It's the art prize that honours the natural world - and can command some hefty price tags for works.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
There were already plenty of red dots at the Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize which opened at the National Archives of Australia in Canberra on Thursday night.
Canberra painters Nicola Dickson and Brenda Runnegar and Queanbeyan glass artist Matthew Curtis were among 102 finalists selected from 859 entries in this year's prize, run by the South Australian Museum.
The three locals are also among the 33 winning and highly commended artworks which will be on show until November 10 at the National Archives, the only venue outside the museum in Adelaide to host the prestigious exhibition.
Runnegar, of Hackett, and Dickson, of Isaacs, were highly commended in the paintings category for Cactus and Gould's Australian Chintz II, respectively.
Curtis was highly commended in the sculpture and objects category for his glasswork Diatom Pair.
The prize pool totalled $101,000, with $50,000 going to the overall winner, Flight of Fancy, an intricate cape made from bulbs, paper and leaves by South Australian artist Judith Brown.
The winning piece is acquired by the museum for its permanent collection. But other works are quickly snapped up. A large painting from this year's prize, The Art of Patience, by Kate Bergin, sold for $35,000 to a buyer who thought it would look good over his fireplace.
Dickson had sold her painting for $3400, to an unknown buyer. Her entry in last year's prize was bought for the ACT Legislative Assembly.
''With these sort of competitions, where a lot of people enter and only some people get selected, it's always a commendation for your work and that's always really nice,'' she said.
Curtis said his work was inspired by rambles in the garden with his sons Oscar, 13, and Hugo, 10.
''I spend a bit of time in the garden with the children looking at plants and leaves and slaters and they bring them in and put them under the microscope and look at the structures and a lot of my work reflects that,'' he said.
Runnegar said her work was inspired by the slow-growing cactus of the Arizona desert. She has been a finalist previously in the prize.
''I think it's a very prestigious prize to be in. They have proposals from all around the world,'' she said.
Archives director-general David Fricker said it was able to show the exhibition as part of ''the ongoing relationship we have with cultural institutions across Australia, in this case the South Australian Museum''.
''It's an exhibition of artworks that are designed to help us understand the environment, to be more inquisitive or curious about the environment and usually issues that surround what it takes to preserve and sustain our environment,'' Mr Fricker said.
''I think that draws people in to want to explore the exhibition.''
