IN its only appearance outside Adelaide, the Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize exhibition opened today at the National Archives.

The exhibition, named after the SA Museum’s first curator Frederick George Waterhouse, uniquely showcases artworks with an environmental conscience.

With a total prize pool of $114,500 817 artworks were submitted to the competition, and 103 were chosen as finalists by a panel of 10. The final five judges for the final stage included academics, artists, a journalist and a wildlife ecologist.

The competition focuses on  art that depicts natural history or wildlife, and attracts entries from around the world, including, this year, an unusual kangaroo sculpture made of book leaves paper by artist Sandy Webster from North Carolina.

According to Tim Gilchrist, from the SA Museum, some works, such as  Lyn Wood’s “Fish out of Water,” could be traced back to the natural history “showcase” tradition of exhibiting objects in museums. Others took an  artistic look at marine creatures such as blue swimmer crabs, shells and endangered fish. The overall winner of $50,000 was SA silversmith Julie Blyfield, exhibited  beaten silver weeds, sponge and a sea urchin. At the non-endangered end of the spectrum, beautify but menacing, was Jenny Pollak’s  rabbit sculpture “New World Order – Terra Australis.”

The Canberra region yielded its own winner, with Vanessa Barbay, of Hackett, taking the $10,000 first prize in the paintings category for “Avian Spectre.” A glass work, “Net Work (Tall Mesh)” by Queanbeyan artist Erin Conron won highly commended in the sculpture and objects category.

The exhibition of selected winners and highly commended works in the Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize will be on display at the National Archives of Australia, Queen Victoria Terrace, and Parkes, 9am-5pm daily until November 13.