Following a 2-year hiatus due to COVID, the Muswellbrook Local Art Awards are being relaunched in 2022 as the Viola Bromley Art Prize.

Viola Bromley was part of a small group invited to arrange the Festival of the Valley Art Prize in 1958 – the forerunner to the Muswellbrook Art Prize – and played a significant part in the construction of an art gallery in the Muswellbrook Town Hall site in 1975-1976 and in gaining the newly built Muswellbrook Municipal Art Gallery regional gallery status. In recognition of service to the visual arts, Viola Bromley was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1988 and inducted into the Muswellbrook Shire Hall of Fame in 2009.

The relaunch of the annual art competition will also see it return to an acquisitive prize, as was the case when a local prize was held alongside the Muswellbrook Art Prize. The local acquisitive prize, which in 1979 was called the Viola Bromley Acquisitive Prize, has been won by key local artists including Max Watters, Viola Bromley and James Clifford.

As with the Muswellbrook Local Art Awards, the Viola Bromley Art Prize will be open to all artists resident of the Muswellbrook, Singleton and Upper Hunter Shires with a total prize value of $6,000 and consists of:

• Painting (acquisitive) $1,500
• Works on Paper (acquisitive) $1,500
• Sculpture (acquisitive) $1,500
• Photography (acquisitive) $1,500

The winning acquisitive works will be entered into the Muswellbrook Shire Art Collection and will assist in achieving the objectives of the Muswellbrook Shire Art Collection Policy in collecting the works of artists from the Upper Hunter Region.

The exhibition launch event and announcement of winners is scheduled for 29 October 2022, with the exhibition continuing until 17 December 2022.