Hannah Beehre wins 2016 Parkin Drawing Prize

Hannah Beehre wins 2016 Parkin Drawing Prize

Hannah Beehre from Christchurch has been announced the winner of the 2016 Parkin Drawing Prize and a $20,000 cash prize – sponsored by Chris Parkin, arts patron and philanthropist.

Hannah’s work The Catastrophe was chosen as the winner from an impressive 429 entries nationwide and 90 finalists at the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts on Tuesday 2 August.

Reflecting on the winning artwork, Jenny Harper, the judge for this year’s prize said:

"Hannah’s work is large-scale, but also exploratory. It’s a riveting rendition of an earthly catastrophe: bats, rats, frogs, and maybe a dog or a human are caught up in a primal fall. The world is malevolent, rather than sustaining. Everything and everyone is falling into an imagined abyss, some helping others, some grasping whatever they can to help break the fall. The work could go on, as intimated by the continuing roll of paper at its base. It’s got the authority of an historical Chinese scroll and the resolve of a contemporary fine artist at work, pushing herself and her medium forward."

Hannah Beehre, who was a recipient of the Highly Commended prize in last year’s Parkin Drawing Prize, is an artist and designer whose practice ranges across a variety of media, including drawing, installation, and painting. Hannah gained a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Canterbury in 2000 and was a recipient of the Olivia Spencer Bower Trust Award in 2004. In 2012 she went to Antarctica as an Artist-in-Residence.

Her works have appeared throughout New Zealand and overseas at several galleries including Jonathan Smart Gallery (Christchurch), Vavasour Godkin Gallery (Auckland), Wellington City Gallery, Blue Oyster Gallery (Dunedin), Wuhan Youth Conference Centre (China) and Frankfurter Welle (Germany).

Congratulations also to the following Merit award winners, who receive $500 each;

Duncan Anderson - Dismissed
Tom Armstrong - Pushmepullyou
Sam Harrison - Portrait
Martin Ball - Taped iii
Paul Cullen - The Auckland Plan
Karina Balea-Raitz - VII
Andre Hemer - New Tuscan Sunset Scans
Gill Newland - Three stitches and a turn
Ina Johann - Parallel Lines - mapping another life
Marie le Lievre - Hysterical memes
Donna-Marie Patterson - Floating Phantoms
Nico Karol - The Essential Prisoner

The exhibition runs until 28 August 2016 at the Academy Galleries, 1 Queens Wharf, Wellington. All the artworks are for sale giving admirers and collectors the opportunity to purchase some wonderful pieces.

Open daily from 10 am - 5 pm and entry is free - koha is appreciated.

Further information can be found on the Parkin Drawing Prize website - www.parkinprize.org.nz

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