Horizons Art Prize
A $5000 acquisitive art prize celebrating the McLaren Vale landscape and vision for its future.
The walls of the historic Chapel have long been adorned with artwork, forming an integral part of its beauty and charm.
Today we celebrate this connection of visual arts to wine and our community, with the inaugural Chapel Hill Horizons Art Prize.
Open to all South Australian residents aged 18 years and over, this acquisitive art prize celebrates the artist’s vision for the future of McLaren Vale, exploring the dual meaning of ‘horizon’:
the line where the earth seems to meet the sky (or) something that might be attained.
The permanent collection will hang in the chapel, creating a panorama woven by the vision of local artists.
Meet the Judges
Horizons Art Prize Finalists
Congratulations to our finalists!
We were overwhelmed by the exceptional quality and number of entries received this year, each one a testament to the incredible creativity and talent in our artistic community. With such a strong field, the judging process was both inspiring and challenging.
We’re excited to announce that the winner of our inaugural Horizons Art Prize was revealed at the Opening Exhibition on Sunday 3 August by our esteemed judging panel:
Maria Zagala, Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs, Art Gallery of South Australia
Adele Sliuzas, Arts writer, curator and emerging textiles artist, The Mill Adelaide
Michael Fragos, Chief Winemaker, Chapel Hill Winery
Coinciding with the SALA Festival, all finalist artworks, including the winning piece, will be on display at Chapel Hill Cellar Door from 4 August to 6 September 2025. We warmly invite you to visit and view these exceptional artworks in person.
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who submitted their work. We are honoured to celebrate such remarkable artistic voices.
Stephanie Radok "It's Morning"
Artist’s Statement
“Horizons draw me in, and I make drawings of them which may become paintings or prints. Every horizon is a place of stillness and possibility. The title of this work is an enduring memory of the words my son used to exclaim with wonder and delight when he was little and came to wake me up. It’s also about dawning mornings, surfing mornings, farmers market mornings, misty mornings, and those when, for a moment, the sun lights up a tree.”
About the Artist
Stephanie Radok is a South Australian artist and writer whose practice spans drawing, painting, and printmaking. She studied at art schools in Canberra and Adelaide and has exhibited extensively for over three decades.
Her major survey exhibition, The Sublingual Museum (2011), was held at the Flinders University Art Museum, pairing her work with selected pieces from the university’s collection.
Recent solo exhibitions include:
- Tree Stories (2023) – Urrbrae House Museum
- Inside A Book (2025) – Institute Gallery, State Library of South Australia
Radok is also the author of three non-fiction books published by Wakefield Press:
- An Opening: Twelve Love Stories About Art (2012)
- Becoming A Bird: Untold Stories About Art (2021)
- Under the Bed / Inventories 2020–2022 (2025)
Her works are held in several major collections, including the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Flinders University Museum of Art, Geelong Gallery, and the Art Gallery of South Australia.
Elisabeth Blomberg "Where the Earth Kisses the Sky"
Artist’s Statement
“This weaving is an ode to McLaren Vale region – my home and forever muse.
A vibrant land full of rolling hills, green grass, burgundy vines stretching into the distance, soft ochre earth and wet soil. Mornings of blue, pale yellow and coral sky. Pink, purple and blazing orange sunsets. White clouds and silver thunderstorms.
Just like us she moves and grows in cycles. A reminder that nothing stays the same. Going inward to rest, dropping her leaves, drying her vines, cooling her breathe and gathering her energy. Then once again reaching up and out, touching and inviting play with her surroundings, one more year wiser, ever listening, ever becoming.
This weaving is a love letter to our Mother Earth.
It carries the rhythm of the land and the cycles that shape us – the slow, sacred spirals of growth, loss, rest and return. It weaves a future where stories of the land, carried through Indigenous art, are shared across the region – inviting both locals and travellers to pause, listen, and bear witness to the wisdom held in Country.”
About the Artist
Elisabeth is an Indigenous artist whose work is a journey of honouring the connection between ancestors, land and the stories it holds. Through the mediums of weaving and painting, she channels wisdom passed down.
Bridget Uppill "Of Creatures Great and Small"
Artist’s Statement
“My work represents co-existence of humans and animals in the McLaren Vale region. While sometimes hidden within the terrain, native animals are everywhere and we need to respect the land so these animals can continue to thrive. With the current drought the land is dry and the animals are also suffering. The horizon in my artwork shimmers with white like the animals and represents a ghostly reminder that both the environment and its animals are vulnerable in this ever changing world.”
About the Artist
I studied visual arts at UNISA (2012) and have been working as an art teacher and part time artist/illustrator since. My work focuses mainly around Australian animals. In 2024 I released a picture book ‘Little Raven’.
