The removal of size restrictions has granted more freedom to artists entering the renowned Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award, opening on Saturday.
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A selection panel has chosen 33 finalists from nearly 300 entries for the sixth presentation of the award at the Wangaratta Art Gallery.
Judge Jason Smith, Geelong Gallery director, came to the North East on Friday to begin reviewing the finalists.
He will announce the winner of the $10,000 award at the exhibition opening from 2pm today.
"There's a lot of thoughtfulness to these works - there's not many one-liners," he said.
"There's some expert manipulation of material."
Wangaratta Art Galley director Simone Nolan said opening up the brief this year had enabled some striking pieces to be entered.
"We removed the size restriction as we found we were getting smaller works and it was limiting the artists," she said.
"Now we have large-scale and even performance-based art.
"Kay Abude deals with the issue of women of colour, who are not as well-represented in the art world.
"She has created aprons and vests and is asking people of colour to engage with the work and wear them while the award is being announced."
Ms Nolan said Tallangatta-based Ashlee Laing was included as a finalist with his piece, made in direct response to an artwork of his being removed.
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"It's rare that our locals make this into this award, as the award is nationally-significant and we get so many high-end practitioners," she said.
"The North East should be proud of him.
"We are the award that holds onto the contemporary claim ... that's our point of difference."
This biennial award has been presented by Wangaratta Art Gallery since 2009, and touches on the city's history in transitioning into a large base for textile factories from the 1920s onwards.
Each award-winning piece is acquired into the gallery's collection.
Ms Nolan said visitors had come internationally to see the display, run in conjunction with the Stitched Up event in July.
"Stitched Up brings thousands of people to Wangaratta," she said.
"Our award this year includes the smallest amount of finalists; historically it's been around 40 and in 2015, there was 48.
"We think it's our responsibility to tell the story of textiles in the contemporary art space."
After the opening on Saturday, there will be artist talks at the gallery from 10.30am to 12.30pm on Sunday.
The textile award exhibition will be on display until August 11.