Whanganui’s Emerging Practitioner in Clay Award rises to $15,000 in prizemoney

Rick Rudd says judges are selecting on potential rather than a top award-winning work. Photo / Bevan Conley

Budding ceramics artists have the chance to win $15,000 in cash through Whanganui’s Emerging Practitioner in Clay Award, the joint biggest prize in the sector.

Organised by acclaimed artist and museum curator Rick Rudd, the award runs every three years.

Rudd said the prize was $10,000 for the inaugural event in 2018, before it rose to $12,000 in 2021.

“I want to change someone’s life. If you’re starting on the journey of making a life with clay, that sort of money can actually set you up for the future.

“It’s moving them on a step.

“There is no obligation on what you do with the money — if you want to fritter it away that’s your choice.”

Previous winners are Oliver Morse (2018) and HineWaiKerekere (2021).

Rudd said judges were selecting on potential rather than a top award-winning work.

Entrants must have worked with clay for less than five years without featuring in any major exhibitions.

The judges — Rudd, Anna Miles and Bronwynne Cornish — will select about 30 finalists whose work is represented in a catalogue and put up for sale.

A winner will be announced on September 23 and an exhibition featuring work from all finalists begins the next day at Quartz Museum, and runs until March next year.

“Looking back at the two catalogues, quite a few of those people pop up in major exhibitions around the country, and some you never see again,” Rudd said.

“I went to art college in England and of the 16 people on the ceramics course, I’m the only one you can Google and get a result.

“In any form of art, only a few can actually make a living out of it.”

He said he was hoping for around 100 entries this year and because of the amount of money up for grabs, he had to be fairly strict when it came to enforcing the rules.

“I once got an entry from someone who had been in several major national exhibitions and had won a premier award,” Rudd said.

“She said she didn’t feel like she had really emerged yet, but I had to say no.”

He said the biggest ceramic award in New Zealand, the Portage Award in Auckland, also had a $15,000 prize.

The prizemoney for his award was a way of “paying it forward”.

“In 1978, which is a long time ago, the major award exhibition was the Fletcher Brownbuilt Award,” Rudd said.

“I managed to win that and I won $1000. That changed my life. It wasn’t so much the money, but the promotion I got through winning it.

“From there, I was able to make work and sell it.”

Entries for the Emerging Practitioner in Clay Award are open until 4pm on June 30, with finalists advised on July 31.

For more information, email quartz.award@gmail.com.

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.