Art awards judge announced

Lucy Hammonds. SUPPLIED

Rotorua Museum has announced the appointment of highly regarded New Zealand art curator Lucy Hammonds as the judge for this year's Rotorua Museum Art Awards.

Hammonds has recently been appointed to the position of Curator at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. Known for its extensive background as a leader in the presentation of cutting edge contemporary art, Dunedin Public Art Gallery also cares for a significant collection of historical art.

Formerly Curator, Art and Design Collections at MTG Hawke's Bay, Hammonds was born in Auckland and trained in the innovative Critical Studies programme at Unitec School of Design. After a period in the commercial gallery world, she emerged in the early 2000s as a curator with wide ranging interests including contemporary New Zealand art, craft/object making, design and fashion history.

Hammonds is a prolific writer, with major publishing projects including 'Architecture of the Heart' (MTG Hawke's Bay, 2013) and 'The Dress Circle - New Zealand Fashion Design Since 1940' (Random House, 2010), a finalist in the 2011 New Zealand Post Book Awards.

Entries for the 2015 Rotorua Museum Art Awards close on Monday 4 May so there is just over a week for people to submit their entry forms.

Award winners will be announced at a gala night on Friday 19 June and an exhibition of winners and finalists will be on display at Rotorua Museum from Saturday 20 June to Sunday 11 October 2015.

This year there is a total prize pool of $13,000, including The Rotorua Museum Supreme Award prize of $10,000 and The Friends of Rotorua Museum Emerging Artist Award prize of $1000.

Two new prize categories for 2015 are the Waiariki Institute of Technology Innovation in Art Award with a prize of $1000 and the MORE FM People's Choice Award with a prize of $1000.

Rotorua Museum director Stewart Brown said the Art Awards were a great way to celebrate the wealth of artistic talent in the region.

"In 2013 we had entries from almost 100 artists across the Bay of Plenty and the exhibition of finalists was a wonderful showcase of the incredible talent on our doorstep," Mr Brown said.

For more information about the Art Awards and how to enter, visit www.rotoruamuseum.co.nz. Entries close 5pm, Monday 4 May 2105.