Jill Kempson from Fremantle has won the BankWest Contemporary Art Prize People's Choice Award for her artwork entitled Waychinicup - Clouds II 2006.
The announcement signalled the closure of the BankWest Contemporary Art Prize exhibition, which has been a huge success with over 6,800 people visiting the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts.
The exhibition saw an overwhelming number of people vote in the People's Choice award and Ms Kempson wins $2,000 worth of art supplies.
Kempson said painting her winning landscape required many hours alone in the natural environment or her studio with little contact with members of the public.
"To win the BankWest People's Choice award is very encouraging and gives me a feeling of connection with the viewers of the work," she said. "Having $2000 to spend on art materials is like being given an extraordinary gift!"
Kempson's winning work is influenced by the historical painting techniques of the Old Masters and has developed significantly over the last two years after she spent time in both Holland and Paris studying the techniques.
BankWest Chief Executive of Retail, Chris Whitehead, said it was delightful to see so many people vote in the People's Choice award.
"The People's Choice section of these awards is always popular and usually produces a winner that is very different to the overall winner of the BankWest Contemporary Art Prize," he said.
Earlier in October Lisa Wolfgramm was announced the winner of the $15,000 BankWest Contemporary Art Prize for her artwork Painting #218.
BankWest has been running the Contemporary Art Prize for six years and the prize has been awarded to a number of high-profile Western Australian artists, including Jo Darbyshire, Trevor Vickers and Alex Spremberg.
The BankWest Contemporary Art Prize is the richest prize in the state that is only open to Western Australian artists.
Jill Kempson is represented by Galerie Dusseldorf.
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Further information:
Bridget Tombleson, BankWest Corporate Affairs, 08 9449 6768 / 0407 084 359
BankWest is a wholly owned subsidiary of HBOS plc, one of the world's largest financial services groups, with assets of about AUD$800 billion (£380 billion). BankWest is a full service bank which originated in Western Australia in 1895 and services more than 660,000 customers. Nationally, BankWest promotes a range of products using cost-effective direct and third party distribution channels, including 24-hour telephone and internet services and mortgage brokers. In WA, BankWest is a market leader with about one quarter of all bank advances and deposits and an extensive network of branches. Standard & Poors short-term credit rating for BankWest is "A-1+" and "AA-" for the long term, providing customers with investment grade security.
