Nannup artist only WA finalist in ‘prestigious’ landscape awards

A Nannup artist is the only West Australian finalist recognised for the John Leslie Art Prize, one of Australia’s most prestigious landscape art awards. Held biennially at the Gippsland Art Gallery in Victoria, the awards celebrate the nation’s top landscape painters. Artist Miranda Free’s painting Wollumbin in Five Parts is one of 53 pieces selected as a finalist from hundreds of entries. Free said she was thrilled to be acknowledged after years of work — and changing paths later in life to become a full-time artist. The final painting was the result of a Nancy Fairfax residency at Tweed Regional Gallery and Margaret Olley Art Centre in 2023, with the journey beginning and finishing in Nannup. It captures a view from the studio at the gallery in NSW — a sacred Indigenous site. “I worked on it over there, completed it here (Nannup), and then I have exhibited it a couple of times locally in Collie and Busselton, and now it’s over in Victoria. It’s a very well-travelled piece,” Free said. “It’s Mount Warning or Wollumbin, is the Indigenous name, which is the first place in Australia that the sun strikes.” The final piece reflects how the landscape changes moment to moment, season to season, and day to day. Free said the painting also acknowledged the cultural and spiritual significance of the landscape. “I put a perspex overlay with the outline of a cathedral window, which was a bit of a response to the spiritual connection of the local, Indigenous populations to Wollumbin,” she said. Free will join the other finalists on September 6 for the award announcement, with the exhibition running from September 7 to November 24. The State Government has supported Free by helping send herself and her piece to the exhibition opening.