THE 2015 Citynews Artist of the Year award has gone to dance artist Elizabeth Cameron Dalman, it was announced at the 25th ACT Arts Awards ceremony on Monday November 23 at the Canberra Museum and Gallery.
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| Elizabeth Cameron Dalman, photoby Barbie Robinson |
Ms. Dalman, who is currently teaching at an arts
university in Taiwan, could not attend the ceremony, but her son, Andreas
Dalman, spoke on her behalf and accepted a cheque to the value of $1,000,
together with a fine porcelain bowl from the “After the Fire” series by
Canberra ceramic artist Avi Amesbury.
A daring choreographer and pioneer of modern dance
in this country, Ms. Dalman was described by one member of the Canberra
Critics’ Circle judging panel as “the doyenne of Australian dance.” At 81 she
is fully engaged in dancing and creating new works, often collaborating with Aboriginal and
Taiwanese dance artists.
Circle members
unanimously supported the nomination of such an exemplary artist.Founder in 1965 of the Australian Dance Theatre in Adelaide, Ms. Dalman made her home in the Canberra region 26 years ago, setting up an arts centre and the Mirramu Dance Company at her property on the shores of Lake George while also founding “Weereewa – a Festival of Lake George”.
Speaking by phone from Taipei, she said the news gave her pangs of home sickness,” adding, “I have always felt proud to be a part of Canberra's artistic and cultural community.”
The ACT Arts Awards evening, hosted by the Canberra Critics’ Circle, also featured the Circle’s own arts awards.
Among the more unusual awards was one to filmmakers Declan Shrubb, Christian Doran and Daniel Sanguineti, for their feature, Me and My Mates Vs the Zombie Apocalypse, which has achieved more than 30 screenings nationwide.
The 2015 Canberra Critics Circle is as follows:
Cris
Kennedy Jane Freebury Kerry-Anne Cousins Meredith Hinchliffe Claire Capel-Stanley John Lombard
Alanna Maclean Frank McKone Peter
Wilkins Helen Musa Simone Penkethman Johnny Milner Len Power Michelle Potter
Samara Purnell Bill Stephens Peter Wilkins
Joe Woodward Clinton White
Jessica Oliver Jennifer Gall Anni Doyle Wawrzynczak Ian McLean and Judith Crispin
The full citations for the 2015 Critics Circle Awards are as follows:
Visual art
For her exhibition Table Tools at Craft ACT:
Craft and Design Centre in September this year. The vessels, spoons, scoops,
whisks are fully resolved, bringing the artist’s concept to fruition. The
paring back of form and decoration creates simplicity of form. In particular,
‘ten bowls for ten days’ were outstanding.
Alison Jackson
Visual art
For her exhibition Unfold/ Construct at Bilk
Gallery in February this year. An exhibition of beautifully crafted and
constructed jewellery that was sculptural in concept playing with shape,
texture and colour in a sophisticated way showing contemporary jewellery that
has integrity as art and is eminently wearable.
Phoebe Porter
Visual art
For his exhibition Canopy at the Australian
National Botanic Gardens in July that was based on the artist’s engagement with
the Mount Ainslie Nature Reserve and for his continuing contribution to the
visual arts in Canberra through his exploration of all aspects of printmaking
as well as his mentoring of aspiring artists.
John Pratt
Visual art
For her singular and sophisticated
investigation of the aesthetics, production, dissemination and consumption of
print-media, culminating in the innovative and visually outstanding exhibition
Death of a Broadsheet at Megalo Print Studio and Gallery, in May 2015.
Alison Alder
Visual art
For his dedicated and innovative efforts to
foster experimental and multi-art practice in Canberra across a range of public
platforms, including the collaborative arts events, Playful Sound at Gorman
Arts Centre.
Danny Wild
Film
For his mystery documentary Maratus, an
excellently-made film concerning the Peacock Spider (Maratus Volans), a garbage
collector and a journey of self-discovery for a colourful citizen-scientist.
Simon Cunich
Film
For the feature film Me and My Mates Vs the
Zombie Apocalypse. Written and directed by Declan Shrubb, the film saw the use
of a new and untested distribution platform, tugg.com, which crowd-sourced
audiences and booked venues. This creative entrepreneurial team achieved more
than 30 screenings around the country, including in every capital, for its very
funny, quality film.
