Artist Amber Wallis receives Sulman Prize recognition

OCEAN Shores artist Amber Wallis has been named a finalist for the Sulman Prize for the second consecutive year.

Established in 1936 through the bequest of the family of architect Sir John Sulman, the competition is judged annually by a guest artist selected by the Art Gallery of NSW. The prize is awarded for the best genre painting representing everyday life, subject painting or mural project by an Australian artist and is presented alongside the prestigious Archibald Prize.

Wallis was recognized for her abstract oil-on-linen painting Red Figures Merging into the Land.

The 47-year-old grew up on Great Barrier Island and Waiheke Island in New Zealand, where she was immersed in the counterculture of the 1970s and ’80s. Her work often draws from these formative experiences.

It also explores themes of motherhood, domestic confinement and the longing for something else.

“I’m interested in holding some of the darker edges of these experiences and repainting them anew into safer terrain,” she said.

In 2022, Wallis was awarded the inaugural Wollumbin Art Prize by the Tweed Regional Gallery for a portrait of her nine-year-old daughter, Ivy. Her work has also been exhibited at prominent galleries, including the Jan Murphy Gallery in Brisbane and the Nicholas Thompson Gallery in Melbourne.

While the Sulman Prize was awarded to Blue Mountains-based artist Gene A’Hern for his piece Sky Painting, Wallis said she was honoured to be among the 30 finalists, especially considering the prize attracted a record 732 entries this year.

“It’s always very nice having recognition from your peers and specifically the judge of the Sulman this year, Elizabeth Pulie,” she said.

“I do feel like I’m called to live a creative life and to paint. It feels like it’s the thing I’m meant to do in life.”

The Sulman Prize exhibition is on at the Art Gallery of NSW until August 17.