WESTERN Australia’s isolation is a powerful source of inspiration for many local artists, but building a national profile can be a costly exercise when you live on the western edge of our vast continent.
WESTERN Australia’s isolation is a powerful source of inspiration for many local artists, but building a national profile can be a costly exercise when you live on the western edge of our vast continent.
The cost of shipping work across the country for high-profile competitions such as the Archibald Prize prevents many Perth artists from gaining invaluable exposure.
It was an inequity that shocked artist Tina Wilson, who came to Perth 13 years ago after leaving Sydney and a career as an illustrator.
But it was a chance meeting with former Labor premier Brian Burke that convinced Ms Wilson to set up not-for-profit ARTrinsic and establish a prestigious portrait prize in WA.
Mr Burke initially commissioned Ms Wilson to paint a portrait of his grandson, and ended up agreeing to sit for a portrait for the prestigious Archibald.
What started out as a tiny portrait ended up a huge 2.5 by 2.5-metre canvas that took four months to complete.
The shipping bill for the work came to $1,500, which convinced Ms Wilson Perth artists needed a local competition with national profile.
So with no business experience and no understanding of the work required to develop such a competition, Ms Wilson took the first steps to establish what is now one of the richest art prizes in the country – The City of Perth Black Swan Prize for Portraiture.
The City of Perth agreed to host the first show, a retrospective of WA Archibald entrants in 2007, in its town hall and, after thousands of visitors turned out for the event, the council took naming rights and agreed to wind-up its two art prizes and redirect that money into the Black Swan.
“I wasn’t really thinking of doing a portrait prize, I just thought we’d have a little exhibition and maybe a few hundred people will turn up,” Ms Wilson told WA Business News.
“But then thousands of people turned up and I thought maybe this is something we could do every year.”
But dreams still need funding, and with few contacts in the business or arts communities, Ms Wilson had no option but to hit the phone and cold call potential supporters.
The Australian Business Arts Foundation and its WA director, Henry Boston, provided support as well as valuable advice on structuring the prize.
Founding sponsor Dick Lester, from the Lester Group, committed to the first show just two weeks before it opened, on the condition that the prize money was increased from $10,000 to $15,000.
After the success of the first show, Mr Lester agreed to increase the prize money by $5,000 a year. This agreement runs for a further two years and will take the prize money from $35,000 this year to $45,000 in 2013
“What we are hoping is that we can take it over the prize money of the Archibald, which is $55,000,” Ms Wilson said.
“We were never attempting to be bigger or better than any of the portrait prizes, what we were hoping to do was give the community the opportunity to see incredible art work here in WA.”
The exhibition this year will, for the first time, include a small showcase of digital works Ms Wilson hopes will develop into a stand-alone digital show in coming years.
“For me it is all about bringing art to the community,” she said.