SCULPTOR Peter Vandermark is to be the 2016 CAPO Fellow, it was announced by Capital Arts Patrons’ Organisation patron Paul McDermott at the annual gala auction and ceremony on Saturday, November 7.

Vandermark, a veteran artist in the Canberra arts scene, famous for his refined artwork based on industrial ducting, intends to use his award to collaborate with glass artist Scott Chaseling to develop new ‘rococo cocoon’ sculptures and to design and construct a 6m ducting periscope for the ‘Contour 556’ exhibition.

The Rosalie Gascoigne Memorial Award (partly funded by Bates & Pickering) went to Gary Smith and Denise Higgins, whose installation, “the Barbed Maze”, at Canberra Contemporary Art Space we recently reviewed, while the winner of the inaugural Sylvie Stern Memorial Award was poet Geoff Page, to fund the running of poetry readings at The Gods Café & Bar.

These three top awards are funded through the sale of donated art by local practitioners and business items at the annual fundraiser and auction and the exact figures are not available until the results are calculated.

Fifteen awards were made in CAPO’s 32nd annual grant round, with an increasing show of strength in sponsorships from the Canberra business community.

Other recipients were Mariana Del Castillo, Moira Nelson, Harriet Schwarzrock, Rosalind Lemoh, Maartje Sevenster, Kate Stevens, Irma Gold, QL2 Dance, Tara Bromham, Larah Nott, Kellie Austin and Janet Angus.

A remarkable diversity of choice characterised this years’ awards, seen in several examples below:

Del Castillo’s award helps her secure funding for a number of neons suspended within metal armatures, which will be a central component for her 2016 solo exhibition ‘A Fugitive Faith’ at Canberra Fitters Workshop.

Nelson, who won the inaugural Belconnen Arts Centre Inclusion Award, will use the funding in her creation of ‘Same, Same and Different’, a collaborative art space for the creation of portraits that demonstrate diversity in our community.

The Sage Legal Services Award went to Maartje Sevenster, who had applied on behalf of Coro Chamber Choir, will bring together Australian and Dutch musicians 400 years after Dirk Hartog’s landing in WA and perform Dutch Golden Age music for Canberra audiences.

The inaugural Macquarie Telecom Award went to writer Irma Gold, who will use this Award to volunteer on the Surin Project in Thailand as research for the next section of her novel.