'It's amazing': 40th Radford College art show is on this weekend

The 40^th Radford College Art Show is on this weekend, the opening night on Friday seeing lots of red stickers start to appear on the almost 400 works on display, including contributions by the students.

This year's prize was judged by Robert Stephens, owner of the Aarwun Gallery in Gold Creek and founder of the National Capital Art Prize.

He also has a strong association with the school, his own children and grandchildren attending Radford over the years.

"There's some really, really good work here," he said, walking through the display of artworks on Friday morning.

"From what I've seen, it's amazing. It's exciting."

The winners in the show were announced on Friday night.

First prize went to Tatiana Caines for Walking in Bimberi.

The first prize of $2000, sponsored by the Radford Collegians, is named in honour of Jonquil Mackey, a much-loved media and photography teacher at Radford who passed away in 2018.

Benjamin van Eldon won second prize with The purpose of life is to live it.

And third prize when to Robert Wynton for Out of Gas.

Student awards will be presented in the school hall on Sunday at noon.

The show is open Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 4pm in the hall, with all works for sale, including paintings, ceramics, photography, sculptures and textiles.

Visitors can vote for the People's Choice Award winner, also being announced on Sunday.

Run by the Radford Parents and Friends Association, the art show is a fundraiser but also an event for the broader community, the association's president Stephanie Hinton said.

The most recent project funded by the association was a greenhouse for the ELC.

"It's a nice fundraising event but it's also a hallmark event for our community and brings the greater community on to campus," Ms Hinton said.

While the show comprises multiple works from 75 registered artists, it also displays the work of the college students, from kindergarten to year 12.

Junior school art teacher Christina Dunne said the students were thrilled to see their work exhibited among that of professional artists.

"It's extremely hard to put up just one or two [from each class] to put up on the wall," she said.

"We wanted to show some of the great learning the students have been doing and also the joyfulness through the colour and subject matter that they have chosen.

"It's a real privilege for them to be hanging in a real art show with real artists from our community."

Curator Camelia Smith, also an artist, said she wanted to show every piece off as well as possible.

"And when it come together, I love it," she said.

"I walk through and think, 'Oh this feels right'. It's more of a feeling than anything else. It feels right."