This prize is for an outstanding artwork by an Australian senior secondary student working with a landscape theme in their visual art practice.

Entries for the $500 Student Prize presented by the University of Tasmania are open now, closing Friday 5 July 2024.

Enter online at hadleysartprize.com.au/education

This is a significant opportunity for an Australian senior secondary student to have their artwork nationally recognised. It is a terrific honour to have their artwork displayed alongside some of Australia’s leading professional artists shortlisted as finalists in this year’s Hadley’s Art Prize.

– Dr Abbey MacDonald, Senior Lecturer in Art Education at the University of Tasmania 2024 Hadley’s Student Prize Winner presented by the University of Tasmania

ongoing expansion and iteration of a unique annual education resource. We acknowledge and thank Associate Professor

Kathryn Coleman (AEA President) and the wider AEA Executive and Committee for their ongoing support, leadership,

advocacy and contributions made to the development of this resource.

Revised each year with updated content, resources and activities for the HAP finalists’ exhibition, 2024 marks the sixth

edition of this education resource. The ongoing development of this resource involves consultation and conversation

with artists and art educators from across Australia.

AEA and HAP would like to acknowledge the collective effort and thank the following art educators for contributing their

time and expertise in reviewing iterations of this education resource: Alise Hardy, Robyn Carmody, Sarah Brooke, Kate

Camm, Dr Linda Clark, Dr Heejin Chang, Gail Harradine, Sue Pavlovich, Theresa Sainty and Michelle Walker. We thank

Dr Heejin Chang for the development of a bespoke glossary for students learning English as a second language.

We would like to thank Dr Jan Hogan for contributing the ‘Drawing a Line’ activity to the 2024 iteration of our education

resource. Thanks also to Archipelago Productions for facilitating a rich, interdisciplinary discussion between visual arts

and drama by supporting students to experience the Past the Shallows play, directed by Ben Winspear.

All iterations of the HAP education resource build upon the foundation collaborative efforts of Dr Amy Jackett (Curator,

Hadley’s Art Prize), Dr Abbey MacDonald (Senior Lecturer in Art Education at the University of Tasmania and former

President of Art Education Australia) and Professor Margaret Baguley (Professor in Arts Education, Curriculum and

Pedagogy at the University of Southern Queensland current Vice President of Art Education Australia).

We thank these educators, scholars and artists for their generous sharing of expertise at various points over the past six

years. Their contributions have been instrumental in articulating points of tension and resonance between curriculum

and syllabus content, informing the development of activities that support realisation of intended learning outcomes,

and possible directions for student and teacher inquiry; all of which are considered and contextualised in relation to the

emerging themes, cultural storylines, media and practices enacted by HAP artists each year.

This senior secondary art prize creates an authentic opportunity for students to put forward their work for consideration in a national field of entries, and will undoubtedly give the winning student the confidence to continue their creative practice.

– Dr Amy Jackett (Hadley’s Art Prize Curator)

Entries are shortlisted by art education experts at the University of Tasmania and the winner decided by the 2024 Hadley’s Art Prize judges.

Exposure for the winning student artwork is extended internationally through being featuring on the cover of the Australian Art Education journal, which has a strong international artist, art teacher and art educationresearcher readership base. The winning artwork features on the cover of Australian Art Education Vol 42. No.2.

Judges consider the student’s creativity and technical skill, seeking artwork that is imaginative or profound in its response to contemporary art themes with a high level of conceptual and practical resolution. The 2024 winner of the Hadley’s Art Prize will feature in next year’s iteration of the HAP Education Resource and a forthcoming issue of the Australian Art Education journal.

Senior visual arts students can choose to focus on the development of their artistic practice through a course of study related to art studio practice. An alternative approach can either focus on art theory and criticism in relation to an applied approach to visual art, such as engaging with and learning about community art practices and processes. This is where interconnections between making and responding can be actioned, extended and interrogated, enabling students to foster innovative relationships between creative artforms and discipline areas beyond the arts. Teachers are invited to adapt and contextualise the senior-secondary activities to align with and support the address of key ideas and intended outcomes of their respective state/territory visual art courses.