Declan Shrubb, Christian Doran and Daniel
Sanguineti
Poetry
For his spellbinding performance of his own
brand of urban haiku for Poetry at the Gods in September 2015. Bullock, a
master of this elusive poetry form, has also been noted for his poems on
environmental, health and current affairs issues, published on Crikey's online
health blog.
Owen Bullock
Fiction
For The Anchoress, a compelling and haunting
debut novel set in mediaeval England depicting
a 17 year-old-girl who renounces the world.
Robyn Cadwallader
Fiction
For Goodbye Sweetheart, a powerful novel of
love, loss, betrayal and the desire for understanding. Halligan’s superb
writing about grief is clear-eyed yet compassionate.
Marion Halligan
Illustrated Fiction
For Crow Mellow, Julian Davies’
reinterpretation of Aldous Huxley’s satire Crome Yellow, in which the
characters, illustrated by Phil Day, are transplanted into contemporary
Australia.
Julian Davies & Phil Day
Music
For stepping into Canberra Choral Society's
2015 performance of Handel's 'Hercules' at very short notice to perform the
virtuosic lead role of Lichas, performing it from memory and demonstrating a
fine understanding of Handel’s baroque-period music and harmonic language.
Katie Cole
Music
For its concert, This American Life in Wesley
Uniting Church and for its tour de force performance of the 1742 version of
Handel’s Messiah in St Paul’s Church Manuka, both performances signalling it
will not take the easy way out.
Coro Chamber Music
Music
For his original songs of ‘self-renewal’, often
drawn from life in Canberra and Queanbeyan, evident in two LPs and one EP
released in 2015 and featured in this singer-songwriter and guitar whiz kid’s
August tour to Tokyo.
Tom Woodward
Music
For her outstanding CD recording, Aubade and
Nocturne, released in 2015, amazingly beautiful in every respect, providing a
wonderful retrospective of her recent works and featuring many of Canberra’s
finest professional musicians.
Sally Greenaway
Musical Theatre
For his insightful portrayal of the character
Albin in the musical La Cage Aux Folles for Supa Productions.
Ben O’Reilly (SUPA PRODUCTIONS’ GARRICK SMITH
TO PICK UP)
Musical Theatre
for his outstanding performance as Dick in the
musical High Fidelity for Phoenix Players.
Will Huang (HWANG)
Musical Theatre
For her outstanding performance as both the
Bird woman and Miss Andrew in the Free Rain production of the musical Mary
Poppins.
Bronwyn Sullivan
Musical Theatre
For her superbly realised choreography for Free
Rain Theatre’s production of the musical Mary Poppins.
Jacquelyn Richards
Musical Theatre
For outstanding technical achievement in
lighting and sound for the arena production of the musical Jesus Christ
Superstar for Peewee Productions.
Chris Neal
Dance
For
Walking and Falling at the National Portrait Gallery in conjunction with All
That Fall— the
Gallery’s contribution to the Anzac Centenary. With a
small cast of three, this was impeccably performed, delivered huge emotional
impact to audiences, made excellent use of a small range of props to suggest a
range of situations and was choreographed to suit perfectly the confined space
of the gallery’s foyer.
Ruth Osborne
Dance
For her works Fortuity and L, with which she
celebrated her 50th Anniversary as a trail blazer in the field of contemporary
dance. Containing many of her signature pieces from her early career, along
with recently choreographed works for her Mirramu Dance Company, these formed
an important retrospective of Dalman’s contribution to Australian contemporary
dance.
Elizabeth Cameron Dalman
Theatre
For the impact and excellence of his play
Scandalous Boy, which tackled the story of Emperor Hadrian and his lover Antinous
in a way that communicated it clearly to a modern audience while maintaining a
sense of the past.
To David Atfield
Theatre
For the excellence and impact of her portrayal
of Violet Weston in Free Rain Theatre’s August – Osage County.
To Karen Vickery
Theatre
For her restrained and elegant direction of
Tuesdays with Morrie.
To Liz Bradley
Theatre
For his original, excellent and creative set
for Canberra Repertory’s The Crucible.
To Michael Sparks
Theatre
For her role as producer/director/dramaturg, with co-creator Louise
Morris; for the conception, originality and execution of Anthology, a
site-specific piece of theatre that brought the people and history of the
lost Canberra suburb of Westlake to life.
Pip Buining
By Helen Musa, Convener, Canberra Critics Circle.
