Auckland based artist Sonja Drake is the winner of the prestigious 2024 Walker & Hall Waiheke Art Award. The $10,000 non-acquisitive prize was announced at the Gala Award Ceremony event at Waiheke Community Art Gallery on Saturday 19 October.

Drake writes of her work titled Drawn in Sediment‘We shape the world in ways visible and invisible. There is a woundedness above and below the surface of the land. In the waterways, aquifers, the sea, and the bird, insect, plant, and animal life, human impact on our environment is not separate from us; it is part of us.’

A total of 141 entries were received from across Aotearoa, with 34 works selected for the finalists’ exhibition.

This year’s selector and judge was Mary-Louise Browne. Browne writes of the selection.

'The finalists have provided us with a wonderful mix of works reflecting different sensibilities and it was no easy task to settle on the category winners. A good many of them we could say were second equal in all four categories. Art competitions have always opened to mixed reviews but hopefully viewers can look beyond this and see the inclusive spirit that underlies the exhibition. From its beginnings the Walker & Hall Award has encouraged a sense of objectivity to all the styles that at any moment make up the totality of contemporary art. The richness of the artists investigations indicates that some of the right questions are being asked at the right time resulting in a robust cross section of ideas and artworks.’
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more..https://artnow.nz/news/auckland-artist-wins-the-prestigious-2024-walker-hall-waiheke-art-award​

 I'm excited that my artwork, Drawn in Sediment, has been selected as one of 33 finalists, out of 141 entries for the Walker and Hall Art Awards opening at the Waiheke Community Art Gallery Gallery on Friday 18 October, at 6pm.
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Judged by Mary-Louise Browne, the winners will be announced at the event on Saturday 19 October
Exhibition catalogue will be posted on line at the start of the show:  www.waihekeartgallery.org.nz and I'll post my work here at that time : )

I'm running a workshop on painting en plein air - details below

Details:
Join 'This Place' artist, Sonja Drake, painting en plein air
Date and time
This Place Workshop
Saturday 25 February 2023
2 hours: 10 am to 12 pm

Join 'This Place' artist, Sonja Drake, painting en plein air. Encouraging you to draw on all of your senses, Sonja will take you through a process of conversation, observation and experimentation as you create your own visual story relating to the landscape around you.
more info here: www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/this-place-workshop

​Venue: The Maketu Cemetery Car Park,Pratts Rd.
Ōpaheke, Ramarama

Highly regarded kaumatua, poet, painter, and orator Haare Williams presents a talk on the history of Te Maketu Pa, Pukekohe and the wider South area.
The Exhibition ‘This Place’ is the jumping off point for a passionate exploration of the history of this site. Haare Williams (Te Aitanga-a-Mahaki, Rongowhakata and Tuhoe) grew up on the shores of the Ohiwa Harbour near Ōpōtiki living with his grandparents in the traditional Māori way, not learning English until the age of eight when he began his schooling.

Williams is a teacher, artist and broadcaster who has made a significant contribution throughout his career to bettering the educational, social, and cultural outcomes of Māori. In 2022 he was recognised by his appointment as a knight (KNZM) for services to Māori, literature, and education.
In the arts he is a published poet and painter and has exhibited in both solo and group exhibitions and has recently released a book of poetry, Haare Williams Words of a Kaumātua.
thanks to the Franklin Arts Centre, more info here​: www.facebook.com/events/