert, Fran Callen received the Fleurieu Food + Wine Art Prize for her painting Tabletop 1.[10]

The Fleurieu Art Prize has grown in prestige and cultural value over the years since its founding, bringing great financial value for the local McLaren Vale area, and ultimately South Australia as a whole.[11] The Fleurieu Art Prize garners widespread attention from aspiring Australian visual artists, generating traffic towards the exhibitions and community-run festivals held in the McLaren Vale region. This popularity reaps economic and cultural benefits for both artists and the community; the artists are able to showcase their work to a large audience of their peers and a panel of critics, enabling further exposure around their artistry and helping to build a positive reputation for their careers, attracting further inflow of clients.[12] Similarly, the winning artists are awarded non-acquisitive financial prizes, and time to exhibit their work in local galleries, which is a crucial support to new, local artists. Furthermore, the community is able to benefit economically in numerous ways, as the Prize incentivises local news and social media coverage, promoting tourism for South Australia, enabling visitors and participants to directly contribute to local businesses. Similarly, official pamphlets, brochures, flyers and newsletters associated with the Prize promote small and major businesses, creating more income for the local economy.[13]

However, the Prize also holds cultural value in that the central themes imposed on the artworks invite an appreciation of Australian lifestyle, landscapes, and customs. Hence, appropriate to its growth in participation and viewership, the Prize has become an inextricable thread in the fabric of the South Australian community, with business owners and artists alike relying on the award for their incomes, their careers, and to be reminded of their Australian patriotism.[14]

In 2020 the Fleurieu Art Prize made plans to return to McLaren Vale for its 21st Anniversary with the theme 'Of the Earth' and two non-acquisitive prizes of $20,000. [21] However, due to COVID-19 complications regarding restrictions on the number of people able to enter the gallery at a time, the significant financial strain on artists, and local, supporting businesses the Fleurieu Biennale organisation decided to cancel the 2020 Prize and intend to make a decision about its possible 2022 return by the end of June 2021.[22]

• Official site