Each year the Tattersall’s Club Landscape Art Prize selects over 100 artists from each Australian state and territory to exhibit their paintings and vie for a substantial cash prize.
A total of 89 artists entered this year’s Tattersall’s Club Landscape Art Prize. The 2017 judging panel drew expertise from Simon Elliott, Deputy Director of Collections and Exhibitions at the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, Dr Deborah Hart, Curator of Australian Art at the National Gallery of Australia, Emeritus Professor and artist Pat Hoffie and Ernie Ward, Tattersall’s Club Committeeman. Ultimately, Indigenous artist Margaret Loy Pula was named the winner, receiving $30,000 prize money for her winning entry, Anatye (Bush Potato), an acrylic on linen and is based on Margaret’s own culture, with the Bush Potato being a primary source of bush food for the Anmatyerre people of Central Australia.

Margaret Loy Pula, Anatye (Bush Potato), acrylic on linen, 120 x 120cm – 2017 Tattersall’s Landscape Art Prize winner
Margaret’s ‘Anatye‘ or Bush Potato paintings are an aerial view of the growth pattern of the plant. The centre cross is the plant, the vines send out tendrils into the soil and this is where the potato (or bush yam) begins to grow. “This painting is about my culture, my family. That’s my father’s dreaming. This is from my father’s country, that country is called ‘Unjangola’. That is north of Utopia, not too far but really desert country”, says the artist.

Ji Chen, Lake Burley Griffin (Canberra) – Tattersall’s Club Members’ Choice Award
The Tattersall’s Club Landscape Art Prize is an acquisitive award and the winning entry will become part of the Club’s art collection.
Melissa Egan was Highly Commended by the judging panel for her painting Infinite Life, as was Robyn Sweaney for Pilgrimage. Guy Maestri received a Commended award for his piece The Dam (Snowy Hydro). Michael McWilliams was also Commended for A Dry Congregation while Tattersall’s Club Members voted for Ji Chen’s Lake Burley Griffin (Canberra) to receive the Members’ Choice Award.
An exhibition of finalists’ works will be on display at the Riverside Centre foyer in Brisbane CBD from 11 to 22 September 2017 (excluding weekends). Members of the public can purchase the paintings and also vote for their favourite for the People’s Choice Award.