By BARRY BLAIR
A BALANCE of upcycling and lateral thinking has resulted in some interesting entries in an art competition at Uralla.
The competition has raised awareness in the 2013 Waste to Art competition which is about using waste and recycling materials.
All members of the community have an opportunity to creatively communicate the waste reduction message.
The competition was open to all residents and schools located in participating Northern Inland Regional Waste (NIRW) member council areas.
Each council in the NIRW area ran a competition, with local competition winners then exhibiting at the regional exhibition, Gunnedah.
The Uralla Waste to Art Exhibition is on display at Uralla Library until 7 September.
Throughout Uralla Shire there was an overwhelming response from central and primary schools.
Uralla Shire Council mayor, Michael Pearce announced additional participation awards to Bundarra Central School, Kentucky Primary School and St Joseph’s Primary School, Uralla in recognition of the volume and quality of entries received.
“It is wonderful to see the amount of young artists being involved in the 2013 exhibition,” he said.
“The junior section, made up of metalwork pieces is particularly spectacular.
“We were pleased to have judges who specialise in wood and metal sculpture.”
Upcycling is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value.
Uralla Shire 2013 Waste to Art winners includes:
Primary School Section – Close the Loop Winner: Kelly’s Plains Primary School.
with Kelly Plains – Closing the Loop – 150 Years.
Runners up: Kingstown Primary and Rocky River Public School.
Primary Individual: Winner: Ned Garrahy, St Joseph’s Primary – Rambo the Ram.
Runners up: Amy Ward, Ronalad Boxsell, Maddison Zena Boxsell, Bailey Redmond.
Section – Secondary School: Winner Art: Ben McKay – Bundarra Central School – The Gremlin.
Runners up: Emma Breedon, Uralla and Trent Hames, Bundarra Central School
Section – Open – Functional Art: Winner: Leis De Luca – Reflective Mirror.
Section – Open (Art): Winner: Kent Mayo – Leaf Litter.
Runners up: Drew Family – Still Life – Less and Jacqueline Weir Life in the Garden.
Uralla Waste to Art competition was promoted by local artist Julie Piggott, who hopes to attract other artists in the area to the 2014 exhibition who share her passion for upcycling.
Judges for the competition were New England artists, Alan Golding and Tobias Bennett.
Both Alan and Tobias will display some of their work at Uralla Library for the coming two weeks, to further inspire the budding artist.