Artwork title: Nature's Secret Passage

Artist statement:

My work explores themes of urban decay and natural regrowth. Natures Secret Passage depicts Old Helensburgh Station, opened in 1889 but closed in 1915 due to an over amount of soot and debris in the tunnel. The tunnel acts as a direct insight into our past of transportation, and allows for the viewer to imagine what it would have been like to go through this tunnel 100 years ago.

Judges’ comments:

Innes’s photographic artwork skilfully captures the juxtaposition of urban decay and natural regrowth, presenting a poignant commentary on the passage of time and the resilience of nature. The composition draws the viewer into the abyss of an abandoned tunnel, where the brick infrastructure of a bygone era stands in stark contrast to the vibrant foliage reclaiming the space. This interplay between the artificial and the natural, the forgotten and the flourishing, imbues the artwork with a sense of both melancholy and hope, making it a compelling piece.

Azi Hudson, Cardijn College, SA

• Be kind and constructive in any comments.

• Only share student work with permission.

• Avoid uploading full names or identifying student information.

• Respect cultural protocols—especially when sharing work related to place, Country, or Indigenous artists.

• Who is the artist?

• What are the main ideas, themes or concepts in the artist's work?

• How does this relate to the world of my students?

• What are some ways students could respond to these issues - without creating copies of the artist's work?

• 
  

First Nations Australian Peoples and Cultures are incredibly diverse, and understandably so too is the advice to non-First Nations people about best practice in engaging with and responding to such artists and artworks. However, here are some respectful approaches we can all adopt:

1. Know what Country you are on, and who are the people with cultural authority who can advise you

2. Position the voice of the artist as the highest authority when exploring artwork, including interpreting and making meaning in artworks.

3. Be aware that for many First Nations Cultures, knowledge that is communicated in artworks belong not to an individual, but to a community, and that this knowledge is protected by that community. 

4. Do not respond to artworks by working in the style of that artist, or by appropriating their direct experiences. Rather, support students to understand the ideas explored in the artwork, and then to connect these ideas to the context of your students, and respond in ways that honour their own experiences. The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) has a helpful flowchart to assist in this process
   

As educators, we are learners. If we don’t know what to do, then we find out. When we get it wrong, we learn, we reflect, and we try again.

As an arts practice, appropriation must always respect artists rights and copyright laws. NAVA has fact sheets for students and teachers to help navigate this space. There is also a general agreement that appropriation should only be attempted when there is a full understanding of the significance of the image or object by either being a part of the culture or community it belongs to or by acquiring deep knowledge about it through the teachings of those from said culture/community. 

As you explore the exhibition and the work of the artists, you will find themes that connect the work. You might like to explore these themes with your class.

• Atmosphere

• Texture

• Mark Making

• Creating/working in situ

Artwork title: Bush Medicine

Medium: acrylic on canvas

Size: 111 x 111 cm

Year: 2024

Artist statement:
Seeds, bush medicine - bush medicine seeds and Frew River. Frew River running, bush flowers everywhere, them bush seeds everywhere, we eat em'. We smash them seeds, make damper. We go bush – Epenarra (Wutunugurra), here (Owairtilla) – we get them seeds. Get them green leaf too, boil em' up. Sweet potato underneath, flowers on top. Sugarbag honey from tree, the white tree. Kids follow us, teach em' when we go out walking, hunting, painting. Show em' bush tucker everywhere, show em’ painting there again. That purple and blue (depicted), we get em' from coloured water stone for ceremony, body paint.

Artwork title: Log it!

Medium: oil paint on canvas

Size: 84 x 119 cm

Year: 2025

Artist statement:
Log it! Is a love letter to the chaotic beauty of the natural world, capturing the untouched environment of Queensland’s Daintree Rainforest. Inspired by the grand depictions of nature by Romantic artists such as John Constable, alongside contemporary influences including Harold Thornton’s portrait of Dr Bob Brown, Log it! aims to convey the immersive experience of a tropical rainforest where colour, texture, temperature, moisture and scent overwhelm the senses. It reminds viewers of the rainforest’s diverse and irreplaceable details – elements of nature that are beautiful and fragile, and increasingly at risk of being lost.

