Banyo-Nundah parish is running a new national Christian art prize with the largest student art prize in Australia.
Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge endorsed the Australian Christian Art Prize and said religion and art had always gone “hand in hand”.
“That’s certainly true for the Catholic Church, which has always looked to art to explore the mystery that leads ultimately to God,” he said.
“Not all art is religious in a confessional sense, but all art is religious in the way it looks to the deeper meaning of things.
“It helps us to see the world with a fresh eye.
“The Church has always seen beauty as one of the doorways into God, who is supremely good, true and beautiful.”
Parishioner and finance council chair Bill O’Chee said the art prize had come about as an innovative way to support the parish financially, especially for the restoration of its artwork ahead of their centenary next year.
He said it was also important for Christians to engage in the public discourse, especially as secular ideas dominated discussions about public life.
He said the art prize was an “unashamedly Christian” event that could raise the presence of God and Christianity in the public sphere without being forceful.
“We can’t shrink away from our duty as Christians to carry the apostolic message about God’s love for humanity and God’s love for the world,” he said.
The prize is open to all works of art that address Christian themes.
These include any portrayals of scenes from the life of Christ, the Bible or the lives of the saints; Christian spirituality; Christian values and life; and God’s creation and promises to humanity.
The open prize is $10,000 and the student prize is $5000.
Mr O’Chee said it was the largest student art prize in Australia and an invitation to young people to “bring your talent” and “enter into the public discourse”.
The entry fee for senior secondary school students is $25, making it “an affordable art prize for secondary school” students
The entry fee is $55 for the open category.
An exhibition would be held in mid-July at the Francis Rush Centre beside St Stephen’s Cathedral.
Entries opened on April 1 and run until June 22, and they are open to artists from Australia and overseas.
To find out more about the prize, please visit acap.art
Reproduced with permission from The Catholic Leader, the news publication of the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.
