Sunshine Coast artist Marvene Ash has been awarded the $10,000 Local Contemporary Art Prize 2026 at the Caloundra Regional Gallery.
Ms Ash’s work Studio furniture (hare hiding) which depicts a vignette of her art studio in Maleny, won the Best in Show acquisitive prize from more than 200 entries by leading Sunshine Coast artists.
Galleries Manager at Redland Art Gallery and guest judge Kerryanne Ferrer said the oil painting “displayed a timeless quality and mastery of form.”
Ms Ash, who has been an artist for more than 40 years and has called the Sunshine Coast home since the mid-1980s, said her piece grappled with art history, the creative imagination, and the ordinary reality of an artist’s life and environment.
Other winners included Maleny’s Ketakii Jewson-Brown who won the $2,500 2D Excellence Award for a framed photographic pigment print titled Tender Love.
The $2,500 3D Excellence Award went to Maroochydore’s Samantha Mays for Head in the sand, a work made using sterling silver, 18ct gold, found objects (dice), and sand from Maroochydore beach.
The entries were narrowed down to 40 works which are on display and free to view at the Caloundra Regional Gallery at 22 Omrah Ave until May 17, 2026 from Tuesday – Friday 10am-4pm, and Saturday – Sunday 10am-2pm.
