Patron and Judges
Jade Oakley – Patron and Judge
Ravenswood Alumni Jade Oakley is an artist who creates works that connect communities to their environment.
Jade has worked as a public artist for more than 15 years, making sculptures that explore nature and provide moments of reflection and discovery in the urban environment. Jade creates delicate, joyful artworks in her studio practice, which are adapted to become enduring public artworks. Jade is intimately involved in the process, collaborating with architects, designers and fabricators to transform the artwork made with her own hands into large-scale sculptures through sophisticated, innovative fabrication processes, without losing the ‘magic’ of the original work.
Jennifer Turpin – Judge
Jennifer Turpin, a Ravenswood Alumni, is an environmental artist who has created award-winning public domain artworks at the interface of art, science, nature and the built environment for more than 30 years.
Her environmental projects are both permanent and temporary and often involve the extensive participation of local communities. The participatory projects are highly collaborative, multi-disciplinary and multi-faceted and incorporate educative as well as art outcomes.
Jennifer and the Turpin + Crawford Studio team work with scientists, engineers and specialist designers and fabricators to realise their innovative sculptural projects. Jennifer has participated in numerous public domain design teams in Australia and internationally in the roles of artist, curator and cultural planner.
Kathryn Hendy-Ekers – Judge
Ravenswood Alumni Kathryn Hendy-Ekers is the Visual Arts Curriculum Manager at the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, responsible for the Visual Arts and Media curriculums from Foundation to Year 12.
Kathryn is an experienced educator, with teaching experience in primary and secondary schools in Victoria, interstate and in south-east Asia.
She has an interest in the relationships between curriculum and the arts industry through teaching and learning in art galleries and museums, and is also interested in the role of artists working in schools.
Kathryn completed a PhD, researching the relationship between Visual Arts education and learning programs in contemporary art museums.
Joan Ross – Guest Judge
Working from a deep love of nature and disdain for colonial superiority, Scottish Australian artist Joan Ross takes an honest approach to colonialism in Australia, penetrating the frequent whitewashing of Australia’s colonial past and present. Ross’ philosophical approach, that spans a range of media, is born from a desire to understand and critically engage with that history. Fluoro and furious, Ross reimagines colonial imagery, imbuing each work with cultural references that make visible our ongoing complicitness in the colonial legacy. Using her trademark fluro yellow, Ross highlights the pervasiveness and impact of colonialism, focusing especially on the outcomes of greed.
Ross works across artforms including painting and drawing and is keenly interested in 3d digital printing, video & virtual reality. Commissioned by the Mordant & ACMI, Ross made Did you ask the river? (2018) a virtual reality project where the intuitive or natural desire of users reveal that we are all part of the colonial problem.
Kathryn Minkley – Judge
Kathryn Minkley is a visual arts practitioner, educator and the Head of Visual Arts at Ravenswood School for Girls.
Kathryn qualified with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the former Alexander Mackie College of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Secondary Education (Visual Arts) from the University of Technology Sydney.
She is an experienced educator and artist and has a passion for Australian contemporary Indigenous art. Kathryn believes in the importance of creativity and for today’s students to develop an understanding of diverse cultures through visual arts.
Katrina Collins – Judge
Ravenswood Alumni Katrina Collins is a passionate art educator and artist. With a Bachelor of Art Education and a post-graduate degree in painting, Katrina has held dual roles as a practising artist and art educator in a wide range of contexts for 40 years.
Katrina has a keen interest in contemporary art practice and in particular in the artwork made by women.
Katrina has vast experience of the process of art-making, and curating and hanging art exhibitions. Katrina was awarded the Emerging Artist Prize in the inaugural Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize in 2017 and is now devoting all her time to painting.
