First established in 2001 and presented by Woollahra Council, the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize is Australia’s most prestigious award for small-scale sculpture, and the country’s first national acquisitive prize for an original work up to 80cm in any dimension. This year’s field is the strongest yet: 49 finalists selected from 724 entries, submitted locally and internationally.
The winning work will be chosen by a heavy-hitting panel: Emily Sullivan (Assistant Curator of Contemporary International Art, AGNSW), Beau Neilson (arts leader and philanthropist), and Tim Silver (artist and 2018 Prize winner). The winner receives $25,000, and the work joins Woollahra Council’s permanent public art collection.
Among this year’s finalists are BJ Kim (Thirroul, NSW), whose do Geese see God? draws on seabirds as a symbol of joy; Lynda Draper (Thirroul, NSW), whose JET channels a fascination with history; Bryant Chitsey (Choctaw, USA), whose Thunderstorm reimagines the haybale as an icon of the Great Plains and a piece of Oklahoma childhood nostalgia; Melanie Cobham (Fitzroy North, VIC), whose Unfolded Trees traces the growth patterns of Scribbly Gum Moth larvae; and Tricia Singer (Ciccone, NT), whose Peacock recalls a joyful family memory of encountering the bird at Mataranka. Also among the finalists are Wanita Lowe, whose Crisis on Country – Call of the Bilirr Bilirr is a woven fibre work, and Christopher Jewitt, whose vivid ceramic assemblage Oh My Gosh brings together colour, texture and pattern.
BJ Kim, do Geese see God? — inspired by seabirds soaring along the NSW north coast.
Lynda Draper, JET — fragmented visual impressions and a fascination with historical artefacts, in clay and glass.
Wanita Lowe, Crisis on Country – Call of the Bilirr Bilirr.
Christopher Jewitt, Oh My Gosh.
To mark the anniversary, the Gallery is also launching the inaugural Super Small Sculpture Prize — a free-to-enter category for primary-school-aged sculptors, split into 5–8s and 9–12s, working at 15cm or under.
The exhibition opens 2 October and runs to 29 November at Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf, with the winner announced at a preview on 1 October.
Past winners of the WSSP read as a who’s who of Australian sculpture: Archie Moore took the Prize in 2010, well before his Golden Lion at the 2024 Venice Biennale; Mikala Dwyer (2003) went on to install Monuments for Fishes at Barangaroo; Sanne Mestrom (2017) was Highly Commended in this year’s Wynne Prize; and Rhonda Sharpe won in 2021.
