Art tutor to judge NZ's premier drawing award

Waiariki Bay of Plenty Polytechnic’s visual art tutor, Kelcy Taratoa, is renowned for his edgy, graphic paintings but will be switching to the more sensitive, quiet discipline of drawing as one of the judges in the prestigious Parkin Drawing Awards.

Kelcy has been asked to be part of the judging panel which includes prolific New Zealand artists Dick Frizzell and Judy Darragh as well as historian and writer Warren Feeney. The winner is announced on 2 August to coincide with a public exhibition showcasing all finalists’ works at the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts in Wellington. 

“It’s exciting, I’m really looking forward to it,” says Kelcy. “I met Chris [Parkin, who established the award] at an artist’s residency. He encouraged me to enter the awards at the time, but I’ve been focusing on painting and teaching. I’d like to enter in the future though.”

Reflecting its prestigious nature, the Parkin Prize comes with a major prize –of $20,000 for the winner, as well as 10 highly commended awards of $500 each.

“There’s a hierarchy in artistic disciplines and these types of awards help elevate drawing. I’m pleased that it has been singled out; drawing is a distinctive process – the type of attention, sensitivity and detail is quite different to painting and other art forms.”

The judges’ criteria includes looking for works that capture the spirit of invention, risk and discovery. 

“I don’t have any preconceived ideas about what the submissions will look like,” muses Kelcy. “I will allow myself to respond to each work and look for those things. They are all important criteria but risk stands out as an intriguing one to me.”

Kelcy has carved a reputation as one of New Zealand’s most exciting young artists and one to watch. As well as his own painting, Kelcy spends time passing on his skills and talent to the next generation of budding artists as a full-time tutor on Waiariki Bay of Plenty Polytechnic’s Bachelor of Creative Industries. He’s currently working on a commission and has a show coming up in September.

“As tutors we should be working on our own art as well as teaching it. We should be living, breathing artists and practitioners.”