Monday, October 06, 2014

New England artist Anna Henderson wins the Norvill prize

On 24 September in Musings on a visit to Armidale – art and all that stuff. I featured in part Anna Henderson Drover's Ridge Novill 2014 Art prizethe art of Anna Henderson that was on display at the New England Regional Art Museum.  

You can understand then why I was pleased to learn that Anna had won the 2014 $15,000 Norvill Art Prize held in Murrurundi, in New England’s  Upper Hunter.This is a shot of her in front of her painting "Drover's Ridge".

I see that Murrundi now bills itself as the "artistic village". I don’t have a problem with that. It’s part of the process of change that has seen the rise of other centres such as Bellingen or Byron Bay. That said, I would like to see more differentiation, more focus on the differences between, New England centres.

I was excited to see Anna’s paintings in part because of their apparent locale. They form part of the evolving tapestry that marks the emergence of a differentiated art. Few if any artists would see themselves in that way, After all, the New England that I write about does not exist in any formal sense. But, standing back, I can see it.

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