18 Aug Australian Species Art Exhibition
As part of our National Science Week activities, UNE Discovery hosted an art competition titled “Adaptations: Amazing Australian Species” and we invited artists of all ages to participate.
The aim of the competition was to highlight the extraordinary abilities of our Australian animals, birds, insects and plants as they adapt to their ever-changing world due to human and climate factors.
The competition was open to artists of all ages, who were invited to submit an artwork of their chosen Australian species, and include a paragraph (maximum 150 words) with their entry outlining how their subject has adapted (or is trying to adapt) to a changing environment. Entrants were encouraged to research their chosen subject, and provide interesting adaptation details with their submission.
We received 61 artworks along with their species adaptation details. Our three judges were impressed with the exceptional quality of the artworks and artistic abilities as well as the details provided by artists on their chosen subjects. There was much deliberation and thought around deciding on the overall winners – judges had to balance the artistic talents of our entries with the adaptation stories as well as the large distribution of ages within each category.
We held our official exhibition opening and awards night on Thursday 15 August at UNE’s “The Bistro” which included a wander over to UNE’s Dixson Library to see all the artworks on display.
Congratulations to the category winners:
Junior (K-Yr6) – Elsie Fittler
Senior (Yr7-Yr12) – Daisy Donaldson
Open/Adult – Emma Schaeffer
Our judges also awarded two highly commended certificates to:
Charlotte Ford and Yohannah Foulsham, both in the Junior category.
Junior – Elsie Fittler – King of the Bin-Cockatoo – Winner
Senior- Daisy Donaldson – Suburban Possum – Winner
Open – Emma Schaeffer – The Collector, Magpie – Winner
Junior – Freda Schaeffer – Rosella
Junior – Maya Slade – Kookaburra in a wattle tree
Junior – Alice Pearson – Kookaburra in a gum tree
Junior – Penny Sindel Marchall – Purple Copper Butterfly
All artworks will be on display in Dixson Library until the end of September. Dixson Library is usually open from 8am-7pm each day but please check the link for accurate timings on the date you wish to attend. Library hours can be found here. https://www.une.edu.au/library/visit-us/opening-hours
We thank UNE Discovery’s own resident entomologist, Dr Sue Jaggar, for her very enthralling talk about the Tachinid fly and its adaptations. Who knew they could be so fascinating! Check out the story on these interesting flies in this newsletter.