Young artists in our community have captured colour through personal memories, joyful rainbows, and connection to nature in this year’s Penrith Youth Art Prize. Now in its second year, the prize recognises the talent of young artists through an exhibition and the award of prizes, encouraging and developing creative practice.
The 2024 theme ‘Colour Stories’ is inspired by Margo Lewers and her fascination with colour, “I am intensely interested in colour. It excites me and I want to show the effect of one colour upon another…” Artists have responded to this theme using colour to create mood and tell unique stories. As the former home and studio of artists Margo and Gerald Lewers, the site of Penrith Regional Gallery holds a memory as a place where artworks were created. This memory is perpetuated through the development of new works by the next generation of artists in our Penrith Youth Art Prize.
‘Colour Stories’ also connects to the concurrent exhibition by Diana Baker Smith, This Place Where They Dwell, with echoes of Margo Lewers’ light and colour. Diana was the judge for this year’s prize alongside Toby Chapman, Director of Visual Arts. Finalists and winners were selected based on the artwork’s originality and artistic interpretation of the theme. The prize includes four categories: lower primary (5-8yrs); upper primary (9-12yrs); secondary (13-17yrs); and youth (18-25yrs).
Penrith Youth Art Prize is supported by TLE Electrical. The youth category prize of $500 is generously supported by the Friends of the Gallery.
