Nanart Bows Out

May 11, 2014

The annual Nanart Arts Festival bowed out this weekend after 14 years service to Nanango’s arts community.

The festival, which was founded by former Nanango Shire Councillor Mayleen Green in 2000, at one time stretched for more than a week and involved most of the town’s CBD.

In recent years it has gradually shrunk to an annual three-day arts and crafts exhibition at the Nanango Cultural Centre.

Now the committee has decided to call it a day.

The announcement of the Festival’s demise was made at the Nanango Cultural Centre on Friday night when the group unveiled its 2014 Nanart exhibition.

President Lois Hamilton said many committee members were “getting on” and some had spouses in declining health.

So while the committee were very reluctant to put an end to the event, they felt they had little choice in the circumstances.

At Friday night’s opening, Mayleen Green reflected that in the early years the event had drawn “tremendous crowds” and was one of the highlights of the town’s social calendar.

The Festival had also played a big role in promoting tourism and in the town’s economic development.

She said in the Festival’s early years, there were a lot of empty shops in Nanango’s CBD which had been used by artists during the Festival week to display art and craft works.

Now there were far fewer empty shops in the town.

However, she said, things seem to follow a cycle of seven good years followed by seven lean ones and the last seven years had been a lean period, so in the circumstances the committee’s decision was understandable.

Lois Hamilton told the audience the closure of Nanart marked “the end of an era”.

She thanked the committee for their many years of hard work and paid special tribute to the Festival’s many sponsors for their dedicated support.

Compere Rod Morgan echoed her sentiments, saying Nanart had played a significant role in introducing the arts to Nanango and demystifying it for the town.

He thought its loss would be sorely felt.

Despite the sad news that this weekend’s exhibition would be the last, the general mood during the evening was otherwise upbeat and – as usual – first and second prizes were awarded to winners in the art exhibition’s nine separate sections.

The 2014 Nanart winners were:

Section 1 – Lois Hamilton Open Oil

First Prize $500 – Lyn Felsman (“I Love Being Green”)
Second Prize $100 – Marjie Zimmermann (“Tyson”)

Section 2- Open Acrylic

First Prize $300 – Cary McAuley (“Everything About The Line Is Out!”)
Second Prize $100 – Teresa Mundt (“Black Magic”)

Section 3 – Any Subject, Any Medium

First Prize $300 – Helen Derry (“I’ll Take Care Of Your Hat, Dad”)
Second Prize $200 – Teresa Mundt (“Lady & Kimono Quilt”)

Section 4 – Watercolour

First Prize $300 – Sue Lederhose (“Vietnam Moorings”)
Second Prize $100 – Trish Erkens (“Tulips Galore”)

Section 5 – Contemporary

First Prize $300 – Teresa Mundt (“Over My Shoulder”)
Second Prize $100 – Andrea White (“The Cavern”)

Section 6 – Open Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islanders

First Prize $300 – Val McGrath (“Ji-lu”)
Second Prize $100 – Val McGrath (“Dolphin Dreaming”)

Section 7 – Novice

First Prize $100 – Evelyna de Kerkhof (“Autumn and Rosehips”)
Second Prize $50 – Annie MacAlpine (“Beginnings and Ending”)

Section 8 – Any Subject, Any Medium (under 18 years)

First Prize $75 – Kathleen Gogerly (“A Forest In Autumn”)
Second Prize $25 – Kathleen Gogerly (“The Golden Pheasant”)

Section 9 – Sculpture

First Prize $200 – Peter Kozina (“Buno”)

Mayor’s Overall Winner Prize:

$500 – Teresa Mundt

Prizes were also given to exhibitors in the crafts section, which included quilts and dolls.

This year’s Festival was sponsored by Ergon Energy, the South Burnett Regional Council, Dr David Kenny, Nanango Foodworks, Nanango Homemakers Centre, Nanango Country Quilters and Craft, and Ceccanti Kiewa Valley Wines.

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