The award is Australia’s most prestigious national acquisitive award for ceramics made by First Nations artists from across the country.
Established in 2007 under the patronage of renowned ceramicist Dr Thancoupie Gloria Fletcher, the award has increasingly attracted interest and participation from solo artists and collectives in remote communities and urban centres, highlighting new and exciting developments in ceramic practice.
The award is renowned for advancing the recognition of First Nations ceramics as a medium and showcasing the diverse contemporary ceramic practices of Indigenous artists from around the nation.
The major $20,000 acquisitive prize celebrates innovation in ceramic practice, the ICA also includes a $5000 South-East Australian Aboriginal Artist Prize, dedicated to local practice, and a $1500 people’s choice award.
Applicants do not need to be primarily practising in the ceramic medium, though it is required that works being entered predominantly use materials associated with ceramic practice.
Previous shortlisted artists have worked in traditional ceramic mediums, pushing the conceptual boundaries of the material, while others have expanded their practices by incorporating ceramics and associated materials.
The selection panel and the judges for the award will be comprised of SAM curator — Indigenous and curator of the 2022 ICA, Yorta Yorta woman Belinda Briggs, along with senior First Nations artists and arts industry representatives — ensuring artists know that their works will be assessed in a manner that is culturally safe.
“The ICA celebrates the strong history of ceramics and relationship to clay in Indigenous cultural and artistic practice,” Ms Briggs said.
“In this seventh iteration we will be asking artists to submit completed works for consideration, in addition to supporting one artist to create a new body of work specifically for the exhibition.
“This new format allows us to showcase more artists’ work and to shine a light on how Indigenous artists from across Australia are working in the medium.”
Shortlisted finalists will be invited to present a body of new work as part of the ICA exhibition running from August 13 to December 4.
For the first time, SAM is commissioning an established artist working in the field to develop and present new work alongside the successful applicants.
Accompanying the exhibition will be a series of public programs that will allow audiences deeper engagement with the works and the medium, through skill sharing and knowledge exchange.
Previous winners of the award include Janet Fieldhouse (2007, 2011), Danie Mellor (2009), Bankstown Koori Elders Group (2014), Gallery Kaiela Artists, Jack Anselmi and Aunty Cynthia Hardie (2016) and Yhonnie Scarce (2018).
Applications close on Friday, June 3.
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