The 56th Blake Prize

Judges

The 59th Blake Art Prize, John Coburn Emerging Artist Award and The Blake Prize for Human Justice 


Fr Andrew Bullen SJ
Fr Andrew Bullen SJ Was born in 1947 in old South Wales, UK, with a Catholic mother and non-believing father (a blessed mix).  At 13 he lost his right leg to cancer.  At 16 he migrated with his family to Sydney and finished his secondary education at St Aloysius College, the Jesuit school at Milsons Point.  In 1967 he joined the Society of Jesus, and spent many years in Melbourne following the Jesuit programme of formation, which included an Arts degree at Monash in the early 70s and theological studies at the United Faculty of Theology, Parkville. After ordination in 1979, he taught at Xavier College in Melbourne, had a welcome and necessary year of spiritual renewal, and then in 1985 came to St Ignatius College, Riverview as Rector. Subsequently, he was back in Melbourne and responsible for the Jesuit formation programme, before returning to Riverview in 2003, where he is yet again the Rector.

He has been looking at pictures, more or less non-stop, since his early teens. More recently he was involved in the renovation of the College Chapel at Riverview. From time to time he writes poetry, and more constantly writes for school publications.


Professor Sasha GRISHIN AM
Professor Sasha GRISHIN AM, FAHA
Sir William Dobell Professor of Art History
Head, Art History, Australian National University

Professor Grishin studied art history at the universities of Melbourne, Moscow, London and Oxford and has served several terms as visiting scholar at Harvard University. He works internationally as an art historian, art critic and curator. In 2004 he was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, in 2005 he was awarded the Order of Australia (AM) for services to Australian art and art history and in 2008 was awarded a Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning. He has published seventeen books and over a thousand articles dealing with various aspects of art.


Maria Fernanda Cardoso
Maria Fernanda Cardoso is an international artist, born in Colombia, currently living in Sydney, Australia. Graduating from Yale University with a Masters degree in Sculpture and Installation in 1990, she is well known for her unconventional use of materials and the use of animals as inspiration. Cardoso exhibits widely in major museums and galleries in the US, Latin America, Australia and Europe. GRANTPIRRIE Gallery and ARC ONE Gallery represent her in Sydney and Melbourne.

Her most re-known project, the Cardoso Flea Circus, was recently acquired by the Tate Gallery in London as part of its permanent collection. The Circus has been widely exhibited in festivals and museums around the world, and was performed at the Sydney Opera House as part of the Sydney Festival 2000, where it was a smash hit. Other collections include the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Miami Art Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Daros Collection, BLLA and Mambo Collections in Bogota, National Art Gallery, Canberra and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.



The 3rd Blake Poetry Prize


Les Wicks
For 35 years Les has been a figure of substance in the Australian literary community.  He has been a guest at most of the nation’s literary festivals, toured widely and been published in well over 200 newspapers, anthologies and magazines across 12 countries in 7 languages.

Stylistically, the poet sits between camps. Seen as both a “stage” and “page” poet, his work is a mix of accessibility and dense language use. He is a master of capturing the vernacular. Poems are both humorous and fierce, often in the same poem.

Equally well known is his work as a publisher and editor.  Most people will remember Artransit which put poetry and art into Sydney & Newcastle buses but that is just one of dozens of similar roles: some predictable like literary magazines while others range as far afield as publishing a poem on the surface of a river. The most recent publications are from this Broken Hill & Guide to Sydney Beaches. He has judged many prizes.  His most recent book of poetry is The Ambrosiacs (Island, 2009).


Ron Pretty AM
Ron Pretty’s seventh book, Postcards from the Centre, will be published by Profile Poetry in May this year. For twenty years he ran Five Islands Press, during which time it published 230 books of poetry. He has editied the magazines Scarp:New Arts and Writing and Blue Dog:Australian Poetry.

He has taught writing in the Universities of Wollongong and Melbourne, as well as in schools, colleges and community organisations. He established the Poetry Australia Foundation, which in 2006 became the Australian Poetry Centre. Currently he runs an Online Workshop for the APC. Ron Pretty has been awarded the NSW Premier’s Award and an AM for services to Australian literature.


Anna Kerdijk Nicholson
Anna Kerdijk Nicholson was born in Yorkshire and lives in Sydney where she practises law. Possession, her most recent collection of poetry, is about Captain Cook’s Endeavour voyage and colonial appropriation (Five Islands Press, 2010). From 2000 to 2004, she was managing editor of Five Bells, the quarterly poetry journal of The Poets Union Inc. She has won prizes in the Val Vallis and Australian Women Writers’ Poetry Competitions. Her first book of poetry, The Bundanon Cantos, was a Sydney Morning Herald Best Book of 2003.




Past judges are listed beside winning artworks in the Past Winners section.