Art Awards
City of Belmont Art Awards
The Art Awards provide a special opportunity for our community to connect and engage with the Arts, and celebrate the City of Belmont as a place of creativity and culture.
Each year the City invites artists across the state to submit their artwork, welcoming a variety of artistic mediums and styles including drawings, paintings, photography, textiles, sculptures and ceramics. The Awards are open to artists of all ages, featuring a diverse mix of youth, emerging talent and established art professionals.
Held over two weeks, they showcase the talent in our local community and broader arts sector, while supporting artists to create new works that ignite the imagination, tell our unique stories, and foster connections.
The event aspires to be innovative, creative, and progressive. Art is a great connector, helping us understand different perspectives and build bridges, while contributing to the health, wellbeing, and general life satisfaction of our residents.
Awards
All entries are reviewed by a Selection Panel, where up to 300 works are selected to participate in the Awards. This includes a selection of artworks by youth and emerging artists, local Belmont artists as well as experienced and professional artists.
The Awards include six categories, plus Highly Commended Awards and the self-nominated Mentorship Prize. The participating artworks are then carefully considered by independant judges to determine the winners.
2024 Art Awards winners
Judges: Di Cubitt, Karen Morgan
Selection Panelists: Aimee Dodds (Collections Copyright and Reproductions Officer at AGWA, arts writer and co-founder of Dispatch Review), Mark Parfitt (Major Lead in Fine Art, Curtin University), Andy Quilty (Independent artist and arts worker, lecturer in Fine Arts at UWA)
Read more about the 2024 Art Awards
Erin Knight, 'Inside'
Medium: Acrylic, oil, collage, silkscreen on board
Judges' comments:
The work is a pleasing composition, with a quality exploration of mixed media. The artwork is to be commended for its complex layering and juxtaposition of introspective elements and symbols.
The work explores a tension between the prickly and the soft, and the artist has considered a dance amongst elements that are both recognisable and familiar. The more you look at it, the more you get drawn in. It holds you for a long time and invites you to come back and find more.
Prize: Artwork welcomed into the City of Belmont Civic Art Collection with a $10,000 prize
Janice Oliver, 'My Life in Ruins: Up in Smoke!'
Medium: Eco etched intaglio print on reinforced plaster
Judges' comments:
The judges commended the artists for taking risks in the creation of this work, and were struck by the use of material which is both experimental and explorative, connecting back to the artist’s rural roots and the theme of the artwork. There is a dark energy to the work.
Prize: $1,000 cash prize
Tania Smith, 'Macaranda Celebration'
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Judges' comments: This artwork celebrates the spirit of Belmont in 3 distinct ways; The past, reflecting our rich history and heritage, the future, filled with potential and hope, and the present, sowing a city that is thriving and growing together.
Prize: $500 cash prize
Shae Libbis, 'Sober Thoughts'
Medium: Graphite on paper
Judges' comments:
Exquisite. We were drawn to the stillness and the emotion captured by the highly skilled use of drawing. It is a strong composition that is beautifully balanced. It is pensive and deeply reflective.
Prize: $500 cash prize
Luke De Guzman, 'Rhythms of the Concrete Jungle'
Medium: Silkscreen print
Judges' comments:
The judges were drawn to the layering of the mixed media, and the currency of the statement ‘lost’ for some youth. They enjoyed the mark making, and the hidden elements within the paint plate in the background.
Prize: $500 cash prize
Boada Hernandez, 'Legacy of Resilience'
Medium: Digital paint, matte painting
Judges' comments: Compelling and repelling. The work is uneasy and highly skilled in the use of its media. There are hidden depths, and the gaze searches to your core, requiring you to explore the work further and further.
Prize: $250 Jacksons Drawing Supplies Voucher courtesy of Jacksons Drawing Supplies
Lucy Kyaw Maung, 'Parrot'
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Judges' comments:
The work is fun and playful. It is raw in its execution. A joyful little painting.
Prize: $250 Jacksons Drawing Supplies Voucher courtesy of
Jacksons Drawing Supplies
Anne Farrell, 'The Moth'
Medium: Oil on board
Artist Anne Farrell will receive mentorship from professional Western Australian Artist Kevin Robertson.
