From the Director - October 2025

Hello Everyone,

We have had such a wonderful response to this year's Sunshine Coast National Art Prize. It was lovely to meet all of the finalists who were able to join the celebrations in person and those who joined us online via our From the Artist program. We've received heartwarming feedback from the artists involved.

Congratulations to the 2025 winners – David Wells was awarded the prestigious Major Prize for his painting Dream house with galah. It's an honour to have this significant piece enter the Sunshine Coast Art Collection. Major sponsor, Argon Law, are excited to showcase the winning artwork at their premises over the next year.

Sam Harrison received the Highly Commended Award for Born Here, From There, a masterful charcoal piece. 

The community has chosen Seabastion Toast's touching painting The River House as the People's Choice Award winner.

Naomi Hobson was selected as the Artist Residency recipient for her photographic work Rare. We are looking forward to hosting Naomi and providing her with some time to focus on her art practice in the beautiful Sunshine Coast Hinterland.

On the night of the winners' announcement, judge Robert Heather shared the thinking behind the difficult decisions he had to make in selecting the prize recipients. 

"It's always a great honour to be asked to judge an award like this... Regional galleries have been a big part of my life for the past 30 years. I first started working at Cairns Regional Gallery in my 20's and have been involved with regional galleries in Cairns, Mackay and Armidale. I've worked with the Regional Galleries Association, with all of the galleries in Queensland, and that's why I was here 25 years ago when this gallery opened.

This is a very exciting time to be involved in the arts here because there is that kernel of an idea, the possibility of a new gallery. And galleries don't just pop into existence. They take time and effort and they take a lot of it, imagination and creativity. They take money, they take support and they take the involvement of the community. And I see here a community who love the arts and I really think that there's an exciting time in the future for the Sunshine Coast...

Now when you say yes to judging an art award, it's like, 'yeah, I'll just do that... Easy'. But you've got to also think of the team who culled 400 works down to the 40 we see in this room. That's a really tough job... I come in at the end and they're all hung on the walls. They've done an amazing job to bring together an exhibition that actually sings.

You know, there's some wonderful works in there. There's a whole lot of diversity. There's video works, there's photography, there's fabric, there's textile works, there's paintings, there's drawings, there's prints, beautiful prints. There's a lot of really fabulous work in there. So thank you to all the artists for the work.

The hangs as well are a big challenge. That's what curators bring to the process, the ability to take a disparate group of works and make it into an exhibition, something that works and talks to audiences. The quality is incredibly high. And as a judge, it's really hard. And one of the things I believe is that art is not a competition. People become artists to express themselves. And that's not a competitive thing, that's a personal thing. And it's very difficult for some artists to put their work that they've put a lot of their soul into on the wall for everyone else to see and to speak about and talk about and interpret, criticise or praise. So I'd like to thank all the artists whose works are on display.

When I'm looking at an exhibition like this and trying to judge it, I'm looking for something that I find interesting, and there's a lot of interesting works in there. Sometimes it's in your gut, sometimes it's your brain, sometimes it's your heart. It's whatever works and I'm sure I've picked some interesting choices."

A big thank you to Robert for bringing his expertise and experience to judging this year's prize. I also want to express gratitude to our stalwart sponsors and supporters, who make the prize possible each year. And of course, thank you to all the finalists and to the 400-plus artists who entered this year's prize.

We are already preparing for next year's prizes, as entries will be opening soon – please stay posted for updates. In the meantime, we have a breathtaking exhibition, Wildflowering by Design, opening 17 October. The launch event will be held Saturday 18 October, so book your tickets now. And as always, the gallery has a full program of events in the calendar.

Look forward to seeing you in the gallery...

Jo Duke
Gallery Director

Photo by Patrick Want, Volere Studio