Major Castaways Sculpture Awards winner Ian Snelling with his work, Recycling School.
Camera IconMajor Castaways Sculpture Awards winner Ian Snelling with his work, Recycling School. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Rockingham: 2016 Castaways Sculpture Awards winners announced

Vanessa SchmittWeekend Kwinana Courier

WARNBRO artist Ian Snelling won the $5000 Alcoa Major Sculpture Award at the 2016 Castaways Sculpture Awards on Saturday night.

The City of Rockingham announced the winners at the Gary Holland Community Centre.

Mr Snelling won the recycled sculpture with an aluminium component category with his artwork Recycling School. He used a discarded air compressor tank as the basis for a wise owl teacher, and disposable helium-balloon tanks and mini corrugated-iron off-cuts to create student fish.

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“I was a bit stunned,” he said.

“It was my first time entering the awards and I thought it was unlikely I would win anything.

“I was poked and prodded to enter by a few other artists as well as my family.

“It’s been a lot of fun.

“Making the work put a smile on my face, and now it’s certainly putting a smile on other people’s faces.”

Judges Jenepher Duncan (Australian Contemporary Art curator at the Art Gallery of WA) and Dr Bruce Slatter (Head of the School of Design and Art at Curtin University) described Snelling’s work as distinguished by its wit, humour and fine craftmanship.

The winners of the $3000 Fremantle Ports Award for recycled sculpture were Bayswater artists Hayley Bahr and Tim Keevil with Cansumerism. Cansumerism was a four-metre-plus giant crushed aluminium can created from hundreds of aluminium cans, cleverly disguising a fully-functioning printmaking studio.

The pair will open the studio on Saturday, where they will demonstrate printmaking using aluminium cans and hold free workshops. Workshop bookings can be made at the Information Tent or by phoning the City of Rockingham on 9528 0333.

The winner of the $3000 City of Rockingham Award for recycled sculpture was Fremantle artist Janet Nixon with Checkers, a black and white spotted dog created from recycled steel discs inspired by dalmations.

The winner of the $3000 Engie Innovation Award was Nedlands artist Joan Johnson with At Night I will Sing You a Lullaby, reproducing a lullaby she wrote when 12 years old by painstakingly punching holes in aluminium cans for each letter. Included in each can is a light, casting a gentle glow in the evenings.

Lucy Baddely, a 16-year-old student at Presbyterian Ladies College, won the Sustainable Living Award with A Whale of a Problem. The artwork was an imposing five-metre whale shark created from hundreds of empty water bottles.

The Castaways Primary and Secondary Schools Competition is on show for the entire exhibition.

The winner of the Primary School section was Endeavour Primary School with Fantastic Plastic Disaster. Students used a variety of recycled plastic objects to create a tableaux of forms painted blue.

The winner of the Secondary School section was Living Waters Lutheran College with Stuffed to the Gills, an enormous fish stuffed with discarded plastic objects.

The Castaways Sculpture Awards continues at Palm Beach, Rockingham Foreshore until 2pm Sunday, October 30.

Visitors can be involved in this year’s exhibition by writing their own Castaways message and adding it to the artwork Message on a Bottle.

The Castaways Photography Competition is open until November 11. Guidelines are available on the City of Rockingham website and in the Castaways catalogue.