Jessica Mithen, 'Denial'
Medium: Pencil on paper
Prize: $500 cash prize
Emerging artist Jessica Mithen is the winner of the Popular Choice Award for the 2024 Belmont Art Awards.
Jessica Mithen’s artwork ‘Denial’ is a Pencil on Paper drawing based around the idea of receiving bad news over the telephone.
Di Cubitt
Di Cubitt grew up in the UK before migrating to Australia in 1987. She has lived and worked in Perth since 1990, graduating from Curtin University with a Bachelors (Hons) Visual Arts in 2007. Cubitt currently works as a Sessional Lecturer (Painting and Drawing) at Curtin University. She has held 5 solo exhibitions, taken part in over 50 group shows, and is a recipient of several Art awards and two Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries grants. In January 2024 Cubitt’s work was included in a group exhibition in Singapore as part of Singapore Art week. Her work is held in several collections including Curtin University, City of Belmont, and St John of God Health Services. Cubitt is represented in Perth by Stala contemporary.
Karen Morgan
Karen Morgan has had an extensive career in the WA Arts industry for over 28 years. Holding a Bachelor of Visual Arts and Project Development, she has been a former career lecturing in Arts training and assessment through North West Regional TAFE Broome; Arts in Health project coordinator, St John of Gods Hospital, Mt Lawley; Arts in Community services, Communicare Mandurah; and the Noongar Arts Program Coordinator at Bunbury Regional Art Gallery. Morgan is currently a practicing artist in the Peel region of the southwest, professionally mentoring and freelancing in the Arts. Morgan has been the recipient of art award in the Kimberley regions, and successfully worked on numerous community and public art projects.
The Exhibition
Held in The Glasshouse, the free two-week exhibition provides an opportunity for the community to explore the artworks, engage with the community, and purchase a work of art of their own.
The Art Awards attract the interest of a broad cross section of the community including WA Artists, local residents, youth and arts patrons.
Public Programs
The Art Award Public Programs deliver a range of educational, informative and fun sessions leading up to and during the exhibition.
In the lead up and during the application entry period, the City delivers an Education Program Series featuring informative sessions and workshops.
The workshops are designed to provide professional development opportunities for emerging artits, expand their skillsets, and help them prepare competitive applications for the Art Awards.
Workshops and Accessibility Tours are run during the exhibition period to provide professional development opportunities for emerging artists, and to encourage greater appreciation of the works on display.
Mentorship Award
The Mentorship Award sees an established, WA based professional artist provide mentorship to the Mentorship Award winner.
The Mentorship Award is designed to aid the creative, educational, and professional development of the award winner through feedback, advice and assistance from the Mentor.
Via the Art Awards application form, applicants can nominate themselves for consideration for the Mentorship Award.
Learn more about the Mentorship Award
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. All artworks must have been created in the last year and not previously exhibited.
2D artworks are a maximum size of 100cm x 100cm and 3D artworks are max 50x50x 50cm
All artworks are for sale and the City of Belmont charges a 25% commission on the sale of all artworks. It is optional for artists aged 11 to 17 to have their work for sale.
No. The City is limiting the number of entries into the award and all entries will be reviewed by a Selection Panel with artists being advised if they have been accepted into the award.
The City of Belmont Art Award aims to provide artists of all abilities and experience the opportunity to participate in a community exhibition that celebrates the creative talents of local and WA artists.
The City does not charge an entry fee to participate in the Award, and in order to manage the logistics of exhibiting the Award it implements a selection process to refine applications to a maximum of 300 artists to be accepted into the award.
Whilst there is no curatorial theme, the selection process aims to include a selection of artworks by youth and emerging artists, local Belmont artists as well as experienced and professional artists.
The award is judged by two independent arts professionals who are experts in the field.
The first prize is a $10,000 acquisitive award, with the winning work coming into the City of Belmont Civic Art Collection. The remaining prizes are non-acquisitive and will be available for sale throughout the exhibition.