Award Exhibition June 2 – July 15, 2012

scopegalleries.com : “In continued support of contemporary artists, SCOPE Galleries is pleased to launch the 2012 SCOPE Galleries Art Award – Art Concerning Environment. The Award is non-acquisitive and carries a cash prize of $5,000 to be awarded to one winning artwork. We are excited by the introduction of the Award and consider it exemplifies the serious approach SCOPE Galleries takes in its aim to promote contemporary art in a regional location. Congratulations to CARMEL WALLACE, winner of the 2012 SCOPE Galleries Art Award – Art Concerning Environment for her artwork entitled Forests to Have and to Hold Coinciding with the Award, Guy Abrahams presented a public lecture entitled  ‘Sustainability and the Arts’ at the Warrnambool Art Gallery on Saturday June 2.  SCOPE Galleries acknowledges the support of the Warrnambool Art Gallery in the staging of this event.  The lecture was very well received by a large cross-section of the community.  For more information on Sustainability and the Arts please go to www.climarte.org “

The humble utilitarian objects that make up this sculpture show evidence of repeated handling and daily use in the preparation of life-giving meals. It is our personal everyday connection to the natural world that sustains us and leads us to consider the bigger picture. Portland in southwest Victoria is skirted by the Cobboboonee and other precious native forests. Beyond these lie pine and blue-gum plantations. Australia imports about one-third of its forest products, often unsustainably harvested from Asian rainforests, whilst logs and wood chips gather on the Portland waterfront to be loaded on ships bound for the paper mills of Japan. Increasing recognition of the carbon-neutral qualities of timber is seeing a return to its use in the construction industry, particularly at a domestic level, but globally forests are still being carved up and destroyed at an incredible rate with catastrophic outcomes for the environment. Carmel Wallace 2012