The opening night celebration of the 14th annual bentART exhibition was held on Friday, June 8 at the Wentworth Falls School of Arts.
About 350 people turned up to view 130 fabulous artworks created by 63 artists. Shane Smither gave a heartfelt Welcome to Country and had the crowd doing a traditional stomp to the tapping rhythm of a left and right handed boomerang.
Amelia Tracey who curated the show, and also had the whole exhibition whooping and clapping, cheering, whistling and making noise in celebration of Australia finally reaching marriage equality. The stage design was also a representation of this theme and was created by Blue Mountains businesses.
Eleven awards were presented to artists, the overall bentART exhibition winner being April White. Gabriele Rummel was awarded the runner-up. This year’s judges were Shane Smither, wearing his other hat, and Sophia Kouyoumdjian.
Blue Mountains City Councillor Romola Hollywood and Federal Member for Macquarie Susan Templeman attended the annual event.
The artworks were as diverse as the artists who created them, showcasing the incredible talent that exist in our community.
