Winner of Mini Series Art Prize Karlie Simring 2023

Mini Series Art Prize 2023, The Corner Store Gallery

Winner of Mini Series Art Prize Karlie Simring

We are absolutely thrilled to announce the 2023 winner of our Mini Series Art Prize Karlie Simring with her textiles series titled Animate. Karlie has won a solo exhibition with us here in 2024 as first prize. The Corner Store Gallery will champion Karlie’s work and provide an established and professional platform for her to showcase and grow her practice.

Our three judges Anne Masters (Director of Gallery of Small Things in Canberra), Larissa Blake (local artist) and Corner Store Gallery Director Madeline Young had a seriously difficult task deciding the winner with so many fantastic finalists. Artists were invited to create a small body of work which would in theory give us a “preview” of what their solo exhibition would be. The judges felt Karlie’s series was extremely strong, original and skilled across all three works. We all agreed Karlie shows excellent consistency and fantastic promise in her future career and are very excited to see what she produces for her solo exhibition next year.

Winner: Karlie Simring

“These stitched cloths are a response to my local environment. Noticing beauty in the everyday, shape and tone are reduced, creating a new world to play in.”

Karlie’s journey began in the Fashion and Textile Industry. Now an emerging artist, Karlie creates intuitively, exploring and observing her surroundings. Honing traditional techniques with thread, bringing the viewer into her inner world.

Highly Commended

We are also extremely proud to announce two Highly Commended awards to Simon Palmer and Nell Symonds. Both artists will receive an online exhibition with The Corner Store Gallery in 2024. Were are super excited to see what they produce for us.

Highly Commended: Simon Palmer

“This series represents the progressive distillation of generic landscapes into basic abstracted forms and colour-ways, while attempting to retain a connection to a recognisable sense of place.”

Simon’s art is primarily centred on two broad areas; firstly, the suggestive and emotive power of colours; and secondly, the transition space between representation and abstraction – that point where a painting’s subject is not quite literal, but also generally not pure abstraction. The dynamism of his work is derived from a form of controlled ambiguity, or layered interplay, structured to be evocative of feelings and memories – either related
to a particular sense of place or impressions that are triggered by the interactions of related colours – enhanced by marrying loose brushwork and eroded edges with deliberately placed contrasts.

A self-taught artist with a long history of experimentation, sketching and life-drawing, Simon’s formal background is in architecture and graphic design.

Highly Commended: Nell Symonds

Through exploring dramatic tonal contrasts and examining the balance between light and shade, Nell Symonds creates dynamic still life portrayals. Composed of assorted potteries and native botanicals, her subjects are often selected for their shapely proportions, intrinsic colour variations, luminosity and ability to cast compelling shadows.

Distinct facets of Nell’s still lifes hold highly personal and symbolic connotations. The presence of negative spaces and much of the shadow work reflects periods of solitude and introspective internal monologues that accompany her introvertive personality. The inclusion of vintage pottery and cast-off ceramics are considered instruments in which to express the long-term passage of time, both within the wider world and her own, and with it, shifts in her subjective appreciation and perspective.