Artwork title: Pirrnpirrnga – Desert Bore

Medium: acrylic paint on Belgian linen

Size: 76 x 121 cm

Year: 2026   Artist statement:
This painting depicts the ‘pin pin’ desert bore outstation near Kintore. This is Ann Lane’s Tjukurrpa and country. Pirrnpirrnga has mountains, rocks and a big rock hole, where there is always water. In the Tjukurrpa the snakes are travelling around the sand hill country, looking for water. Ann remembers visiting this country and seeing her aunty singing by those rock holes.

Artwork title: Minymaku Inma

Medium: synthetic polymer on linen

Size: 152 x 122 cm

Year: 2026

Artist statement:
Inma inkapai ngayulu. I sing ceremony. I practice inma all the time, and I paint it on canvas. This work comes from women’s ceremony—song, dancing, and rhythm in the body. I am a cultural woman. I carry this knowledge and keep it strong. My painting follows the movement of inma. This is my practice. Uwa, palyo. This inma is about Mimili, the place I grew up. When we sing maku inma, we make the country strong. The land listens and responds. This painting holds that song, keeping Mimili stories alive and well.

Artwork title: Ngangkari Ngura (Healing Country) 

Medium: acrylic on linen 

Size: 152 x 122 cm  

Year: 2025 

Artist statement: 
I am a ngangkaṟi (healer), and it is as a ngangkaṟi that I paint. The eagle is my father’s spirit – it has a special vision that I can use. I’m also a painter of emus, which are a significant part of my birthplace; I paint their tracks belonging to the site, Yalungu. I also paint hands, the hands of a healer, and the eagle that I have inside. If a person’s spirit is absent, then I will send the eagle out to see, as I wait. Then it can be returned, the person is awakened [laughs with joy] – healed!  

Artwork title: Weereewa (Lake George) Tree I (for Dorothy + Brenda) 

Medium: Chromalux print, scanned from original tintype 

Size: 105 x 78 cm  

Year: 2026    

Artist statement: 
This work from Croft’s new body of work after/image considers how natural and built environments hold memory/ies. Croft looks deeply into sites that connect directly to her family’s matrilineal history to tell a story of connection and distance, memory and loss over time. Croft’s work looks at her family's early settler-colonial connections to the northeast corner of Weereewa/Lake George, an endorheic lake that rises and falls enigmatically over time. This deeply evocative place has been a site of intra-cultural contact between First Nations Peoples for thousands of years, and colonial impact, fantasies and reflection for almost two centuries.  

Artwork title: The treetops rustle; it is carried down the escarpment and dissipates in the lower fields 

Medium: oil on board 

Size: 100 x 140 cm   

Year: 2026    

Artist statement: 
The study for this work was painted in residence at Bundanon. While there, I worked with Luke de Zilva, exploring the interplay of sound and image in response to the landscape. For this piece, I returned to a location we had encountered together after following a path carved through the scrub by wallabies. I was drawn to the way the trees, grasses and rocks overlapped, and to a subtle, haunting darkness that seemed to linger in the landscape.  

Artwork title: Parnngurr 

Medium: acrylic on linen 

Size: 152 x 152 cm  

Year: 2024 

Artist statement: 
"We were climbing Parnngurr hill; we were frightened. Kartiya (Europeans) would walk around, trying to catch Martu people. We would run up the hill and hide. We watched them catch people. We were eating flour that white people gave us. It was horrible. From [Parnngurr rockhole], we got in the truck and went with the white people to Jigalong. Kumpaya [Girgirba], Jakayu [Biljabu] and Ngamaru [Bidu], we were all on top of the hill looking at the white people." - Bugai Whyoulter  

Artwork title: Before the Rain 

Medium: oil on canvas 

Size: 122 x 92 cm  

Year: 2026    

Artist statement: 
Pepper is old and I am young. She and I go walking together. Lingering by the sheoaks and gums, she watches the pademelons. Waiting for her, I hum to myself and notice the scent of petrichor rising from the soil. The precursor to rain is one of my favourite smells. We turn our faces into the breeze and inhale the salty ocean air. I have a lot to learn from her.  

