Fieldays® art award celebrates innovation

24 March 2016

2015 Fieldays No.8 Wire Award winning artwork, Eye Sight, Rebecca Rose. Preview image:2016 judge Brett Graham.

Entry to the Fieldays No.8 Wire National Art Award is now open. The award, hosted by Waikato Museum, culminates in a public exhibition to coincide with the Fieldays event in June at Hamilton’s ArtsPost.

The Fieldays No.8 Wire National Art Award shows what can be achieved with Kiwi ingenuity and has attracted a wide range of entrants including farmers, established artists and art school students.

Fieldays Head of Events Lee Picken says the award celebrates innovation – a founding pillar of Fieldays and a theme for the 2016 event.

“Innovation is critical to the agricultural sector and this award represents that and the need for creative thinking and application. We look forward every year to meeting our finalists and discovering new ways of creating works from simple everyday agri-products and  No.8 wire, and innovation is at the heart of that.”

Sculptor Brett Graham will judge the Fieldays No.8 Wire National Art Award this year. Graham is considered one of New Zealand’s most exciting and accomplished sculptors, known for his ability to abstract complex historical and cultural ideas into strong and beautiful forms.

The award challenges artists to create innovative artworks using No.8 Wire. This year the criteria has been changed to encourage entrants to utilise agricultural-based materials and a minimum 50 per cent No.8 wire.

Waikato Museum Director Cherie Meecham says this year’s award has been redeveloped to streamline entry, encourage the use of agricultural materials and enhance the judging process.

“This year we have made entry easier with an accessible online entry form where entrants can upload images and video of their work for the judge to select online. This online entry form will  streamline the entry and judging process and enable ‘blind’ selection of finalists.”

The Fieldays No.8 Wire National Art Award was established by the New Zealand National Fieldays Society Inc.™ in 1997 and is partnered by Waikato Museum and ArtsPost.

The winners of the Fieldays No.8 Wire National Art Award will be announced on Thursday 2 June at ArtsPost, part of the Waikato Museum arts precinct on Victoria Street, Hamilton. A free public exhibition will be held at ArtsPost from Friday 3 June to Monday 27 June, 2016.

2016 competition details
First prize: $7,000
Second prize: $1,000
Third prize: $500
President’s choice:$100

Read the competition criteria and access the entry form here.

Entries close: Wednesday 11 May 2016
Finalists notified: Thursday 19 May 2016
Winners announced/Award ceremony: Thursday 2 June 2016
Exhibition: Friday 3 June to Monday 27 June 2016
Venue: ArtsPost Galleries and Shop, 120 Victoria Street, Hamilton.

For more information contact:

Louise Belay
Waikato Museum Partnerships and Communications Manager
07 838 6956
021 536 557
louise.belay@hcc.govt.nz