There are 117 finalists from 1,616 entries for the Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize, Australia’s highest-value art prize for women.
The works are on display at Ravenswood School for Girls and the winner will be announced in May.
This year, the judges noted a trend where artists were exploring materiality and the layering of different media within their work. Many entries in the genre of abstraction, including colour field, lyrical, geometric, and minimalist pieces, were submitted.
Ravenswood Principal Anne Johnstone, who founded the prize in 2017, said: ‘We are proud that a number of our finalists have subsequently been offered national and international exhibitions and that the Ravenswood Art Prize consistently attracts significantly more entries than other leading national prizes, such as the Archibald Prize.
“The prize honours and showcases exceptional artistic talents, supporting current and future artists in their important creative endeavours, and helps give them further opportunities to express their artistic skills, immense potential and to flourish,” she added.
The exhibition of finalists will be held 11 to 26 May and showcase selected works from across Australia contending for the three prizes categories: the professional artist prize of $35,000; the emerging artist prize of $5,000, and the indigenous emerging artist prize of $5,000. There is also a people’s choice award of $2,000 and a $500 Derivan prize pack.