‘Fountain’ of aluminium wins prize in paddock

A GATEWAY   of seemingly windswept aluminium tendrils exploding from two existing tree stumps has won of the $2000 Sculpture in the Paddock Award for 2015, it was announced last night at Cooma Cottage by director of Canberra Museum and Gallery Shane Breynard, before an estimated crowd of 500.

Breynard, along with Monika McInerney creative program director at Belconnen Arts Centre and this writer, was a judge at the annual outdoor awards, and presented the winning artist, Dan Moor, with a cheque to the value of $2000 from the exhibition committee and a glass artwork created by Peter Minson Artglass of Binalong.

“Fountain” was created by Dan Moor, who also won last year’s Tuggeranong Arts Centre’s exhibition award at Sculpture in the Paddock and who is known for exploring kinetic and interactive sculpture to give an unusual perspective on the environment. Until September 26, his work “The Juggler of Gravity,” especially imagined for TAC, can be seen in its Gallery Two. Visitors to the paddock yesterday were also intrigued by Moor’s unlikely installation of three flying sheep made from corrugated iron.

Last night Breynard also  announced Sian Watson as the winner of the inaugural $500 Yass Soldiers Club Encouragement Award for her cast aluminium cat sculpture, lithe and seemingly in motion, the judges thought.

The judges also very strongly commended Yass area artist Roger Buckman for his visual and sonic installation, “Lucy”, in which the sounds of a menacing blowfly called Lucy are audible through a built-in audio system.

Last year’s winner of Sculpture in the Paddock, Stephen Harrison, won the Tuggeranong Arts Centre’s Exhibition Award for his work “Barrel and Dagger (Macbeth)”, an unsettling sculpture of horse with knife in hoof, about to stab someone —another horse?

Co-ordinator and curator Al Phemister said that this year the award had received 30 entries, six more than last year, and that all the sculptors entering had been represented in the paddock exhibition.

In addition, Phemister drew attention to an exhibition showing inside Cooma Cottage of small sculptures created by year 9 and year 10 students from Yass High School, the result of workshops with contributing sculptors Andy Townsend and Suzie Bleach.

Phemister said that the exhibition provided an opportunity for sculptors to match their works to the environment and that most of the sculptors had been able to secure the site of their choice in the paddock.

“Sculpture in the Paddock”, at Cooma Cottage, Yass Valley Way, Thursday 10am-8pm, Friday to Monday, 10am-4pm until October 11. Admission to paddock free, but contributions are welcome via a donation box. Visitors are eligible to vote in the People’s Choice Award.

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