With the absence of Scultpures at Killalea this year due to COVID-19, artists and art lovers can revel in a new summertime festival at Berkeley.
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Australia's largest Buddhist temple, (Fo Guang Shan) Nan Tien, is taking submissions for a new sculpture award with finalists to be exhibited on the grounds and will include an artwork by the monks themselves.
Abbess of Nan Tien, Venerable Manko, plus art curator Venerable Youji and other monks have been working on the launch for some time, with 2020 picked to proceed to bring light after "difficult times".
Venerable Youji said the competition was open to Australian sculpture artists - including schools - under the theme of "harmony". The deadline for submissions is the end of September.
"It's important people get together and be in harmony ... to then have a more peaceful life, a better society, a better world," she said.
"We think it would be a really good chance for artists to have a platform for their work [considering many lost opportunities this year]."
Up to 30 finalists will get to choose where among the temple or institute grounds their work will stand, to be exhibited from December 25 to March 21. Various prizes will be awarded.
Meantime, Venerable Youji is leading a team of monks to create their own sculptures for the show using recycled materials.
Art has become a stronger focus for the Temple which brought on Venerable Youji from Singapore to create more opportunities and engage with artists - local and further afield - in their gallery and in the community.
She said the intention was not to convert people to Buddhism, but more to create opportunity for artists and the community to experience the tranquility of Nan Tien.
"It's not our intention for people to come in and become Buddhist .. but more coming in to showcase work," Venerable Youji said.
"We can also try and let people experience the peace and the tranquility when coming in to the temple."
For more details on the sculpture award, visit: www.nantien.org.au
Each sculpture is restricted to a maximum of 2 metres in any direction and under the weight of 1 tonne.
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