Disabled brothers dab hands at art

Two disabled brothers recently reunited after more than 20 years are both finalists in the 2010 IHC Telecom Art Awards.

Stephen Hitchings, 55, paints abstract works and has entered the competition for the past three years. But it is the first time for Grahame, 51, who has entered a pencil drawing.

After years apart, with Grahame living in Christchurch, both men now live together with housemates in a residential home on the Kaikoura esplanade and attend art classes twice a week at the Idea Services day base.

"They live in a house next to the sea – so they get to look across that amazing Pacific Ocean," said Community support worker Jackie Karl.

Stephen is interested in impressionism and works in mixed media. His entry is a colourful painting in reds and blues of a yacht on the water, titled A Stormy Sea. Grahame's drawing, Going for a Walk Somewhere, shows a figure on one side of the paper facing an empty space.

Thirty artists have been chosen as finalists in the IHC Telecom Art Awards, after judging at three regional competitions in the past month. Some of the pieces have been described by a judge as "explosively expressive".

Dianne Hockridge, who works in the same studio doing conceptual, detailed pieces in pen and paint, has also been nominated as a finalist.

The finalists' work will be exhibited at the St James Theatre Gallery, Wellington, from September 14 to 21. The winners will be presented with their prizes at a function in Wellington on 21 September.

First prize is $5000, second prize is $2000 and two third-place winners each receive $1000.

The regional display will be at the Centre of Contemporary Art in Christchurch until August 9.

- The Marlborough Express