Lucy Culliton’s, Cliff Hole, Bottom Bullock, will be on accompany the touring exhibitions of the 2025 Wynne Prize. The exhibition at Grafton Regional Gallery will launch on Friday April 24, at 6pm.
The Wynne Prize is Australia’s oldest art prize. It was established following a bequest by Richard Wynne and was first awarded in 1897 to mark the official opening of the Art Gallery of New South Wales at its present site.Judged annually by the Art Gallery of New South Wales trustees, this year 52 finalists were selected from 758 entries for the best landscape painting of Australian scenery or figurative sculpture.
Free event, everyone welcome.
Exhibition Dates: April 25 – July 5, 2026
Where: Grafton Regional Gallery, on Bundjalung Country, 158 Fitzroy St, Grafton NSW 2460
Open from 10am-4pm, Monday to Saturday (closed Christmas Day, Boxing Day and Good Friday).
On Cliff Hole, Bottom Bullock, by Lucy Culliton:
‘The landscape along Cambalong Creek in Gunningrah, a property in the Monaro region of NSW, has been a recurring subject in Lucy Culliton’s paintings over the past ten years. The property belongs to her friend Charlie Maslin, a regenerative farmer who was also the subject of an Archibald Prize entry by Culliton in 2020.
Of the property, she says, ‘Livestock are rotated in cell paddocks so the grass has long breaks from the wear and tear of animals. Charlie has built leaky weirs on the creek so large ponds hold water longer in dry times. Grasses and reeds grow along the edges of the banks so erosion isn’t an issue. All good farming practices, in my mind.’
A nine-time Wynne Prize finalist, Culliton takes an expansive view of the undulating landscape but also dwells in detail on blades of grass and dimpled clouds. Based on a smaller study painted en plein air (outdoors), the full-scale painting is electrified by blue sky, reflected on the surface of Cambalong Creek.’
The 2025 Wynne Prize Regional Tour will visit:
- Orange Regional Gallery 6 September – 16 November 2025
- Port Macquarie Glasshouse 29 November 2025 – 26 January 2026
- Ngununggula, Southern Highlands Regional Gallery 7 February – 5 April 2026
- Grafton Regional Gallery 25 April – 5 July, 2026
