Vote for Moreton Bay Art Prize people’s choice award

There’s still time to vote for your favourite piece in this year’s Moreton Bay Art Prize exhibition.

Visitors to the exhibition, at the Pine Rivers Art Gallery, can view the winning works as judged by Llewellyn Millhouse and then cast votes of their own for the People’s Choice Award.

Llewellyn selected Aaron Butt’s Aboriginal Fish Trap, Sandstone Point, 2024 as this year’s winner, saying the subtle and meditative depiction of a local Gubbi Gubbi aquacultural site requires a patient viewer.

“A mottled, silhouetted figure stands quietly at the centre of Sandstone Point, dwarfed by the enormity of the landscape around them,” Llewellyn says.
“In the observant humility of his work, it is clear that Aaron has a sincere engagement with and respect for the Moreton Bay landscape and its history.

“Aaron’s work reminds us that we need only to look closely at the country around us to understand that this always was and always will be Aboriginal land.”

Second prize

Sunsets, by Lauren Rogers, was awarded second prize.

“Dramatic in scale and vibrancy, Lauren’s work commands attention from afar,” Llewellyn says.

“However, it is the intricate level of detail in her patterns and repeated motifs that set this work apart.

“As an expression of connection to Country, Lauren’s work boils over with pride, joy and celebration.”

Third prize

Llewellyn awarded third place to Grevillea and Melaleuca in Glass by Lisa Christensen, saying the photorealistic painting pulls the viewer in close to admire its breathtaking detail and precision.

“Once up close, it is the delicate softness of light in Lisa’s work that sustains our attention,” he says.

“Perfectly rounded stigma furls, wispy diffused shadows and gently shimmering glass are contrasted with the stark linear forms of the Grevillea leaves.

“Lisa’s work displays an absolute mastery of her craft.”

Highly commended

Award-winning Maltese-Australian artist Emily McGuire’s Today is going to be perfect was highly commended.

In her piece, bursting from the binds of twisted hessian rope is a discarded womenswear T-shirt that reads “Today is going to be perfect”.

“Wrestling this affirmation into an illegible form captures a tension I find myself navigating; a desire to fulfil certain expectations only so that I might be free of them,” Emily says.

From The Language of Posing Project by Amanda Ivy Gardner was also highly commended.

Amanda says The Language of Posing reflects upon the pressure women face to conform to societal beauty standards.

“This collage is the first in a series in which I remake my image as I prefer.

“My rounded contours and aged skin both reveal and conceal in an abstraction of voluptuous forms and textures.”

A large-scale hard-edge abstract painting on a satin support received the third high commendation for 2024.

Crooked Teeth, by Shannon O'Hara prompts a sensuous experience evoking touch and the body.

Shannon’s work resonates with the viewer by deploying bodily association through surface and anthropomorphic forms.

The 2024 Moreton Bay Art Prize is on display at the Pine Rivers Art Gallery until August 3.

The gallery is open Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-4pm and entry is free.