Four months ago, organisers doubted whether the biennial Visual Arts in the Valley festival would go ahead - but this year's event, held in the Kangaroo Valley over the October long weekend, turned out to be the biggest so far.
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More than 1300 people came to the festival. Almost $100,000 worth of artworks were sold, including $33,000 worth by local artists - more than three times as much as at the previous festival in 2018, and, organisers say, an almost unheard-of figure for any previous art event in the South Coast or Southern Highlands.
"It was extraordinarily successful," Gary Moore, the festival's director, said. "Way, way, way beyond our dreams!"
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Organisers, Mr Moore said, only decided on June 21 that the festival would go ahead.
"Even at that point, it was hard to tell whether artists would respond or not; whether buyers would be available, interested, and able to come. Those were the sorts of imponderables that faced us. Even the budget that I submitted to my board had very low expectations of numbers of entries and amount of sale."
But locals wanted to help and support the festival, , Mr Moore said. Sixty-five volunteers worked before, during, and after the exhibition. All the prize money came from local residents. Mr Moore had hoped for $10,000; locals donated more than $18,000. "That far exceeded our expectations!"
The festival, Mr Moore said, had become a national event without losing its local and regional flavour.
Four years ago, Mr Moore said, the festival was strictly a local show for Kangaroo Valley artists, with perhaps a handful of Highlands and South Coast works. This year, entries were received from artists in the Kangaroo Valley, the Highlands, and the South Coast, but also from across NSW. Fifteen per cent of entries came from interstate.
There was a great diversity of art on display, Mr Moore said. Works ranged from the avant-garde and confronting to the traditional. Some artists were still in high school, others were senior citizens. The festival was also ethnically diverse.
Jane Cush, former director of the Goulburn Regional Art Gallery, selected the 120 finalists to be displayed from among more than 600 artworks. Another 65 semi-finalists were exhibited online. Sydney gallery owners Damien Minton and Brenda May judged the pieces.
Bowral artist Tony Ameneiro won the Kangaroo Valley Art Prize ($6000) for his print, Nattai River Landscape. Amala Groom was Highly Commended ($2000) for her video The Visibility of Blackness, and Catherine O'Donnell was Commended for her charcoal drawing Torn #2.
A new section, the Salon of Local Artists, displayed the works of Kangaroo Valley practitioners - "Part of our commitment to the Valley artists to make sure they were recognised and seen," Mr Moore said. Alice Oppen OAM, feminist and environmentalist, donated the inaugural prize ($1500), won by Patrick Cummins for his photograph Burnt Landscape - Jacks Corner Road, showing the aftermath of the bushfire. A-F Fulgence was Commended ($500) for her oil painting Untitled #1.
The Tony White Memorial Art Prize, for emerging artists 30 or younger, was awarded to Jessica Long for her video While Away My Home Lost Colour and Sound. Orson Heidrich was Commended for his etching Winch.
Pamela Pauline received the Packing Room Prize for her collage Once Were Wildflowers, while Bronte Cormican-Jones's video Carbon Copy was the People's Choice.
An art trail took visitors to studios and galleries in Kangaroo Valley: "A treat to chat directly with artists in their studios," Mr Moore said.
Another highlight was a "very contemporary, very challenging" installation that dealt with death and dying and the bushfires that passed through the area.
All finalists are available for viewing at https://www.artsinthevalley.net.au/gallery.