Post by John Cheeseman · Fri 18 Nov 2011 · Exhibition stories
Mosman wins major National Art Award
Museums Australia last night awarded Mosman Art Gallery a MAGNA (Museums and Galleries National Award) for the exhibition Australian Accent: the Designs of Annan Fabrics and Vande Pottery in the 40s and 50s. The exhibition was jointly curated by Julie Petersen of Mosman Art Gallery and Donna Braye, the local studies librarian at Mosman Library.
Mosman Art Gallery was in rare company with the Art Gallery of NSW being the only other NSW recipient of an award for exhibitions.
Australian Accent was a Mosman based exhibition of national significance, and presented a cohesive and comprehensive story about an aspect of Australia’s design history. The exhibition reignited interest from the design sector, redefining objects and materials usually associated with the craft and souvenir genres in the context of a public art gallery.
The Judges commented that “this exhibition was elegantly presented with a wonderful retro sensibility underpinned by thoughtful and accessible research.”
The award evening was held in Perth as part of the Museums Australian Annual Conference and was accepted on behalf of Mosman Council by Sarah-Jane Rennie of Museums and Galleries NSW. Sarah-Jane’s report of the presentation can be found here.
Details of the awards are on the Museums Australia site.