Talent recognised at ACT Arts Awards: Dianne Fogwell named artist of the year

Dianne Fogwell has been announced as artist of the year at the 31^st annual ACT Arts Awards which were held at the Canberra Museum and Gallery Tuesday evening.

"I think it's quite a privilege and I'm very chuffed. For such a difficult year it was a good time of focus for me, combine that with years of work, it felt good to get the award for this year." Ms Fogwell said.

"Being a Canberra artist means a lot, I came here in the 80s after turning down graduate offers in Melbourne, in making that commitment to the capital I've had the opportunity to build Canberra's art scene and be a part of its emergence over the decades."

Ms Fogwell has been an artist for more than 40 years and is one of the most respected printmakers and artists book practitioners in Australia. She has been a master printer, and founding director of print studios such as Studio One, Criterion Fine Art Press and Gallery and Lewis Editions.

The most recent series of works depicts Australia's landscape after the 2019 bushfires in an exhibition called Transient at Beaver Galleries in 2020, with inspiration coming from Ms Fogwell's own subconscious.

"I work in five-year cycles where a regular dream comes to my mind and torments me for a little bit. My most recent work was inspired from when my mother died because virtually the next day I started to dream about fires."

"I started to research fire's effects on human beings and the natural world, and there's always that grand sense of hope and beauty. I like to look at the nexus where even though there's great tragedy, there's always that kind of regeneration and things moving forward."

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"The work is all about the natural environment and why we live in the world, and underneath, there's the consequence of choices and how we use the earth."

Linocut printing became Ms Fogwell's specialty 15 years ago, which has led to the production of more than 3000 blocks.

Ms Fogwell said the process involves taking photographs of mediums, carving from the lino and collating prints into a book.

"My whole body gets involved in that static moment I've chosen to carve, through fine tuning it I always feel incredibly connected to the work because of the discipline."

The awards also include the Helen Tsongas Award for Excellence in Acting which has been awarded to Dylan Van Den Berg this year.

Mr Van Den Berg performed in his own play Milk, presented by The Street Theatre in June this year, which additionally won a NSW Premier's Literary Award.

Themes of memory, heritage and history stood out in the play, which made receiving an award named after Helen Tsongas in her memory even more special for Mr Van Den Berg.

"It's a real honour to receive an award in Helen's name, she made such a contribution to the art scene here in Canberra and it's wonderful there are some resonances between my play and this award." Mr Van Den Berg said.

"I studied drama at the ANU which really reinforced my love for theatre. After that I started work with the Street Theatre which has really been a training ground for me to try different things in the field, so I owe a lot to Canberra."

"Canberra's commitment to excellence, community and support is what makes it such a great city for the arts, so I'm thrilled my work has been recognised in the place where it all began for me."

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