melissa smith ― terrific trifecta

Artist Melissa Smith has just scored a hat-trick. Tasmania’s haunting high country has once again drawn national acclaim for the Handmark printmaker who returns to her sacred space at Lake Sorell for inspiration.

Being selected as finalist in a prestigious art prize is achievement enough. But to be nominated in three – at the same time – is incredible. And that is where Melissa finds herself. Her distinctive multi-panel prints, which capture the powerful silence of our central highlands, have also captured the judges eye in the Burnie Print Prize which opens this Friday; the Geelong Acquisitive Print Award; and Victoria’s WAMA Art Prize which Melissa won in 2022 during it’s inaugural showing.

“I feel like I’ve got a hat trick,” Melissa tells us from Flinders Island where she is helping to curate a local gallery. “All art prizes are highly competitive, and to be acknowledged in three at the same time is quite frankly overwhelming and very humbling.”

Accolades also for printmaker, Jennifer Marshall. She is one of 40 artists handpicked to celebrate the Australian Print Workshop’s 40^th anniversary. Jennifer’s broodingly dark etching, Lament, of Tasmania’s wild coastline has been selected for this monumental survey of contemporary Australian printmaking.