Richard Parker Award Announced

Melbourne Art Fair is delighted to announce Tammy Kanat, represented by Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert (Gadigal Country/Sydney), the recipient of the Richard Parker Award. With a focus on excellence, The Richard Parker Award is a new initiative supporting development in the arts.

Founder of Melbourne Art Fair official partner RATIONALE, Richard Parker brings a deep commitment to the support of contemporary art to all endeavours. Viewing art as inseparable from the function of daily life and culture, RATIONALE believes in the intrinsic value of artmaking and the paths of connection it forms across our lives. Explore Tammy Kanat’s work alongside works from 60 galleries and Indigenous art centres on MAF Virtual, where the Fair continues. Click here to discover.

Tammy Kanat is a Melbourne-based fibre artist and weaver whose practice investigates colour, rhythm and balance. Having begun her career in the arts as a jewellery designer Kanat repurposes her understanding of harmony, colour and form into wool, silk and yarn. She approaches each work with a sense of curiosity and playfulness; allowing her intuition to guide her through each colour choice and each warp and weft. Her approach to weaving is intuitive and rhythmic, never forced, premeditated or contrived, thus imbuing a sense of body and rhythm into each work. As Kanat explains: “I often find it’s not until the work has finished, that I think, oh, that’s what came out. That’s what that may have been.”

Click here to learn more about her practice, and new bronze works.