THE TOPS, Local and Novice Competitions

What’s this THEME thing and what is ‘The Tops’?

Opening on Friday 4th October at 6.30pm, our Annual Exhibition will be the first of a new style exhibition, with a theme. Each of our four exhibitions per year will have a theme. The theme for this exhibition is ‘The Tops’.

Entering the prize for the theme is OPTIONAL and FREE. Visual Art and Craft works are both eligible to be considered for the overall prize for the theme, which is ‘The Tops’.

Works entered in the exhibition do NOT have to conform to the Theme- entering it is optional.

What does ‘The Tops’ mean? We wanted to keep the theme open to interpretation, to provide plenty of scope for inspiration. It ‘might’ relate to Barrington or Gloucester Tops, which are both close to Dungog. Or it could relate to handspinning, which uses fibre ‘tops’ to produce handspun yarn. Or a woodworker might choose to make a child’s toy, a spinning top, or it might just mean, ‘the best’, or… There are probably as many interpretations as there will be artists entering. We want artists and artisans to use it as inspiration for their works to be entered in the Theme competition and encourage you to let your imagination run wild!

Visual Art and Craft entries from ANY categories can also be entered in the Theme competition, and there is no charge to enter the Theme, just tick the box on the entry form next to that work, and it will be entered in the Theme competition.

The Theme competition will be judged by both Visual Arts and Crafts judges together. They will choose one winner from all the Visual Arts and Craft entries in the Theme competition.

Local and Novice

And don’t forget that Visual Arts and Crafts also both have additional competitions for Novice and Local competitors. Again, just tick the box for ‘Local’ or ‘Novice’ if you wish to enter those competitions with works entered in Visual Arts or Crafts categories. There is no charge to enter Local or Novice.

Local and Novice prizes will be awarded separately in the Visual Arts and Crafts sections. The only award which is judged across both sections is the Theme.

‘Local’ means that the artist/artisan currently resides in Dungog Shire area.

Novice means that the artist/artisan has never won a prize at a Dungog Arts Society exhibition in that category- for example Photography or Fibre.

If you have any questions, please use the form below, or visit our Contact page, or email us.