Artwork title: Entanglement 

Medium: watercolour and collaged linoprints on paper 

Size: 73 x 152 cm  

Year: 2026       

Artist statement: 
Exploring the landscape in my work is a way of searching for my place, attempting to give shape to the struggle of my existence. When I was a native flower farmer, I grew native plants in manmade environments. Now, I’m fascinated by native species in their natural habitats, particularly alpine regions. Needing no cultivation, these plants flourish without assistance, wearing their struggle in their form. In Entanglement I explore the way these alpine plants grow together, both competing and coexisting, crowded in seeming chaos yet creating patterns. Their relationships with each other and their surroundings are complex and compelling.  

Artwork title: A Humbling Insignificance 

Medium: oil and beeswax on linen 

Size: 155 x 99 cm  

Year: 2026    

Artist statement: 
Upon rocks forged when life was in its most primitive form, I observe dawn from shadows which retain the night’s chill. In the presence of such ancient formations, I am met with a humbling insignificance; personal tribulations recede against the vastness of deep time. A Humbling Insignificance explores a unity between the landscape’s physical form and my perception of place, shaped through embodied engagement; traversing terrain, enduring conditions, and reflecting on geological and anthropic histories. Expressive yet composed marks render the landscape’s rugged poetics, while an interplay of mediums distinguishes solid and atmospheric forms, allowing each its own resonance.  

Artwork title: PIKILYI 

Medium: synthetic polymer paint, gouache on 16 canvas board panels 

Size: 102 x 142 cm  

Year: 2026       

Artist statement: 
This painting celebrates the late Walpiri elder, Michael Nelson Jagamara. It depicts the place ‘Pikilyi’ where he was conceived. His nascent identity, host to the so-called spirit-being named ‘White Cockatoo’. But ‘nascent’ – what does it mean? It is the act or condition of coming into existence, beginning to form, grow and develop? This work also celebrates our collaborations over several decades – nascent in 1985. One of these collaborations The Call from Papunya 2018 is in the collection of the Tate Modern in London. IF THERE WERE ANYWHERE BUT DESERT.  

Artwork title: Tormented Land 

Medium: oil and sand on linen 

Size: 153 x 153 cm  

Year: 2026       

Artist statement: 
Extraordinarily, Australia is now the only developed nation designated a global hotspot for deforestation. Made using videos of deforestation in various parts of Australia and visiting sites, this painting is part of a series I’ve been working on for the past 12 months. I’m seeking to illuminate what forest destruction feels like after the machines have left the scene and all is quiet. Like a crime scene or a battlefield strewn with the sinewy vestiges of a torn down lifeform. Caterpillar tracks are the fingerprints that evidence this is destruction guided by the human hand, not a natural disaster.

Artwork title: First light over Cuttagee #2 

Medium: oil on linen 

Size: 153 x 122 cm  

Year: 2025    

Artist statement: 
I see painting as a physical act of hope with poetic intention. I’m drawn to moments of transition, those brief passages of light and time that hold the possibility of renewal. Most of my work falls into a neo-romantic genre, where unconditional love and hope are represented mostly through imagined skyscapes or dreamscapes and optical phenomena. We look to the heavens for signs to guide us during times of hope and despair. Every sky is a rainbow, and every painting a rainbow in that sky.  

Artwork title: Bunuru Nocture, Derbal Yerrigan (High-Summer Night, Swan River) 

Medium: unique state wax reduction screen print, botanical inks: indigofera tintura, chlorophyll from mulberry leaves, turmeric, musou ink (light absorbing black), photoluminescent pigments: europium, dysprosium, strontium aluminate (glow in the dark), wax on canvas. 

Size: 160 x 140 cm  

Year: 2026    

Artist statement: 
Visiting the Derbal Yerrigan by night, under a Bunuru moon, the landscape holds light differently. Limestone cliffs glow as if carrying the day and warm skies exhale in velvety darkness. Built through accumulated printed layers of translucent botanical inks and photo-luminescent earth-pigments, the work absorbs and re-emits light energy, thus shifting with its surroundings — brightening and dimming throughout the day then glowing mysteriously bright by night, in constant ebb and flow. Moonlight gathers across the river and rests in cliffs and trees, where faint presences dwell. The work behaves like the landscape itself: living, breathing, responsive, and quietly changing.