Ag Art Wear winners announced

Designers held their breath as the 2009 National Fieldays Ag Art Wear Competition winners were announced on Friday, 12th June. Ag Art Wear attracted record numbers this year as over 800 people packed in to see the show. Over $16,000 worth of prizes were awarded at the 2009 Ag Art Wear awards ceremony, held after the 2pm Ag Art Wear show in the Spantec Pavilion.

This year’s Ag Art Wear show really displayed fashion with a framing twist as everything from tractor tyres to castration rings were paraded on the catwalk. Designers faced stiff competition as all wearable art entrants showcased garments of an extremely high standard. Alison Pizzini, an avid fan of Ag Art Wear, has been following the competition for over ten years. Alison says, “The imagination never ceases to amaze me, each year you don’t think it can get better, but it does.”

Judges for this years competition included, ArtsPost coordinator, Marion Manson, NZ National Fieldays General Manager, Barry Quayle, Monica Peters from NZ Landcare Trust and Robyn Brooks from Ooby Ryn. Judges where blown away by the talent seen at this year’s competition and found the judging process extremely difficult. Barry Quayle commented “Judges were impressed with the quality of this years entries, they were absolutely world class.”

In the premier category, Avant Garde, judges were looking for the most original and the less conventional designs. The proud winners of this section Suzanne Moorhouse and Valerie Hoogland with their design ‘Jacqueline Frost’, walked away today with the grand prize of $2,500.

‘Tractor factor’, a garment made entirely from tractor parts landed first place in the ‘Under 21’ category of the Ag Art Wear Competition. Designer Rebecca Jones from Matamata College accepted her award at today’s ceremony along with an $1800 prize pack.

The Maori education institution, Te Wananga O Aotearoa proudly accepted first place in ‘Land Care’ section with their design ‘Te Ohaki O Nga Tupuna.’ Designer Nga Putiputi o Te Roopu Raranga created the stunning waka art piece and took home $1800 worth of prizes. Additionally, Nga Putiputi o Te Roopu Raranga was the first winner of the brand new category, ‘designer fibre.’ The beautifully crafted possum fur design ‘Tame Hei Hei Te Katoa’ won a $1200 cash prize.

Helen Williams and Leanne Donne took home gold in the ‘Designer’ section with their yellow number titled ‘Banana Armour.’ The pair screamed with excitement as they walked onto the Ag Art Wear catwalk to collect their $12,000 prize pack.

Ag Art Wear is always looking for new and talented designers, so put your creative skills to the test! For more information on the Ag Art Wear competition visit the NZ National Fieldays website at www.fieldays.co.nz.