It will be third time lucky for the long-planned Sculpture@Shaw exhibition opening on Saturday.
The exhibition of sculptures by Australian artists at Shaw Wines was cancelled in 2020 because of COVID-19 and in 2021 because of bad weather. But Shaw Wines' owner, winemaker Graeme Shaw, said it would go ahead this time.
Scheduled to run over two weeks and three weekends, the exhibition, developed with Belco Arts, will feature 40 large sculptures in a paddock and 20 smaller works on plinths at the cellar door.
Mr Shaw, along with Canberra Museum and Gallery director Sarah Schmidt and journalist Genevieve Jacobs, judged the finalists. The $15,000 Sculpture@Shaw Prize went to Canberra artist S.A. Adair for Widow. The $5000 Cellar Door Prize was awarded to Peter Lewis for Destiny and the $3000 Emerging Artist Prize was awarded to ANU School of Art graduate Naomi Royds for Redgum.
"Every judge had the winners on their shortlist," Mr Shaw said.
"I was expecting a lot of robust discussion ... I would have defended by choices very strongly but I never had to, it was very much a consensus."
Widow, he said, was "very intricate and quite imposing, about three or four metres in diameter".
Mr Shaw, who set up the winery in 1998, said he had "always had a passion for art" and had several pieces on permanent display on the property.
He approached Belco Arts in 2019 to collaborate on Sculpture@Shaw, intended to be a biennial event.
"I wanted a professional group to curate it ... They loved the idea."
Belco Arts' artist director and co-chief executive officer Monika McInerney said Mr Shaw was "one of those extraordinary humans who's very committed to supporting the arts...He came to us and we designed it in consultation with him."
Ms McInerney was on the panel with the judges that put out the call for entries - 165 came in - and selected finalists but was in coronavirus confinement and could not participate in the final judging.
"There's real breadth and depth," Ms McInerney said of the sculptures, which included works made of steel, wood, cast metal and assemblages of different materials.
Creative producer Shan Crosbie from Belco Arts said 70 per cent of the finalists were from the Canberra region with others coming from NSW, Queensland and Victoria.
"It's done our region proud," Crosbie said, adding that the intention was to establish a biennial ACT sculpture prize.
The people's choice prize of $2000 will be announced on March 20 at the end of the non-acquisitive exhibition.
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Sculpture@Shaw is on daily at Shaw Wines in Murrumbateman from March 5 to 20, 10m to 5pm. Entry fees start at $5 plus booking fee. Children under 18 and Shaw Wines Wine Club members have free entry. More information and bookings: sculptureatshaw.com.au.
