Albany’s maritime festival to host inaugural art exhibition inspired by akoya oyster

Inspiration from Albany’s akoya oyster will be the focal point in an inaugural multimedia exhibition at this year’s maritime festival.

New and emerging Great Southern artists are being asked to take part in an exhibition that will explore the colours green and blue inspired by the akoya oyster.

The G + B Exhibition, which stands for green and blue, will be held as part of the City of Albany’s 2022 Maritime Festival in July.

Leeuwin Coast has established the world’s first commercial edible akoya-farming operation with the Albany-harvested delicacy now featured in well-known WA restaurants, including Liberte.

City of Albany community relations manager Louise Paterson said it was exciting to include an art exhibition in this year’s event.

“Albany and the Great Southern abound with so many incredibly talented artists and we wanted to provide an opportunity to show off their beautiful work and be involved in this year’s maritime festival,” she said.

Artists 16 years or older are invited to create new works full of green and blue inspiration for the exhibition. The art will be showcased at the Albany Entertainment Centre.

The City is interested in receiving work from creators who have never exhibited before.

“Artists can use any medium they choose — painting, sculpture, textiles, photography, welding, weaving, to name a few,” Ms Paterson said.

“The work must be predominantly in shades of green and blue, it must be new work that has not been previously exhibited and it must be for sale.”

Entries in the the G + B Exhibition will be eligible for a $1000 overall prize and $500 for the community choice award.

The exhibition will be curated by Bernadette McKirdy.

“Bernadette has recently completed an intensive internship at The Kerry Stokes Collection. We are delighted to be hosting Bernadette in her first regional guest curator role,” Ms Paterson said.

Ms McKirdy will hold an artist’s briefing on March 9 at Vancouver Arts Centre from 5:30pm.

For details, visit cityofalbanyevents.com.