2024 Up2Date Art Exhibition a huge success

Coolamon Shire’s Yield Festival kicked off last Friday night at the Up-to-Date Store with a almost 400 people in attendance for a fantastic opening night event.  The winning entries for the Up2Date Art Exhibition and Capture Coolamon Photographic Competition being announced.   Yield Festival will continue throughout the month of September with a significant increase in visitors to the Coolamon Shire expected.   As an added bonus, cartoonist David Green was on hand for the opening weekend to draw caricatures of visitors to the exhibition.

Local Artist Owen Hawthorn took out the Beyond Bank Open Art Prize with his art work ‘Dragon’s Eye’.   Exhibition Judge, Yianni Johns commented on the clever use of material and noted that the piece captured and held  a viewer’s eye anywhere in the room.   The winner Veterans Art Prize, sponsored by the Coolamon RSL Sub Branch was Michael Morgan for his work, ‘Sands of Time’.   The themed section of this year’s art exhibition asked artist to submit works that visualised the theme ‘Good Times’.   Goolgowi artist Donna Brown took home the prize for her work, ‘On the Back’  The Coolamon Shire Council Acquisition Prize is awarded annually with the winning artwork being purchased by Coolamon Shire Council and added to Councils art collection.   Tauriel Payton was awarded the Primary School Prize for her outstanding entry ‘Beautiful Days’ while Benjamin Mearns to out the High School section with ‘Skyhawk – Go’, The winning entry is displayed in the Coolamon Library for 12 months before being permanently located in an appropriate location in a Council facility in the shire.  The 2024 Acquisition Prize was awarded to Cathy Roberts for her ‘Bend of the Lane’.

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