Camden Art Prize, a new exhibition at the Alan Baker Art Gallery celebrates a local instution

Great idea

In 1975, a new addition to the Camden artistic landscape promised to be a hub of creativity and a testament to our community’s continued growth and appreciation of art. The event was the Camden Art Prize.

New exhibition

The Alan Baker Art Gallery has launched a new exhibition, the ‘Camden Art Collection, ‘ which displays the winners of the Camden Art Prize.

Hanging in Galleries 2, 3 and 4 are artworks from the Camden Art Collection. The catalogue states

This collection is made up of over 200 artworks acquired over 46 years, including paintings, works on paper, sculpture and photo media. The works featured include acquisitive Camden Art Prize winners and gifted works from 1975 to 1987.

The Camden Art Prize was an acquisitive art prize from its foundation. It aimed to create a Camden Art Collection and has been successful in that goal.

Arts festival

The Camden Art Prize was initiated by two ‘fellow art enthusiasts’, artist Bob Baker and Camden mayor Bruce Ferguson, who were joined by others to form the Camden Festival of Art Exhibition Committee in 1974. (Catalogue)

A public meeting was held in February 1974, and a committee was formed comprising Bruce Ferguson, president, Nancy Freestone, Margaret Bowring, Liz Kernohan, Bob Baker, Ken Rorke, and George Daley.  The committee presidents have included: Bruce Ferguson 1974-1979, Gaylene Feld 1980-1983, Margaret Bowring 1984-1986, John Brown 1987-1989, Frank Brooking 1990-1992, Robert Rofe 1993-1994 and more. Up to 1994, the longest-serving committee member was Liz Kernohan. (Fry-Smith 1994)

First exhibition

The first exhibition prize was held in 1975 in the Camden Municipal Council Chambers with the support of sponsorship from local individuals, businesses, Camden Municipal Council, and a grant from the Australian Government’s Australia Council of the Arts, now Creative Australia (2023).

The first Camden Art Prize launched the 1975 Camden Arts Festival in April. Other events on the festival calendar included a hospital fair, film evening, band concerts, organ recital, ball, theatre production, chess competition and choral recital. (Fry-Smith 1994)

The art prize had six classes: open, traditional landscape, still life, open sculpture, portrait and local landscape. (Fry-Smith 1994)

The acquisitive prize was chosen from the open section, and the judge in 1975 for the first three sections was Copenhagen-born artist and Fellow of the Royal Art Society Alan Hansen. Commercial artist and interior decorator Margot Lewers judged the sculpture and portrait sections. The local landscape section was judged by local artist Alan Baker. (Fry-Smith 1994)

Notable artists

The Camden Art Prize has had many notable artists as judges. Alan Hansen and Margot Lewers were judges again in 1977, along with sculptor Tom Bass. In 1978, landscape artist Lloyd Rees judged the prize, and the Australia Water Colour Institute president, Fred Bates, judged in 1978, 1979, and 1983. (Fry-Smith 1994)

In 1975, artists were restricted to one entry in the open section and two entries in other sections, and there was no entry fee. A total of 148 works were hung in the council chambers (Fry-Smith 1994). No hanging screens were available for the first exhibition, so they were borrowed from Ashfield Council. A surplus in 1976 allowed the committee to buy screens for hanging.

Dignatories

The 1975 exhibition was opened by Bruce le Compte, project officer at the Australia Council’s first Visual Arts Board (Sanders, ANU). In later years, a variety of dignitaries opened the art prize exhibition, and they included: in 1978, the Premier of NSW, Neville Wran; renowned landscape artist Lloyd Rees in 1977; businesswoman and philanthropist Lady Mary Fairfax in 1979, 1983, 1986; Director of the National Gallery of Australia James Mollison in 1984; in 1987 actor, theatre director, and theatre manager John Bell; the Minister for the Arts in the Fahey Liberal State Government Peter Collins in 1993; the Member for Camden in the NSW Legislative Assembly Dr Elizabeth (Liz) Kernohan in 1989; Chancellor of the University of Western Sydney Sir Ian Turbott in 1992; and 1990 Kathryn Greiner social advocate and wife of the Premier of NSW Nick Greiner. (Fry-Smith 1994)

The art prize became the Camden Municipal Art Exhibition in 1982 after many years as part of the Camden Arts Festival. The opening of the new civic centre allowed the move from the council chambers to the new venue, which had much more space in 1982. (Fry-Smith 1994)

Retrospective

A major artist retrospective in the foyer was held in 1984, and works displayed included Russell Drysdale, Lloyd Rees, John Coburn, Max Dupain, John Cato, Fred Bates, Brian Stratton, Alan Baker, Bob Baker, David Moore, and Salvatore Zefferelli. The foyer exhibition established a new trend, and exhibitions have included tributes, quilts, invited artists, graduate artists, and retrospectives. (Fry-Smith 1994).

The art exhibition was renamed the Camden Art Prize in 1985, and the photography section was added in 1989.

In 1986, 46 acquired artworks were handed over to the Camden Municipal Council and displayed in the civic centre’s auditorium and gallery. By 1994, this had increased to 64 artworks.

The Camden Art Collections Exhibition is at the Alan Baker Art Gallery, Macaria Building, 37 John Street, Camden. The exhibition opened in May and runs until November 2024.

References

Anne E Sanders, The Mildura Sculpture Triennials 1961 – 1978: an interpretative history. PhD Thesis, ANU, 2009.

Catalogue Camden Art Collections, Alan Baker Art Gallery, Camden, 2024.

Dinah Fry-Smith, Camden Art Prize XXth Anniversary 1975-1994. Camden Art Prize Committee, Camden, 1994.

Updated 23 May 2024. Originally posted on 21 May 2024 as ‘Camden Art Prize, an acquisitive collection in the local artistic landscape’.