From epic celestial canvases to salt-and-silk textile works, the shortlist for the Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize brings together a rich and diverse survey of works that map the intersection of nature, science, and art.

Finalists in the $30,000 Open Prize category, supported by IAS Fine Art Logistics, include Bruny Island-based artist Sophie Carnell, whose Tender Treasure comprises a suite of 26 sterling silver pieces capturing the rare and vulnerable plant species of her island home. Recalling the 2022 New South Wales floods, Harry Sherwin’s oil painting Altered Landscape, Lismore NSW offers a climate-impacted twist on familiar traditions of Australian landscape painting.

The shortlist also features new work from celebrated First Nations artists, including Nyunmiti Burton, whose acrylic Seven Sisters Story tells a Tjukurpa (Creation Story) about the constellations of Pleiades and Orion, and Iluwanti Ken’s vivid black-and-white depiction of her father’s Country, Walawuru Ngunytju Kukaku Ananyi (Mother eagles going hunting).

Closer to the ground, Adelaide-based ceramicist Charmain Hearder’s rippling clay sculpture Eolian Saltation mirrors the natural forms of wind-shaped sandhills, while New South Wales-based LeAnne Vincent has used cyanotype photograms to explore the often-unseen relationship between wildlife and urban environments.

The $10,000 Emerging category, supported by Hill Smith Art Advisory, has also highlighted Adelaide-based Jessica Murtagh, whose shortlisted work Six is the loneliest number features glass baubles coated in silver and gold leaves of the ancient Mongarlowe Malee, a rare “ice age gum” species with only six known survivors.

Textile works are also threaded throughout the shortlist, from Linden Edwards’ salt-and-silk tribute to the pink algal hues of Lake Bumbunga, to Emma Jackson’s King Prawn, a wool-and-silk hand-knotted rug interpreting the 2.4-billion-year-old tectonic history of the Gawler geological region.

Winners will be announced on 11 April ahead of the public opening of a major exhibition showcasing all shortlisted finalists running until 10 June. A $5,000 People’s Choice Prize sponsored by the K&S Langley Fund will also be awarded by public vote at the exhibition’s conclusion.

This year’s judging panel included Erica Seccombe (2018 Waterhouse winner and Senior Lecturer, Australian National University), Dr Jordan Pitt (Associate Dean of Indigenous Strategy and Services, Faculty of Sciences, University of Sydney), Robert Reason (Director, David Roche Foundation), and Justine van Mourik (Director, Public Engagement, South Australian Museum).

Seccombe said:
“The Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize reveals just how important creative practice is when exploring the bigger questions about the relationships between art, culture and nature in the face of today's environmental concerns.”

Arts Minister Andrea Michaels said:
“Congratulations to all the finalists featured in the 2024 Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize, who have used different mediums, techniques, and perspectives to bring art, science and the environment to the forefront of the conversation.

“It’s fitting that the South Australian Museum - a beloved institution and the home of science, culture, and learning in our state - has hosted this biennial celebration of the natural world and the artists who are inspired by it.”

South Australian Museum CEO Dr David Gaimster said:
“Art can turn complex ideas and systems into moving experiences and give us new vocabularies to have the most important conversations of our time. Today, the South Australian Museum regularly works with artists working in multiple mediums, from yarn and freshwater rushes to cutting-edge virtual reality, to reflect on the challenges of global heating and a changing environment, while our natural science collections inspire more compelling creative work.

“Since 2003 the Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize has been a key part of this picture, providing an important contemporary platform for creatives and practitioners across the art world to reflect on and respond to the natural world, biodiversity, and humanity’s impact.”

View the full shortlist here

Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize exhibition will run from 12 April - 10 June 2024

Main image: Eolian Saltation by Charmain Hearder, Open Prize finalist