The Percivals 2022 Launch
Percival Animal Portrait Prize
The Percival Animal Portrait Prize is an award of $1,000 and this year there was the addition of the Judge’s Award in the animal category of $400, kindly donated by Dr Chris Pretorius of Kings Road Veterinary Surgery.
Transcript
Jo Lankester: Alongside the Percival Portrait Painting and Photographic Prizes, Galleries, Townsville City Council presents their Percival Animal Portrait Prize to celebrate all media, predominantly entered by local artists, often portraying their most dear companions.
For many centuries, please from different parts of the world learned about certain species through paintings of animals. The classic still life paintings by 17th century artist Carel Fabritius during the Dutch Golden Age regularly painted still life works featuring birds, but one of the most famous animal paintings is A Friend in Need, painted by CM Coolidge in 1903, a comical painting of dogs sitting around a table engaged in a poker game.
Eliza Dedini: Hello, everyone. I am Eliza Dedini, creator of Eliza Jane Art and the artist behind the piece Intrinsic. In 2021, I set myself a goal to enter an art competition or exhibition. Ultimately, this was to stretch my abilities, to explore new techniques and engage with other artists.
This goal led me to enter the Townsville Percival Animal Portrait Prize. I never imagined I would become a finalist and go on to be awarded first prize in this category.
My inspiration for my piece Intrinsic came from my blue heeler. She was three months old when I found her in shelter and my connection with her was instantaneous. This year, she turns 12 and I wanted to create a piece that reflects the years of love and companionship that she has given me, and the many more to come.
Dr Chris Pretorius: Hi, this is Chris from Kings Road Veterinary Surgery. It was my privilege to be part of judging panel to judge the animal portraits for the Percival Animal Portrait Prize for 2022.
I was astounded at the quality of paintings and photography, and it made judging so much more fun but more difficult as well. The reason I chose my number one, two and three was what I could get out of the portrait. It was quite important to see the character and personality of the animal reflected, and I think the winner achieved that with flying colours.
Jo Lankester: We want to thank Dr Chris Pretorius of Kings Road Vet for judging the Prize and donating the additional Judge's Award. I'd like to announce that Dr Chris will continue sponsoring the Judge's Award as the Kings Road Vet Award.