Visual Arts Commission

'Joondakammer: a cabinet of curiosity for Joondalup' (detail) by Perdita Phillips, winner of the 2022-2024 Visual Arts Commission.
Pictured: ‘Joondakammer: A cabinet of curiosity for Joondalup’ (detail) by Perdita Phillips, winner of the 2022-2024 Visual Arts Commission.

Every two years, the City of Joondalup commissions a Western Australian artist to create a new artwork for the City’s growing collection. With a generous commission fee of $20,000, the selected artist will create an artwork that reflects the uniqueness of Joondalup, capturing its social, urban, cultural or natural attributes through research and community engagement. 

The Visual Arts Commission is one part of the City’s broader Visual Arts Program that aims to strengthen the shared cultural identity of Joondalup, preserve and celebrate our heritage, and bolster our region’s vibrant arts economy. 

Applications for the 2024 Visual Arts Commission have now closed. Thank you to everyone who applied.

All artists will be notified of the selection outcome in December 2024.

Pictured: Previous Visual Arts Commission artworks, ‘Meeting Points’ (2012) by Tony Windberg, ‘Koraar Woolagut Koorling, Yey Kwodjungut Koorling’ (2013) by Lindsay Harris, ‘Place of Glistening’ (2019) by Nien Schwarz, ‘Mute Figure #11 (the tide to the stars and back again)’ (2021) by Paul Kaptein, ‘Doondalup’ (2021) by Christopher Pease, ‘Joondakammer: A cabinet of curiosity for Joondalup’ (2024) by Perdita Phillips.

Key dates

  • Applications open: Monday 29 July 2024, 12pm
  • Applications close: Monday 9 September 2024, 12pm
  • All artists notified of selection outcome: December 2024
  • Selected artist concept response due: June 2025
  • Artwork completion date: May 2026

Who can apply?

This commission is open to Western Australian professional visual artists working across all mediums. Regional artists are encouraged to apply and, if accepted, will be eligible for a Regional Artists Bursary provided by the City to cover travel, accommodation, and other related expenses. If applicable, further details will be discussed with the selected artist. 

Find out more

For enquiries and help please contact the City’s Curator on 9400 4951 or at visualarts@joondalup.wa.gov.au.

To stay up to date on the Visual Arts Commission and other Joondalup arts initiatives, sign up for our Arts in Focus eNewsletter.

Threaded Perspectives

Threaded Perspectives
Monday 15 April – Saturday 20 July
Joondalup Library

Threaded Perspectives is a temporary art exhibition being held at Joondalup Library. The event is part of a series of never-before-seen exhibitions that feature works from the City of Joondalup Art Collection, commemorating Joondalup’s 25-year anniversary as a local government. This special milestone program celebrates the diversity of the City’s Art Collection, showcasing its unique identity and make-up of Western Australian artists, and providing an insight into the immeasurable cultural value it holds.

William Leggett, Module Exo 3 (A Knowledge of Gravity), 2022. City of Joondalup Art Collection.

Image credit: William Leggett, Module Exo 3 (A Knowledge of Gravity), 2022. City of Joondalup Art Collection.

About the exhibition

Within the span of 25 years, three major themes – or threads – have emerged within the City of Joondalup Art Collection. These are ‘suburbia and the Northern Corridor’, ‘materiality and form’, and ‘interpretations of landscape’. For the first time, Threaded Perspectives brings together a selection of highlights from the collection, offering a unique insight and exploration of these themes.

Reflecting on the history and geography of the Joondalup region, it is evident to see how these themes have developed prominently within the collection. Rapid and expansive suburban growth since 1998 has had significant impact on artists that engage with Joondalup and similar high growth areas within the Perth metropolitan region. These artists are keen observers of everyday experiences of suburbia, often drawing upon local suburban aesthetics or playful moments they stumble upon.

Similarly, artists have often been intrigued with the City’s breadth of natural environments, with the region boasting landscapes as diverse as wetlands, coastline, and bushland. Some artists dive deep into a specific place and their relation to it, while other artists channel their ongoing engagement with landscape and its presence into works that speak more broadly about their feeling and connection to place.

Artworks that engage with ideas of materiality and form have risen steadily over the Collection’s lifespan, with most acquired through the City’s annual Invitation Art Prize and possibly symptomatic of a broader trend among Western Australian contemporary artists. Central to these works is a sharp awareness of the artists’ chosen media’s materiality and how it can be manipulated, stretched, pulled, or corrupted to create an artwork. These works are often characterised by a sense of material play, unexpected moments, and questions of “how did they do that?”.

A central role of the artist is to observe and consume the world around them, filter it through their own experiences and generate an artistic outcome that offers a compelling interpretation of their interests. Threaded Perspectives highlights the different approaches artists take from similar departure points, offering reflections on varied experiences and providing viewers a chance to look at the world through different lenses, enrichening their own perception of suburbia, landscape, and materiality.

