Through The Artists' Eyes : The Lester Prize - The Black Swan Years

Through The Artists' Eyes : The Lester Prize - The Black Swan Years
ISBN: 9780648371700
Publication Date: 5 November 2019

In 2006, The Black Swan Prize for Portraiture was born from humble beginnings in a small tin shed in Western Australia. Through an incredible journey of passion and determination it is now one of Australia's richest portrait prizes, with thousands of people visiting the exhibition at the Art Gallery of Western Australia each year.

In 2019 the Black Swan Prize was rechristened the Lester Prize and this book, Through The Artists' Eyes was created to document and showcase the pivotal Black Swan Prize years (2007-2018).This exquisite visual-arts book includes stunning photos of winning artworks, the artists' stories, and the self-doubt, rejection and inspiration behind many of Australia's finest artists. It also offers a window into the world of those less fortunate than ourselves, and covers art workshops for hospitalized children, the disabled, unemployed, remote indigenous children and elderly with dementia.

About the Author

Dr Shelley Craddock is a writer and passionate lover of the arts. While practising medicine she studied art history and volunteered for the Black Swan Prize for Portraiture. Her publications include book reviews for Australian Doctor magazine, the Cancer Council Calendar, Celebrating Everywoman, and the Screenwest newsletter. She is also a screenwriter and filmmaker. She co-wrote Freedom on the River, about a group of disabled rowers. Her full-length screenplay, Sirocco, won a Screenwest First Writers Grant in 2004, development funding in 2007, and was shortlisted for West Coast Visions in 2008. Through the Artists' Eyes is her first book.