PLHS Artists Win Port Lincoln Art Prizes

Friday January 15th, 2021

PLHS Artists Win Port Lincoln Art Prizes

We are delighted to announce that three of our Art students – Nathaniel Hirschausen-Burk, Malcolm Warrior and Dre Vlassco – won awards at last night’s official opening of the 2021 Bendigo Bank Port Lincoln Art Prize.

Nathaniel won a Youth Highly Commended Award for his three-dimensional piece entitled “Lone Tree”. Malcolm and Dre both received Youth Special Merit Awards, Malcolm for his tradigital print “My Country” and Dre for his acrylic painting “Going Our Own Way”. Their insightful practitioner’s statements can be found below.

We congratulate all three boys, their families and Art staff Ms Wanda Jarvis and Ms Jenny Silver on this wonderful recognition.

This year’s Port Lincoln Art Prize is on display at the Nautilus Arts Centre until Saturday 27^th February 2021.

“Lone Tree”
(sugar gum, raffia & acrylic)
by Nathaniel Hirschausen-Burk

I am a Wirangu/Mirning/Kaurna artist. Wirangu and Mirning country is located in a coastal strip between the Nullarbor Plain and the Great Australian Bight. Kaurna country is located in Adelaide.

My culture makes me feel strong. I am proud of what my ancestors achieved and I want to continue to honour our family name.

My personal connection to ‘The Lone Tree’ symbolises my belief in standing up strong. After years and years, the tree is still standing strong, like my culture has.

I viewed installations by Andy Goldsworthy depicting trees and nature and this influenced my use of colour. The X design was arrived at by experimenting with a wide variety of pattern making techniques. In a way it shows the destruction of traditional land and this was a subconscious decision initially.

I feel proud about how this work is resolved. I’m impressed with myself and my peers and teachers for encouraging me to try new techniques and presentation.

“My Country” (tradigital print) by Malcolm Warrior

I am a Badimaya artist. Badimaya country is located in the south west of Western Australia.

I have been exploring tradigital techniques. I created a watercolour painting of Mount Magnet where my Father’s family is from. I created a separate drawing showing the main shapes of the land and wrote a few words about how I feel about this connection to place. The watercolour painting and each of the drawings were then photographed and exported to Adobe Photoshop where I layered them over the top of each other. The image was then printed.

I have never been to this country but have heard many stories of my Dad’s experiences there. The spirits of our ancestors originated here and one day I want to go there and experience the feelings of being on my country.

“Going Our Own Way” by Dre Vlassco

(acrylic on canvas)

I am a Nauo artist. Nauo are a people of the Eyre Peninsula. The country centres around the scrub gum forest areas of the southwestern coast.

I feel strong and proud about my culture. My culture is important to me because I don’t want to forget. It is important to remember language before it is gone. It is good to connect with the land.
The broad overlaying black and white pattern of large circles unifies the overall design and meaning. ‘Going Our Own Way’ represents the animals and people living together in harmony and using the same environment. There are large tracks of the emu and kangaroo (in blue and green) exploring the land and the human footprints (in orange) hunting, walking and gathering food.