Front row from left: D'Arcy Rouillard, Sculpture winner; Gael Balogh, Highly Commended; Gwendoline Krumins VAS, First Prize winner; Leslie Pascoe, Highly Commended.

Back row from left: Ray Hewitt VAS FVAS Curators Choice; Zoja Trofimiuk, Highly Commended Sculpture; Julian Bruere VAS FVAS, winner of the Walter Withers Award, and Mark Bagally VAS President.

On Saturday night Mark Bagally, President of the Victorian Artists Society officially opened the annual 2024 VAS Winter Select Exhibition and presented the Awards on behalf of the Judge, Paul McDonald Smith OAM FVAS FRSA. 

The VAS Winter Select Exhibition is one of three Select Exhibitions held each year by the Victorian Artists Society. Votes cast by exhibiting artists are used to decide the list of candidates for The Hylton Mackley AM Hon FVAS, Artist of the Year Award Exhibition. The Winter Exhibition features a first prize of $1000, and a sculpture prize of $500.

The Judge for the VAS Winter Select Exhibition 2024 is Paul McDonald Smith. Paul was 2001 Artist of the Year at the Victorian Artists Society and is a Life Member and Past President of VAS and the Twenty Melbourne Painters Society. Paul is widely known for his colourful oil paintings of flowers, still life, landscape and portraits in the tonal impressionist manner. A very experienced teacher, he has conducted painting classes and workshops since 1977. Paul is in high demand as a judge and a very popular demonstrator of traditional painting techniques. His work has received well over 100 major awards including VAS Norman Kaye Memorial Medallion in 1998 and 1999. His studies include fine art at RMIT and the Camberwell Travel Scholarship.

The Walter Withers Award

This year, the Winter Select Exhibition also incorporates a special award, the ‘Walter Withers Award’, sponsored by John Withers and Andrew Mackenzie OAM Hon FVAS. The prize is a beautifully etched medallion engraved with the winner’s name. The award is restricted to a landscape painting in the mediums of oil or watercolour, in line with Walter Withers’ painting style. 

Andrew Mackenzie was the judge for this aspect of the exhibition and John Withers presented the medallion. The winner was chosen from the entries in the Winter Select Exhibition.