Miniature art awards

The Annual National Awards exhibition for the Australian Society of Miniature Art has been going for over twenty years, always held around June or July, and every year I have put work in. I have been a member of the society for almost thirty years, which seems astonishing, and a member of the committee for most of those years in various positions. It has become a significant part of my life and I love being part of it.

There are a number of sections in the exhibition, such as watercolour painting, Printmaking, Drawing and so on, and each year the judge – a different one every year – chooses winners in each section as well as Best in Show, Best Traditional Work and Most Innovative Work. To qualify as a miniature the work can be no more than 40 cm perimeter, or 10 x 10 cm, 12 x 8 cm, or other combinations. The imagery must be miniaturised, and the marks not clumsy or heavy. Hand-made books when closed fit the same criteria, but sculptures can be no more than 15 cm in any direction, including a plinth or stand.

I submitted four works, one in the Drawing section, one in Abstract, one in 3D and Hand-made Books, and the fourth was was in a special section that has a different theme every year. This year it was ‘Telling a Story’. My entry for that section was the little concertina book shown above, called ‘The Migration of the Eastern Curlew’. It pictorially suggests the story of the long journey the Eastern Curlew takes every year from Eastern Australia to Siberia where it lays its eggs, then returns to Australia. I made the book from a monotype print, cut and folded it to suggest the crossing over seas and mountains on the treacherous journey, then added the simple pen and ink silhouettes of the birds. When closed, the book is 7 x 8 cm.

This little drawing is called ‘Menagerie’ and was in the Abstract section. This was drawn with a base set of marks in Liquid Pencil on watercolour paper, then drawn into with coloured pencils to bring out the forms. After making the base marks I put it aside for a while, turned it around a few times until I got a feel for what was going to emerge. Soon it became clear there were small creatures appearing. It is 12 x 6 cm.

The a was my entry in the Drawing section, it is called ‘The Dry’, a commentary on the landscape of central Australia during the dry season. This one was also based on a Liquid Pencil starting point, then drawn into with graphite pencils. It received a Highly Commended award which I was delighted about! It is 10 x 8 cm.

My fourth entry was in the 3D and Hand made Books section. This was another piece that had a long gestation. A year or so ago I joined a class in acrylic painting, as it was a medium I knew little about. The teacher gave us lots of ideas and techniques to try using various tools and media. As an experiment, I tried applying acrylic paint to drafting film, scraping it on with an old credit card, masking off areas randomly. I was pleased with the result, but didn’t know what to do to take it further, so decided to cut the sheet up with a view to making a book. I stalled again deciding how to put it together, and eventually decided a simple flag book was the answer. I liked the way the images reacted with one another through the translucent drafting film, and that the underneath of each mark showed through. Choosing a title was the next decision, and I have to thank my husband for it – he could see ice and snow in the imagery, so Below Zero was the answer! It is 70 x 10 cm when closed.

The slow and thoughtful genesis of this work paid off, as it was awarded the Most Innovative Award. I received money (which is very nice and will go towards art supplies and framing) but the acknowledgement is the best result! I am filled with happiness! (Unfortunately I wasn’t able to be at the opening to receive my prize as I got Covid on the day of the hanging, so missed a large part of the show, but was recovered before the end, so could go and see it.)

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Author: anna warren portfolio

I draw, I paint, I am a printmaker. Always searching for the interesting detail in the world around me.

23 thoughts

  1. Hi Anna,

    That is wonderful news, congratulations on your recognition!

    I have recently moved and came across one of the books from the collab
    we were doing with Karen, back then my world was upside down from sick
    parents. Our collab gave me an escape during such a hard time, I still
    have clicks on my website from our entries. I can’t remember if I was to
    do the next entry and pass it on, im so sorry if that was the case. I
    still have the books safe and sound and would love to see the collab
    through if there is still interest.

    Anyhow, really enjoy seeing your beautiful works come through, best wishes

    Kylie

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    1. Hello Kylie, lovely to hear from you! I was thinking about the collaborations we did just recently, those were among the very first ones, must have been maybe 2015 or 2016 I think. I would be very happy to complete the set if you would like to keep going. I’m in the middle of an international one with Karen right now, there is a group of 5 of us and I think this is the third we have done together. They all take a long time, a couple of years sometimes, but always get done in the end!

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    1. Thank you Ruth, you just never know which way the judge will go on these, so I was delighted to get the awards. Getting Covid was the worst possible timing as I wasn’t able to help with any of the set-up and hanging, as well as missing the opening. Luckily I was still able to all the computer-based jobs that were needed!

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  3. I typed a detailed reply on your blog from my desktop and then it wouldn’t post and I lost the whole thing! Now I am on my phone. Since my phone let me like your post (and desktop didn’t) hopefully this comment will also work. But just in case, let me check if this goes through before I type any more.

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    1. WordPress is getting steadily more cumbersome. When I wrote this post, it froze up completely and would neither save nor publish. I had to restart several times, each time hoping I didn’t lose too much!

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      1. That is worrying and perhaps your difficulty with publishing this post is not unconnected to my inability to like or comment from my desktop. And yet, no problem using my phone, and others have commented, so typically with these things, a mystery.

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  4. OK, that worked…so I will continue.
    I enjoyed looking at these four pieces very much.
    The curlew piece is masterful; how clever to construct physical barriers suggesting the treachery of the journey. Beautiful colours too.
    Menagerie is light-hearted and fun. The creatures within look happy; because I “see” a smiling elephant and poodle, my mind sees a kind of circus.
    The Dry is much darker in subject. Those horizontal forms could be skulls stacked in a catacomb. The dry suggests mass death. As usual, wonderful positive/negative balance of space.
    Below Zero…congratulations! There is a revealing/concealing nature to this piece due to the translucency. I feel there could be a Nordic crime scene within the pages. Can we see the clues? Love how you utilise print-making as part of the process.

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    1. I was very fond of the curlew piece, it is very simple, but somehow it satisfied me, so I’m glad you like it too. It’s surprising that Menagerie is lighthearted, and it certainly is, most of the Liquid Pencil pieces are very dark, as The Dry is. I hadn’t thought of the sense of death in it, but of course it really goes with the territory. Nordic crime – that could even be a useful title! I will store it away somewhere …

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  6. Anna! Your entries are absolutely wonderful. I’m so intrigued by the Telling entry …. Brilliantly executed migration of the eastern curlew. Love the contrast of the black inked birds against a beautiful background. It’s hard to imagine the challenge you must’ve had in crafting and cutting these small pieces! Your liquid pencil works are incredible and imaginative; such an expressive medium …. Gonna give it a try one of these days. And oh wow! The back story about your acrylic journey and creative application in Below Zero is truly amazing. The flag book design looks perfectly suited for this project. Would love to see more (the inside of the book and the transparency of the pages). Kudos to your husband for his imaginative naming of this project. Congratulations on the recognition and awards! Well deserved.

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    1. Thank you so much Barb – I have a lot of fun creating these small pieces, and always have some on the go as quite often they take a while to come to fruition! There is one more image of Below Zero on the home page of my blog, looking into the book. It was very difficult to photograph, to really get a sense of it! I really appreciate your comment, thank you.

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      1. I found the other photo! I can understand how challenging it must’ve been to take pictures of the booklet. But from what I can see, it’s all magical!

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    1. Thanks Vivienne, with competitions like this it’s impossible to anticipate what the judge will appreciate, so it’s always a wonderful surprise to get acknowledgment like this. Needless to say I am very happy with the outcome!

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