Large Composition with Brick Fragment by Ron Nyisztor

Image credit: Ron Nyisztor, Large Composition with Brick Fragment, 2010. City of Joondalup Art Collection.

About the City of Joondalup Art Collection

The City’s Art Collection was formed with the inception of the City in 1998, with Joondalup inheriting the contemporary artworks from the City of Wanneroo’s Art Collection. With a primary focus on the work of Western Australian contemporary artists, the Collection includes sculpture, drawings, paintings, print works, textiles, ceramics, glass work, video, photography, and installation. Along with standard collecting avenues, acquisitions are actively informed through the City’s annual exhibitions, including the $25,000 Invitation Art Prize, as well as a biennial $20,000 Visual Arts Commission. The Art Collection today is comprised of over 290 artworks and worth over $1.2million.

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Header image features ‘Sky Piece 2, wet (Melbourne, Helsinki), November 2020 – March 2021’, by Teelah George.

Public Art Masterplan Consultation

The City acknowledges the important role played by public art in creating a vibrant and appealing place to live, work and visit. Public art shapes and develops a sense of community and identity, contributing to our understanding and appreciation of our cultural and natural heritage, enhancing our built environment, and creating more meaningful public spaces. The City’s Public Art collection has been acquired since 1998 and includes over 20 artworks.

Setting the Vision for New Public Art

The City is currently undertaking consultation to develop a new Public Art Strategy and Masterplan.

This Masterplan will define the vision for Public Art in the City and help guide resources and funding towards future projects. Such projects aim to enhance the City’s significant Indigenous sites, built environment, distinctive natural assets, historic locations and key destinations. The Masterplan will also provide a guiding framework for all new commissions, ensuring that Joondalup’s Public Art collection creates a sense of place, promotes the expression of local identity, and reflects on the shared values and needs of the community.

Community Consultation Surveys and Workshops

The City sought community feedback in August 2023 to set the direction for the Public Art Masterplan. The survey received phenomenally high engagement, with more than 200 responses received. The results of the survey are currently being collated, along with findings from various community workshops and pop-ups.

Further information and next steps for the Public Art Masterplan will be shared shortly. To stay in the loop, subscribe to the City’s Arts in Focus eNewsletter.

Banner image: Bridget Norton, Untitled, 2009, digital print on acrylic. Craigie Leisure Centre, Craigie. 

Art Collection

Julie Dowling, Icon to a Stolen Child, Yalli Birri (Emu Girl), 2016

Invitation Art Prize

Image: ‘Creatures of the Crystal Caves‘ (detail) by Mandy White. Winner of the 2021 Invitation Art Prize.

The Invitation Art Prize is a major acquisitive award for West Australian professional artists with winning artworks acquired into the City’s contemporary art collection.

The program is on pause in 2024 while a review is being undertaken. Please visit this page again in October 2024 for updates or subscribe to the monthly Arts in Focus eNewsletter.

The 2023 Invitation Art Prize celebrated its 25-year milestone with a never-before-seen retrospective edition. Presented at Westfield Whitford City, it featured the winning artwork from each year of the award. Exploring diverse art forms and trends in Australian art practice, the 2023 Invitation Art Prize found connections across its 25-year history, proudly looking back at the evolution of this prestigious prize and contemporary art in WA.

Take a virtual tour of the exhibition

View the exhibition floor sheet

Inside Out Billboard Commission

Congratulations to Erin Coates, the winner of the Inside Out Billboard Commission, with her artwork Microeconomics (paradise spent). Using imagery from international coinage, including human figures, animals, plants and elements of landscape architecture, Coates recreated the centre panel of Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights, presenting a subversive take on nationalism, wealth and greed. Erin will be awarded $3,000 to create a new artwork that will be displayed outside the Joondalup Library in 2024. 

Winner of the Inside Out Billboard Commission, Erin Coates, in front of her winning artwork ‘Microeconomics (paradise spent)’. Photo: Becky Felstead – Soco Studios.

Popular Choice Award

Congratulations to Richie Kuhaupt who has been awarded $500 after receiving the most votes in the Popular Choice Award for his eye-catching sculpture, Woman in Red.

Winner of the Popular Choice Award, ‘Woman in Red’ by Richie Kuhaupt. Winner of the 2000 Invitation Art Prize. Photo: Christophe Canato.

Keep Up To Date

The Invitation Art Prize has impacted the careers of over 700 exhibiting artists in its history. It continues to support the agency of contemporary artists working across different practices, career stages and lived experiences. To be informed of upcoming artist callouts and information about future exhibitions, please subscribe to the City’s monthly Arts in Focus eNewsletter.

Acknowledgements

The City of Joondalup wishes to thank all the artists who contributed to the history of the Invitation Art Prize, as well as all those who have attended the exhibitions over the years.

Thank you to Westfield Whitford City, Exhibition Venue Partner for the Invitation Art Prize: 25 Year Retrospective.