National art competition comes down to the wire

A design student who put his entry together at the last minute has beaten more seasoned artists to take out the top prize at the Number 8 Wire Awards.

Art enthusiasts from around the country flocked to Hamilton’s ArtsPost for the annual award finals last night.

The competition, launched in 1997, was won this year by Whanganui School of Design student Max Deutschle.

The newcomer’s creation, The Hollow Tiki, symbolised the loss of tradition and culture and was his first competition win.

“Just by trying new things, working on things that you think are important and applying to competitions you can get your name out there,“ he said.

The graphic design student was encouraged by his tutor to enter the competition and decided to give it a crack at the last minute.

“I started working on it about a week out from the due date. So there were some long nights and some blisters. But I’m really happy with it.”

Max plans to put the $4000 prize money towards going to visit some of his family in Germany who he hasn’t seen in 16 years.

Competition judge Jeff Thomson, who had the task of narrowing the 26 entries down to 17 finalists and then choosing the top three, was impressed by the pieces.

“From looking at the photos to seeing the creations in person I am very inspired. The imagination put into each concept is quite incredible.

“They’re limited to working with one material but there are at least 15-20 different techniques used here.”

Second place getter Donna Sarten, who won the premier prize last year, lost count after cutting 9000 pieces of wire for her creation, The Price of Milk, and is grateful to have no more splinters.

Asaki Kajima took out third place with her piece, Circulation.

“I want to thank you for looking after my artwork. I wasn’t sure it’d make the trip from Hawke’s Bay to Hamilton,” she said when accepting her award.

“I struggled with the wire. I’ve never used it before. It was a new challenge for me to make it in two weeks.”

The event sponsored by Fieldays also featured an award chosen by President of NZ National Fieldays Lloyd Downing.

“It’s difficult for me to choose a winner. I’m a dairy farmer, not an artist,” he said.

“I thought people were running out of ideas. But every time I come here it gets better and better. It never ceases to amaze me what people can do with number 8 wire. Absolutely marvellous.”

Havelock North’s Ross Mackay got the nod of approval from Downing with his creation Highly strung.

“My background is in metal work. The Scream painting was in the media so it was on my mind. So I decided to incorporate it into my design,” he said.

The People’s Choice Award will be announced on July 22nd with voting taking place during the exhibition.

The creations were valued from $60 to over $9000 and are on display at ArtsPost Gallery until July 16.

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