After a two-year absence the Goulburn Regional Art Gallery is gearing up for one of its biggest nights of the year and it's set to feature some Highlanders.
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The gallery will host the 2022 Goulburn Art Award on Friday (May 13) which will also see the opening of two new exhibitions by Tallong artist Heath Nock and fellow local Tina Milson respectively.
Entries must be from within a 120km radius of Goulburn resulting in artists from the Southern Highlands, Canberra and even the South Coast putting their hands, or rather canvases, up.
It will be the first time since 2019 the awards night has been open to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gallery Education officer Sally O'Neill said staff we're thrilled to see things return to normal ahead of the institution's showpiece event.
"We're expecting a lot of the finalists to actually come along, we've had a lot of RSVP's so it will be nice to have a big crowd in our space again," she told the Southern Highland News.
"The art award is usually one of the biggest openings because everyone wants to know who won.
"We hung that award [2020] but no one could come and visit so it all went online. It's been a little while since we've had an award open to the public. We have 72 works this exhibition so it's a big one."
Judging the 2022 entrants, which also encompasses 2021, will be Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery Director Danny Lacy.
O'Neill revealed it had been quite the effort to assemble the works ahead of judging.
"We had 130 applicants so quite a big pool," she explained.
"Denny Lacey is our judge so he had a big job whittling those entries down to the finalists.
"The entry process was all online. We then collate all that information into a database which is sent to Danny to come up with finalists. He'll then judge the winners in person on Friday."
There will be plenty of locals in the mix across the three categories - the Goulburn Art Award, the award for Highly Commended and the Young Artist Award.
One category in particular, the Young Artist, will enjoy lots of Goulburn attention.
"It's quite a big region that we pull from but there are a number of very local Goulburn-based artists including three in the Young Artist Award category," O'Neill said.
If you would like to attend you must make a booking. The night kicks off at 6pm and ends at 8:30pm. This is a free event.
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