A Sunshine Coast artist who entered an exhibition that supported a cause close to her heart has won the competition’s people’s choice prize.
Brianna Campbell, of Woombye, won the $500 award in Seeing the Soul: Hoofbeats Sanctuary Exhibition and Art Prize at the Cooroy Butter Factory.
The exhibition was a fundraiser for Hoofbeats Sanctuary, an initiative of mental health charity Kanyini Connections, which provides trauma-healing services involving animals and nature for women and girls.
“I was partly drawn to the exhibition because of the focus on mental health. I live with OCD,” Brianna said.
“For me, art is a very simple way to live with some quiet in my head.”
Brianna won over visitors to the exhibition with In Your Arms, a charcoal drawing of a little girl sleeping with a puppy, which was one of three works she entered in the exhibition.
Although she has been drawing since she was two, Brianna, 32, only got serious about her art a couple of years ago, enrolling in classes with the Art School Co.
She had a vision for her prizewinning drawing and used a photo of her cousin’s four-year-old daughter and another of a puppy as references.
Her cousin unfortunately missed out on making it a permanent feature at home.
“She actually wanted to buy it but somebody else beat her to it, and she was a little bit sad about it, but I was flattered that a stranger bought it, that somebody who didn’t know me wanted to pay for it,” she said.
Brianna briefly pursued a music career but has instead decided to continue her art and hopes to one day illustrate books.
The top prize at the exhibition coincidentally also depicted a female with a dog.
Jo Hawkins, a graphic designer-turned-artist, won a $2500 major prize with her acrylic on canvas panel of a young woman with a border collie.
Ms Hawkins, in a submission with the painting, said she wanted to convey the sense of love between an animal and human.
“What love is more unconditional than a person and their dog?” she said.
Ellie Sutton, of the Blue Mountains, was runner-up with her photograph Little Bird, for which she received a $1500 prize.
Jasmine Veronique, of Yandina, was highly commended for her oil on canvas Innocent Harmony.
Ellenie Faith Kirkman, 17, of Tewantin, was awarded the emerging artist prize for her oil on canvas Kindred Spirits.
The exhibition, which wound up on May 12, is a fundraiser for Hoofbeats. Artists have donated works or offered them for sale on consignment to raise money for the sanctuary. Unsold works are for sale on the Hoofbeats Sanctuary website.
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