Du Rietz Art Award Winners 2026

 

Locals Award

Lorelle Murray, ‘Disoriented’

Oil, acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 122cm x 91cm

Artist statement: 'Disoriented' is a self-portrait exploring the challenge of finding clarity and direction amid personal and technological change. Following a cancer diagnosis at 41, the work confronts the physical effects of treatment and the emotional weight of illness and ageing. The scribbled thoughts and cultural iconography within the background form a visual record of a society shaped by speed and advancement. The Adidas jacket symbolises both personal endurance and society's fixation on performance, while a divided shadow suggests a quieter self beyond the noise of modern life. 

Sponsored by Gympie Office Supplies, $3,000

 

2D Acquisitive Award

Emma Thorp, ‘When the light sneaks in’

Mixed media on shaped ply, 120cm x 68cm

Artist statement: Pools of light cause the foliage to glow as they slip through the crown of the trees. They enhance my appreciation of the canopy as I walk my dogs through my garden on a hot summer morning. 

Sponsored by Countrywide Metals Pty Ltd., $6,500

 

2D Highly Commended Award

Megan Ruby Lee, ‘Last Light’

Linocut, 147cm x 107cm

Artist statement: 'Last Light' depicts a male and female pair of red-tailed black cockatoos among flowering wallum heathland on Kabi Kabi/Gubbi Gubbi Country, with Lake Cootharaba and the Noosa hinterland resting quietly in the distance. As the female’s feathers scatter into the night sky, she appears to fade before the male’s eyes. The work reflects on environmental loss and the quiet forces that shape disappearance. It explores how care can coexist with neglect, and how what we call love, without awareness, can still cause harm. The piece asks what becomes vulnerable when presence, protection, power and responsibility fall out of balance.

Sponsored by CAA Consulting, $1,500

 

3D Acquisitive Award

William Versace, ‘PlayStation Geode'

Resin, pewter base (Ghost Form: Playstation controller, Nintendo Nunchuck, bottle caps, AA batteries, COVID test, soy sauce bottle, coke bottle, lids, golf ball, cotton tip, vapes, charger, 9-volt battery, power switch, thong), 49cm x 18cm x 14.5cm

Artist statement: 'PlayStation Geode' imagines the technologies of the digital age as fossils from a distant future. Suspended within amber-like resin, hollow impressions of obsolete electronics survive after the objects themselves have disappeared. Their materiality has vanished; only traces remain. Part geological specimen and part archaeological artefact, the work proposes a future in which contemporary culture has entered the fossil record. Consumer technologies become negative space and trace fossils, preserving not the objects themselves but their absence. Through these speculative relics, the work asks what stories future generations might construct from the fragments we leave behind.

Sponsored by Budget Steel, $3,500

 

People's Choice Award

Phil Rolton, 'Tasmanian High Country'

Pen and ink

Artist Statement: A recent road trip to Cradle Mountain, Tasmania, I was drawn to the imposing diorama of the Tasmanian high country. The uninterrupted blanket of the contrasting alpine wildflowers, rocky outcrops and far-off blue mountains attracted me to created a panorama painting. From my sketches with photography, I worked with pen, ink and watercolour with fine brush strokes to define the individuality of layers of plant species amongst the overall Tasmanian landscape wilderness. 

Sponsored by Dr Heinke Butt, David and Sally Gartshore, Annette Reilly, and Drs Calin and Mihaela Negru-Radu.

 

2026 Judges

Special thanks to this year's judges Bronwyn Davies, artist and cultural practitioner, Joseph Breikers, artist and Exhibitions and Collections Coordinator at Hervey Bay Regional Gallery, and Megan Williams, Manager University of Sunshine Coast Art Gallery.