The winners of the 2019 Tollman Bouchard Finlayson Art Award have been announced as a highlight of the annual Hermanus FynArts Festival. The Tollman family, owners of Bouchard Finlayson, has long been great supporters of the arts in South Africa and sponsored this national competition for the sixth consecutive year, with the first prize of R20 000, second prize of R10 000, and 2 merit prizes of R5 000 each.
Neeske Alexander walked away with the 1st prize, followed by Karen Grove in 2nd place and Natasha Brown and Terrence Howahowa each receiving a Merit prize.
The theme this year was ‘Harmony’ and artists were invited to submit their work in a tondo (round) format with a maximum 60cms diameter to be displayed on a wine barrel head. A total of 53 works by 46 artists were selected as finalists from 227 works submitted by 179 artists.
An exciting variety of media was entered this year, including the winner’s watercolour and Karen Grove’s two works of reverse acrylic on perspex. The two Merit winners respectively entered a work of oil on glass, and the other, a tapestry and weaving piece. Terrence Howahowa, along with three other finalists, are residents of Zwelihle township in Hermanus where they form part of the Living Tapestry Project.
The winning works, as well as those by the finalists are for sale and currently on display in the Bouchard Finlayson wine cellar as the ‘Tollman Bouchard Finlayson Barrel Head Exhibition’.
