Arts editor – and Bald Archy pioneer – HELEN MUSA previews this year’s Bald Archy exhibition, about to open at the Canberra Potter’s Gallery in Watson.  

A high-level conference of the birds was observed by CityNews when art and museum experts from Wagga Wagga and Canberra descended upon the Canberra Potter’s Gallery this week to advise the chief judge of the annual satirical portrait award, the Bald Archy.

That judge is, of course, Maude, the famous sulphur-crested cockatoo from Coolac, whose curious longevity has seen her outliving the founder of the Bald Archy, Peter Batey, who died in 2019.

Among those present was the self-styled special assistant and advisor to Maude, cartoonist David Pope, who told me he was helping the venerable judge find suitable objects on which to sharpen her beak.

There’ll be no shortage of those this year, with 43 artworks on show, culled from a total of 70 entries from around the country, a record, according to Tim Kyrylowicz, manager of the Museum of the Riverina, which now houses the Archy collection.

As usual, the artists selected have portrayed the good, the bad and the ugly, some of them, like Bob Katter, the most popular subject, and Pauline Hanson, enjoying the limelight, while others, like Peter Dutton, are plainly on the way out.

Rupert Murdoch we find to be still alive, while Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, though a popular subject, is not represented in a particularly favourable light, although there is an impressive picture of him as Napoleon on a kangaroo, in homage to the famous Napoleon Crossing the Alps by French artist Jacques-Louis David.

As usual, the Bald Archy pokes fun at sporting figures, TV entertainers, politicians and other public figures.

Notoriously founded to thumb its nose at the Archibald Prize, it has seen its highest level of entries in a long time, with the Museum of the Riverina working hard at marketing the award nationally, armed with the lure of a $10,000 first prize, which they sponsor.

Kyrylowicz was quick to crow, saying: “This is, to our knowledge, one of the biggest regional exhibition tours in the nation.”

And it’s been embraced. In regional Holbrook, for instance, several thousand people visited the last show, more than the size of the town, and they’re busy preparing for this year’s coming tour, with an enormous papier-mâché cockatoo planned to hang from the ceiling.

Jenny Palmer, also from the Museum of the Riverina, said this year’s Bald Archy definitely had the wow factor. Getting the 70 entries down to 45 was a big cull, sure, but that, she thought, was the sign of a good exhibition.

“We want to make it an honour to get into the finals,” she said.

The announcement of the 2026 Bald Archy prizewinner will be made at the Canberra Potter’s Gallery, Watson, on February 12, after which the prize show continues to March 15 before commencing on its tour.

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