Artspace Mackay catalogue wins prestigious award at the 2010 MAPDA
ARTSPACE Mackay has received recognition at the 2010 Museums Australia Publication Design Awards (MAPDA) as the winner in the category of Exhibition Catalogue (Major).
Their publication Recycled Library: Altered books, produced by Artspace staff and designed by local company Hip Fish Design Studio, has triumphed in their nominated entry level; Level B (medium size institution employing between six and 40 staff).
Community Services and Facilities portfolio councillor Karen May said the recent win is a credit to the staff at Artspace Mackay and their passion for the industry.
“Artspace has entered the MAPDA Awards a few times in previous years achieving highly commended in 2005 and 2006 for their respected categories however this is the first time we have won first prize,” she said.
The Museums Australia Multimedia and Public Design Awards (MAPDA) celebrate excellence in design and communication in the museum and collections sector across Australasia.
Cr May said to attain such an achievement shows acknowledgement of quality in regards to our facility, exhibitions and small team of eight employees.
“MAPDA always receives a large number of entries including nominations from high calibre venues such as the University of Queensland Art Museum, Kaldor Public Art Projects and Dunedin Public Art Gallery, New Zealand.”
In particular, this year saw MAPDA receive 231 entries from 75 different museum organizations.
Recycled Library: Altered books is the sixth touring exhibition developed by Artspace Mackay and the first to focus on an aspect of its collection of artists’ books.
The Mackay Regional Council Collection of artists’ books was started by the Mackay City Library in the late 1980s and transferred to Artspace Mackay when it opened in 2003. Since then, it has grown to become the third largest collection of artists’ books in Australia after the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra and the State Library of Queensland, Brisbane.
17 artists are featured in the book including well known names such as Marion Borgelt, Simryn Gill, Julie Gough, Archie Moore, Glen Skien and Hossein Valamanesh to name a few.
Judging is a by a panel of peers and industry experts. A comment that was received from the MAPDA panel in regards to Artspace Mackay’s Recycled Library: Altered books: “…beautifully balanced typography and clever use of materials”
The exhibition Recycled Library: Altered books has been on a travelling tour since September 2009 and is set to feature at the upcoming galleries over the next year:
• Civic Hall Galleries, Port Lincoln. South Australia from 26 August 2010 – 10 October 2010
• Port Pirrie Regional Art Gallery, South Australia from 29 October 2010 – 12 December 2010
• Murray Bridge Regional Gallery, South Australia from 18 December 2010 – 12 February 2011
• Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, New South Wales from 4 March 2011 – 29 May 2011
• Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, New South Wales from 24 June 2011 – 7 August 2011
• Noosa Regional Gallery, Queensland from 31 August 2011 – 2 October 2011
• Hervey Bay Regional Gallery, Queensland from 9 October 2011 – 14 November 2011.
Contact: Melissa Dunn
Phone: 1300 MACKAY (1300 622 529)