John Lacey "Looking North"
Artist’s Statement
“Is this the track to recovery? After a very dry season and the uncertainty of over production of previous years within the industry, I impressionistically portray the abundance of just a small section of the area. And optimistically follow the road to recovery and new horizons.”
About the Artist
A professional artist since April 2004, John enjoys painting in oil and expressing himself in impressionistic contemporary works on canvas for many years. Being self-taught John has developed his skills over 40 years of hard but enjoyable work in watercolour, acrylic and oil mediums. Part of his self-development included 10 year of life drawing and studying colour theory as part of a graphic design. His work has been sought after since the mid nineteen eighties and is represented in many private collections throughout Australia and overseas. He exhibits regularly in SA, WA and NSW, having held 30 solo and many mixed exhibitions.
John’s work is ever evolving and he uses the landscape as the vehicle to express his creative thoughts. His paintings have a strong sense of place although moving toward the abstract and have an underlying design quality, texture and colour which allows the viewer space for their interpretation.
Mark Judd "Chapel Hill Looking West"
Artist’s Statement
“A landscape of Chapel Hill looking west.”
About the Artist
Mark Judd has been practising art for most of his adult life. He works in painting and sculpture. He has an interest in traditional techniques using oil paint, bronze, various metals and wood. Although not subject driven, his current themes include still life, landscape and figurative sculpture.
Christiane Niess "Road to Nowhere"
Artist’s Statement
“Road to Nowhere, with its hazy, unfocused depiction, captures the essence of an Australian landscape, its mood, and the way it is perceived through the atmosphere, rather than just its physical features. It creates a sense of mystery and otherworldliness, blurring the lines between land and sky.”
About the Artist
Sometimes things are not what you think they are. My photographs are made by capturing sunlight reflected from everyday items using close-up photography, resulting in imaginative landscapes. The images of actual landscapes are consciously produced in the viewer’s mind. By using light and shadow and emphasising colour, form and composition, I create photographic abstraction, mystery, and illusion. I view my work as an invitation to dream and to build an emotional connection to the work.
I am a mature-aged emerging artist studying the fundamentals of visual arts at Flinders University. I follow my instincts without trying to force any particular outcome. My art is based on observations, imagination, and emotion, and I love the beauty and colours intrinsic to nature and our landscapes.
Harrison Vial "Night Over the Vale"
Artist’s Statement
“I wanted to somehow communicate the idea of reflection – and its importance. Setting the scene at night, with a lone sheep thinking on its thoughts, I aimed to create a familiar mood everyone has experienced. And in the same vein of reflection, I added the three moons to help signify the importance of looking to the past, present and future. This kind of thinking can hopefully help us live in the kind of future we want to be in.”
About the Artist
I am an Adelaide based illustrator, working mainly in traditional pen line work which I then scan in and colour digitally. I have always loved drawing, and am particularly drawn to the idea of creating pieces with a strong emotional core. I mostly enjoy depicting nature in my illustrations, partly because of its beauty, but also due to the emotional pull it has on us. My process in making illustrations continues to change, but I have found digital colour very helpful in allowing me to have more precise control over pieces, as well as aiding with colour experimentation. Coupling this with traditional line work feels like a good fit for me, as I am still keen on putting pen to paper. I intend on broadening my illustration skills, as well as delving more into 2D animation, and hopefully sharing more stories through art in the future.
Carolyn Corletto "Her Love Shines Over My Horizon, Shes A Slice Of Heaven"
Artist’s Statement
“Life is all about what is waiting for you beyond the horizon. Another dream, another adventure, another stage of life. Who will be travelling with you, who will you meet and sadly who will not be able to be by your side anymore.
Lately I have been reaching new destinations that were once just on the horizon and this artwork represents an exciting new adventure in my art practice. I have just opened a new art studio in McLaren Vale which I hope to share for events and workshops. This painting shows the view from my studio window and my daily visitors, the superb fairy wrens, who love to feast on the mulberry tree just outside my door.
Whenever I am in my studio I’m looking at and working towards surpassing my horizon.”
About the Artist
Carolyn Corletto is a multidisciplinary artist working in the fields of painting, sculpture, textiles, ceramics and assemblage.
Since graduating with Honours from ACSA Corletto has been actively exhibiting in Adelaide, regionally and interstate. She has been a finalist in the Waterhouse Natural Science, the Broken Hill Outback, the Fleurieu, the Parklands and the Creative Health Art Prizes and has been the winner of Margarita Stipneiks painting prize and the 2025 Solar Art Prize.
She has been awarded the Wilson Wine Label Commission and an Elevate mentorship through the Helpmann Academy and has been a finalist for a SALA Festival Award seven times. Recently her work has been featured in textile art book Dystopian and Utopian Impulses in Art Making. Corletto works out of Collective Haunt Studios with 22 other artists and has recently opened a studio for events and workshops in the beautiful surrounds of McLaren Vale.
