Two new bodies of work can be viewed at Shepparton Art Museum from Saturday, August 13.
Ceramics from 19 artists across the nation will be displayed in the Indigenous Ceramic Award exhibition, along with work made closer to home in SAM’s newest window display in collaboration with Kaiela Arts.
Now in its seventh iteration, the 2022 ICA invited Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and collectives from all over Australia to submit entries, which will be seen lining the walls of SAM’s gallery.
SAM Indigenous curator Belinda Briggs said some “really interesting themes and ideas” were apparent in how artists used clay to tell important stories.
“In a way these are self-portraits, because there’s so much of the artist in them when they’re thinking about making them, about who they are and what’s important to them,” she said.
“We're really lucky to have many of the artists in the show be award winners and have national and international profiles.“
The ICA offers three major prizes for finalists to secure: the Major Acquisitive Prize of $20,000, South-East Australian Aboriginal Artist prize of $5000 and the People’s Choice Award of $1500.
Additionally, the new vinyl artwork window installation Kaiela deya, manu nyananan (River here, is home to all of us) will be available to view until March next year.
The artwork was created in collaboration with Kaiela Arts and its artists Jack Anselmi, Suzanne Atkinson, Tammy-Lee Atkinson, Frances Nicholson, Eva Ponting and Lyn Thorpe.
It highlights the hand-drawn symbols inlaid into the floor throughout Kaiela Arts into SAM.
SAM at 530 Wyndham St, Shepparton is open daily from 10am to 4pm; the ICA exhibition will be open until December 4.
The formal opening and award ceremony for ICA will be held at SAM on Saturday, October 8 accompanied by a cultural program celebrating the artists on October 8 and 9.