Portrait wins People's Choice art award

Published on 25 March 2020

A portrait by Claire Ryan was clearly the most popular painting with patrons who viewed the Cabonne Acquisitive Art Prize exhibition, receiving the People’s Choice Award.

The painting of Claire’s daughter Evie struck a chord with the public, clearly polling more votes than any other artwork over the eight days of the exhibition.

Claire receives $1,000  for winning the coveted award – one of four major prizes in the inaugural competition where Cabonne Council purchased the overall winning work for $4,250. That work “Gordon’s Garden” was painted by Michael Carroll, while the other winners were Claire Neville (High School section) and Samuel Lampe (Primary School).

After the votes were tallied, the thoughts of the public and chief judge Brad Hammond, the Director of the Orange Regional Art Gallery, were very similar.

In presenting Claire Ryan with a Highly Commended Award in the Acquisitive Section, Mr Hammond said her portrait was an outstanding and captivating work.