A Watershed Moment
Each year, the City of Salisbury holds the Watershed Creative Prize to highlight sustainability, and provide the opportunity for talented SA artists to flex their creative muscles. Beyond traditional artworks, submissions have included interactive media, video performance and wearable sculpture. This year brought a new slate of creative interpretations in a broad range of media.
Of those that made it through to display in the Salisbury Community Hub were painted depictions of water, serene wetlands inhabited by elegant egrets, endangered forests, delicate wildlife, detailed photos and drawings of beautiful and intricate ecosystems, and sculptures in an impressive variety of recycled materials.
Many pieces provoked thought on the dangers of human consumption and urged for greater thought on living in harmony with a biodiverse world. Repair was a focus this year as well with several pieces calling to repair damage caused by previous generations.
Winners took home $2,000 each while runners-up took home $1,000. Two youth prizes of $500 and a special Mayor’s Choice of $100 were also granted. Commendations went to notable submissions. All received their awards and certificates at a night ceremony at the Salisbury Community Hub.
Dawn Anderson blew judges away with her submission ‘River of Life,’ winning the traditional category. A large canvas of luminous oils depicted a live stream stirred over riverbed rocks and emphasised water as the key to life on earth.
An accomplished trained creative and former Mawson Lakes resident, Dawn has always loved painting and jumped on the challenge.
I thought – running water! Ooh, I’d like to do that. The location was fantasy, it's actually a collection of three different photographs.
The competition’s other star was Rachel Scholich’s sculpture, ‘I’d like to be... the Octopus’– an octopus constructed from driftwood and shells that looks like it could just come to life. After watching ‘My Octopus Teacher,’ touched by the experience, Rachel came upon a unique piece of driftwood whilst exploring Stokes Bay on Kangaroo Island and was spurred to create her winning piece.
Rachel is an intuitive artist, coming from a family of creatives who would all sit together on Sundays to make art.
I love going for walks on the beach. I am often inspired by what I find.
Rachel is enthusiastic about sustainability and dabbles in making her own paints from natural resources such as coal, seaweed, clays and cuttlefish.
