People's Choice Art Prize

2022 Winner

“I can't explain how surreal it was. That amount of money is life-changing. It's given me the confidence in pursuing being an artist. It's firm evidence that I am on the right track.”

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2021 Winner

Congratulations to our Bluethumb Art Prize Winner Loribelle Spirovski.
The winning piece 'Mirror into Mirror' took home the grand prize of A$20,000.

“Painted in the middle of lockdown, the subject of this portrait is my husband Simon, who was the only person I was able to interact with for many months. Added to our isolation, we were in the process of moving house and I found myself viewing him as a mirror of my own isolation. The title is taken from Avo Pärt's minimalist composition 'Spigel im Spiegel', which translates into 'mirror into mirror'.

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2020 Winner

Hubert Pareroultja of Iltja Ntjarra (Many Hands) Art Centre, a senior Western Arrarnta-Luritja man continuing the watercolour art movement of the Hermannsburg School, was the overall winner of the Bluethumb Art Prize 2020 and winner of the Landscape Award.

“I feel his appreciation and comprehension of his own Motherland is something that no other artist can emulate,” Bluethumb Art Prize 2018 winner and 2020 judge Hyunji Kim commented on the winning landscape, Mt Giles, MacDonnell Ranges – Circular Landscape. “The mystic and subtle colour palette and the circle framing beautifully capture the ethereal spirit of the landscape.”

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2018 Winner

Hyunji Kim, an artist working predominantly with painting from South Korea, won the overall Bluethumb Art Prize 2018 and the Works on Canvas Award with her portrait Painless (Luke).

“A compelling portrait that kept drawing me back. It captured a vulnerability and resignation that strongly evokes the uncertainty of formative years and experiences,” art prize judge and CEO of Contemporary Arts Precinct, Marcus Westbury, commented on the winning work.

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2017 Winner

​​Kirsten Sivyer, a figurative oil painter from Albany, was the winner of the inaugural Bluethumb Art Prize in 2017.

Art prize judge Penny Griggs, General Manager of the South Australian Living Artists Festival, felt that the best element of the winning work, Home Away from Home, is its “beautiful use of light”. “The mood and glow created in this painting stand out for me. I just kept being drawn back to it.”

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