Art enthusiasts and festival goers flocked to the 2023 Penola Coonawarra Arts Festival on the weekend.
The event celebrated art in all its forms and people enjoyed a weekend filled with an array of exhibitions, performances, workshops and more.
Penola Coonawarra Arts Festival committee president John Mossop hailed the event a major success.
“I am very excited about the way the whole weekend has gone,” Mr Mossop said.
“I think it has been run really well, events have been very well attended and it has just had a really good feel about it.
“There have been a lot of wonderful visitors from Adelaide, Melbourne and western Victoria.
“It has been nice to have so many people from out of town here supporting our festival.
“Overall, I am really happy with how the whole festival has gone.”
The John Shaw Neilson Acquisitive Art Prize received 50 entries, with talented artists vying for the major $12,000 first prize sponsored by The Balnaves Foundation.
John Neylon was the winner of the 2023 John Shaw Neilson Acquisitive Art Prize with his work titled Stony Town Stare Down.
Dagny Strand won the John Shaw Neilson Local Prize of $1000 sponsored by Lois Hodge with her artwork ‘The Premonition,’ inspired by the poem ‘The Moon Was Seven Days Down’.
Natania Hollingsworth was the Design Prize winner of $1000, sponsored by Hansen Design and Print, and Koonara Wines was the Greenscape Streetscape ‘Best Dressed Window’ winner.
“I am always staggered by what people can do and then support we get there, this (exhibition) has been going for 31 years and it is actually very rare to have an exhibition like that go for so long continuously,” Mr Mossop said.
“It is quite a major art competition, $12,000 is a big prize for a small country art exhibition, so we really appreciate the support The Balnaves Foundation gives us for that.
“It is a great reward for the work the artists do.”
Mr Mossop said the weekend was a great opportunity for people to showcase their skills in a variety of art forms at a grassroots level.
The event captures the essence of the Penola Coonawarra region, with a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.
“People have felt welcomed by the community, I spoke to a few people from Adelaide, and they said everywhere they went everyone was nice and welcoming and just made them feel so comfortable,” Mr Mossop said.
“It is a good example of country hospitality.”
The Penola Coonawarra Arts Festival is organised by a committee of volunteers, who dedicate lots of hard work in the lead-up to the festival and throughout the weekend.
“The support we have had from all the people that are on the committee and all the sub committees running their different events, they have done such a wonderful job,” Mr Mossop said.
“I am just full of admiration for the work they have done to make it a success.
“The work they have done to get the word out there of what is happening and the organisation has made it quite seamless, there were no major hiccups.
“I think it is just the general community support and the work of the festival committee to make it happen again, 31 years of continually running this festival, it is a terrific effort.
“I think at the moment we are actually going from strength to strength with our committee and what they are about.
“Let’s hope that next year is even bigger and better.”
