CAS Inc. Annual Exhibition 2022

Gallery 314, 314 Church St, Richmond

11 - 25 September

Review by Karen Foley and Cressida Fox

Published 25/9/2011

TO SEE A SLIDE-SHOW OF  THE PHOTOS FROM THE OPENING, CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW, THEN CLICK THE BUTTON (AT BOTTOM RIGHT) 'START SLIDESHOW'

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Great attendance at the opening last Sunday as we returned to the 314 Gallery in Richmond for the CAS Annual Exhibition 2022 in September. The gallery was full of artists, families, friends and art lovers. It was nice to get together after two and a half tumultuous years. There are 105 artworks by 54 entrants in a diverse range of styles and media, 2D and 3D, plus a record number of 118 Works On Paper and 212 Artists’ Cards in the gallery, all for sale. The standard this year is exceptional.



President Robert Lee opened the Annual Exhibition with a bit of background history about the Contemporary Art Society. He also explained that the Annual Exhibition has no specific theme, allowing the members freedom in their submissions.



Robert thanked our generous sponsors for their support and assistance with the exhibition and for providing our great prizes, and thanked the CAS team for their great effort with the many tasks required to put on this exhibition.



CAS has a long history of using prominent established artists as judges for the Annual Exhibition. This year’s judge was Katherine Hattam a well-know artist who lives and works in Melbourne. She has a BA (Hons) from the University of Melbourne, where she focused on literature and psychoanalytically inspired political science. She exhibited regularly for a decade and was acquired by NGA and NGV in the first year of a Masters degree in painting at the VCA. A PhD at Deakin University followed, titled Art and Oedipus. Her work is held in the collections of NGA, GV, AGNSW, AGSA, QAG GOMA, QUT, Heide Museum of Modern Art, The Geelong Art Gallery, Bendigo Art Gallery, Ian Potter Museum and Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery.

The judge is provided with a catalogue that omits the artist’s name so all the works are judged objectively. Our judge Katherine Hattam had wanted to speak at the opening but unfortunately was unable to attend. Robert read out her notes and presented the prizes to the artists, with most being in attendance.

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Annual Exhibition 2022 Prize Winners, with Judge’s Notes

• Highly Commended: No. 66, The Forest by Robert Lee (mixed media). 
"The artist is having fun and is confident in their use of materials."

•  Judge’s Encouragement Award ($250): No.72, Escaping Covid by Rosemary Mangiamele (acrylic)
. “Literal and helpful title - of why the artist explored art during COVID lockdown. I think a successful balance of abstraction and map-like quality. I recommend more exploration of art regardless of COVID."

•  Special Prize for Innovative Use of Materials ($1,059): No. 27, Skyline Semaphore (Yarra Valley) by Shirley Dougan (acrylic).
 "The artist’s continued engagement with the subjects apparent in the highly worked over surface - very successful use of materials, not obviously innovative but innovative nevertheless."

•  4th Prize ($502): No.99, I Only Fell In The River Once by Gail Stiffe (cyanotype on handmade paper). 
“The combination of cyanotype on handmade paper is perfect - each enhances the other."

•  3rd Prize ($785): No.26, Barred Owl by Betty Collier (ink on cotton rag). 
“The artist’s statement, telling us the owl can catch its prey in total darkness, reflects the scientific objective approach of the drawing."

•  2nd Prize ($1,345): No.20, Boots The Cat by Kylie Castan (watercolour)
. “A deft and accurate portrait of a cat, skillful use of watercolour."

• 1st Prize ($1,935): No. 32, Sitting Figure by George Eustice (oil on canvas)
. “From my reflection from a blank television screen (artist’s statement). "The image hangs together and has a strong sense of conviction. A witty artist’s statement."

Katherine sent some great and very interesting and helpful additional notes:

"Thank you for inviting me to judge the work in this year’s show. It was a difficult task to pick out just a few from the one hundred works in the exhibition. 
I have been and in fact often am on the other end of this process so take it seriously and thoughtfully.


Recently I heard from one of the judges of a prize I was a finalist in. She listed the criteria employed in their judgement. They assessed the work up against the artist's other work in order to see if it was up to standard. They read the artist statement and then looked at the artist's handling of materials. For me the relevance was the notice taken of the artist statement. I have found these an annoying afterthought - not anymore. I did find the short statements in the list of works interesting. But in the end I looked at the work itself - the sense of conviction, even struggle and the use of materials.
 I am very disappointed not to be there in person but know my words will be shared with you all. I congratulate all the winners and mentions but also all the artists in the show who make it an exhibition.” - Katherine Hattam





Thank you to our Sponsors, we had total $5,876 in prizes, plus more in advertising and signage to support the exhibition.

CAS invites all members, friends and the general public to come along to see this extraordinary exhibition running till the 25 September open everyday 11am to 6pm.

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We gratefully acknowledge our Sponsors:

• Adara Hotels Richmond

• Art Almanac - prize plus advertising

• Art Boards Australia

• Art Stretchers

• Arthouse Direct

• Biggin & Scott - two 8’ x 6’ estate agent signage boards

• Chapman & Bailey Art Shop

• Chroma Australia

• Derivan

• Grill'd Swan St Richmond

• Officeworks Vermont South

• The Art Shop Bayswater

• Uniting Church Richmond - for providing the venue

• Victorian Artists Supplies

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