Congratulations to Emma Beer, Senior Technical Officer in the School of Art & Design, a finalist in the prestigious Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize at the Bendigo Art Gallery.

This year, Emma is one of 34 finalists in the $50,000 acquisitive art prize, the shortlist derived from more than 350 entries. The winner will be announced on November 19.

Her work, Peachtime, 2021, is a beautiful acrylic on canvas piece, part of her efforts towards staging a major exhibition of her work at the Drill Hall Gallery next year. She is investigating new ways of painting.

"I'm more or less trying to paint paintings in reverse," she said.

"Traditionally, you paint from dark to light and I'm inverting those processes so I'm using the background of the painting to generate the light. I'm just subverting traditional techniques and kind of flipping them on their head. And I'm also just experimenting with colour and different colour relationships and their impact on composition." *

Held every two years, the Athur Guy Memorial Painting Prize attracts some of Australia’s most accomplished artists, awarding a generous acquisitive cash prize of $50,000. The Prize provides Bendigo Art Gallery with the opportunity to survey contemporary painting by established and emerging artists from across Australia.

* text from The Canberra Times article, written by Megan Doherty

Visit Emma's website here.