Renata Rozenbilds "The Source"
Artist’s Statement
old pond
frog leaps in
water’s sound – Matsuo Basho
“This work was painted sitting at the side of a waterway. For me, painting en plein air fosters a valued connection with nature. A parred down aesthetic is used to evoke a contemplative interaction. The natural elements are distilled to clarify their physical presence and symbolic significance. The horizon line sits centrally and elevated, providing a steadying visual focus and holding aspirational energy. At ground level the mossy, gnarled tree line holds old time. The natural world has within it ways to guide us as we go forwards.”
About the Artist
Connecting with the natural world is at the core of my painting practice. My visual enquiry is based on the dynamic and continually inspiring bushland of regional South Australia. Since graduating from Adelaide Central School of Art in 2019 I have furthered my visual language using a combination of abstraction and figurative representation. My work has been shown in group exhibitions and has been selected in various art prizes including the 2024 Fleurieu Art Prize.
Suzie Lockery "Beyond the Vale"
Artist’s Statement
“Through the language of line, this work presents a striation of finely drawn lines, tracing down the surface to meet with dual horizons. Representing both a physical and metaphorical gesture; lines as elemental mark-making to echo the contours and rhythms of McLaren Vale’s iconic landscape, and the human impulse to seek, define and dream beyond constructed limitations.
In this way, the ‘painted drawing’ becomes a meditation on vision: how we shape the land and how the land shapes us. It celebrates McLaren Vale’s past and present while reaching toward a future horizon that is defined by resilience, creativity and deep ecological connection. It is not only symbolic of a meeting point between earth and sky, but as a threshold between what is and what could be.
Beyond the Horizon, is an artwork that honours the region’s ever-evolving growth, identity, transformation and vision through the continuity of time.”
About the Artist
Suzie Lockery completed a Bachelor of Visual Art and Design (major printmaking) at the Adelaide College of the Arts in 2013 and has participated in over 30 group and solo exhibitions since 2010. A finalist in the Rick Amor Print Prize in 2015, Suzie has also presented various printmaking workshops throughout Adelaide to include Makers at the Museum at the South Australian Museum in 2016. Suzie was represented by West Gallery Thebarton for Paper Contemporary: Sydney Contemporary Art Fair in 2018 and 2019 and has been both an independent curator and senior curator at Art Images Gallery since 2022 – current.
As a multidisciplinary artist working across the fields of printmaking, drawing, painting and installation, Suzie states; “I consider my art practice to be a meditative process that provides a site for personal cogitation and reconnection, especially amid our hyperconnected existence within today’s society”.
Suzie continues to work from her studio at Central Studios in Kent Town, South Australia (the oldest, continuously running studio collective in Australia) of which she has been an active member since October 2018.
Connor McPhail "Nicko's Couch"
Artist’s Statement
“The warmth and intensity of the McLaren area are standout qualities – a very inviting region with bountiful harvests, but simultaneously wild weather and unforgiving hills, proving to be popular amongst training cyclists. Nicko stares with quiet intensity, but with a slight smile – as if still inviting you to join. Heavy use of the more natural burnt sienna and raw umber pigments give the soft warm shadows an inviting quality, also forming the horizon of the painting directly across the midline – reflecting the divisions of the earth vs vines, hills vs trees, and natural buildings vs country greenery of the region. The tight detailed work of his tattoos contrasts against the relaxed chaos of the brushwork on his well-worn denim jeans – similar to those worn by local winemakers and residents; a similar contrast to the current day blend of traditional winery practises fused with the modern people, events, and marketing that keeps McLaren Vale relevant and thriving.”
About the Artist
Connor McPhail is a local artist, growing up in Port Noarlunga South, and frequenting McLaren Vale over the years for its versatility in offerings – from childhood sports, to chasing winding cycling trails as an adolescent, and eventually tours of the local wineries and local produce available from the region.
Terms & Conditions
- South Australian residents aged 18 years+ are invited to enter
- Entries are open from 19 February to 14 July 2025. Entries are to be submitted electronically via the mechanism below.
- Artworks must respond to the concept of “Horizon: the line where the earth meets the sky or something that might be attained. Celebrating the McLaren Vale landscape and vision for its future”
- Artworks must feature a distinct ‘horizon’ (horizontal) line
- Artworks must be 2-dimensional, capable of being hung in a gallery, including, but not limited to, the mediums of painting, drawing, photography, mixed media or print (edition limits apply for all print media)
- Short-listed artworks will be exhibited at Chapel Hill Wines, McLaren Vale from 3 August to 6 September 2025
- The winning artist will be awarded a $5,000 cash prize and the artwork will be added to the Chapel Hill Wines permanent collection
- Short-listed artworks exhibited (other than the winner) may be offered for sale on consignment throughout the exhibition
- Please ensure you have read the full terms and conditions prior to entry
