Christopher Allen
The Australian Art Critic, Art Historian, & Educator | Sydney
Christopher David Allen was born in Algiers (Algeria) in 1953. The family moved to London in 1955, then to Saigon (Vietnam) in 1960 and Tokyo in 1964. In July 1970 the family moved back to Sydney where Christopher finished his last year and half of school at Sydney Grammar. He studied at the University of NSW from 1972 to 1975, graduating with First Class Honours and the University Medal. Offered a postgraduate scholarship by the French government, he spent 1976-77 mainly in Aix-en-Provence, with several months in Greece and Italy. Returning to Australia, he taught in the French Department of the University of NSW from 1978-80 while simultaneously studying Art History at the University of Sydney.
In 1981 he was offered an Australian government scholarship to undertake doctoral studies. He also worked in theatre administration during the 1980s, and later began to write art criticism for the Sydney Morning Herald (1987-91). In 1992 he completed his PhD and in 1993, while working at the University of Sydney, began studying Classical Greek. He spent much of 1994-96 in Paris on a postdoctoral appointment, then returned to Sydney to take up the position of lecturer in Art History at the National Art School in 1997.
In 2005 he became art critic for The Australian Financial Review (2005-08) and since 2008 has been the national art critic for The Australian. In 2009 he left the National Art School and took up the position of Head of Art at Sydney Grammar School. Since 2012 he has been Senior Master in Academic Extension and teaches Latin and Classical Greek as well as senior Art History. He has been a regular lecturer at the Art Gallery of NSW since the mid-1990s, and has led cultural tours to the Mediterranean area and Iran since 2009. He speaks French and Italian and has been learning Persian and more recently Sanskrit.
Marise Maas
Artist | Melbourne
Marise Maas is a painter and printmaker.
She was born in The Netherlands and moved to Tasmania as a teenager with her family in 1982.
In Hobart she studied at the Tasmanian School of Art.
Her work portrays a fascination with the everyday, painting what appeals from her immediate surroundings.
Maas has also been captivated by horses since childhood and often uses images of horses as stand-ins for human situations.
She embraces painting as a meditative process that brings out her experience of the mundane.
Maas tries not to analyse it too much, believing that from within the ordinary, worthwhile stories may appear.
Maas’ work is represented in numerous major collections nationally and internationally, including the National Gallery of Australia, Artbank, Swinburne University of Technology and National Australia Bank Collection. She lives and works in Melbourne.
Trudi Curtis
Director, Colville Gallery | Hobart
Trudi Curtis is the Director of Colville Fine Art Auctions and Colville Gallery.
She established Colville Gallery in 2004 and Colville Fine Art Auctions in 2016.
Both businesses share a focus on appreciating and preserving Tasmanian Art.
Trudi has an extensive Arts background having worked across both Public and Private Arts sectors, including Christies Australia, Joseph Brown Gallery, TMAG, Arts Tasmania and the University of Tasmania Art Collection.
Trudi has been Guest Curator at TMAG including the Lloyd Rees and Tasmania “Lands of Light” exhibition in 2024 and is an Accredited Commonwealth valuer of Australian Art 1770 – Present.
Past Judges
2026
Jason Smith
Director, Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) | South Australia
Andy Dinan
Director, MARS Gallery | Victoria
Katie Barron
Artist | Tasmania
2025
Melissa Loughnan
Fair Director at Melbourne Art Fair | Melbourne
Steven W. Joyce
Director & Founder of Despard Gallery | Hobart
Leslie Rice
Artist & Lecturer at The National Art School | Sydney
2024
Mary Mulcahy
Director Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) | Hobart
Ralph Hobbs
Director Nanda\Hobbs Gallery | Sydney
Dr Malcom Bywaters
Director Academy Gallery, University of Tasmania | Launceston
Rick Amor
Melbourne based artist
2023
Suzanne Cotter
Director Museum of Contemporary Art | New South Wales
Lucienne Rickard
Tasmanian based artist
Bill Nuttall
Director Niagara Gallery | Victoria
2022
Tony Ellwood AM
Director National Gallery of Victoria
Michael Reid OAM
Chairman & Director Michael Reid Galleries | New South Wales
Amber Koroluk-Stephenson
Tasmanian based artist
2021
Philip Bacon AM
Director, Philip Bacon Gallery | Queensland
Tracey Puklowski
Director Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Director Creative Arts and Cultural Services, City of Launceston
Julie Gough
Artist and Curator | Tasmania
2020
Chris Saines
Director Queensland Art Gallery | Museum of Modern Art
Fiona Lowry
Sydney based artist
Jarrod Rawlins
Senior Curator Museum of Old and New Art | Hobart
2019
Barry Keldoulis
Sydney CEO and Group Fairs, and Director of Art Fairs Australia Pty Ltd
Joan Ross
Sydney based artist
Janet Carding
Director, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery | Hobart
2018
Dr Jane Deeth
Director, New Audiences for Art
Natalia Ottolenghi Bradshaw
Art Curator, Advisor and Advocate
Tony Stephens
Director, ArtBank
2017
Eleonora Triguboff
Director of ARTAND
Dr Mary Knights
Senior Curator of Art at Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
Ben Quilty
Artist
2016
Maudie Palmer AO
Independent Curator
Fiona Hall
Adelaide based contemporary artist
Sean Kelly
Arts Officer at Moonah Arts Centre
2015
Elizabeth Ann McGregor OBE
Director, Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney
Francis Parker
Curator, Monash University Museum of Art
Dr Ellie Ray
Director of the Devonport Regional Gallery
2014
Julie Ewington
Curatorial Manager, Australian Art at Queensland Art Gallery
Tim Storrier AM
New South Wales based artist
Michael Edwards
Director, Contemporary Art Tasmania
2013
Dr Frances Lindsay
Curator, arts administrator and Deputy Director at the National Gallery of Victoria
Dr Peter Hill
Scottish-born Australian artist, writer, independent curator and Coordinator of Postgraduate Programs at Melbourne’s RMIT University
Jasmin Stephens
Independent curator based in Perth, Western Australia
2012
Doug Hall AM
Long-time advocate for contemporary art especially in Australia and Asia
Jan Senbergs
Melbourne based artist, represented in many major national and international art galleries
Brigita Ozolins
Artist and academic at the Tasmanian School of Art, University of Tasmania
2011
Anthony Bond OAM
Assistant Director, Curatorial & Head Curator International Art, Art Gallery of NSW
Francis Parker
Curator, Contemporary Australian Art, Queensland Art Gallery
Prof Marie Sierra
Head of School of Visual & Performing Arts, University of Tasmania
2010
Imants Tillers
Artist, Trustee of Art Gallery of New South Wales
Maudie Palmer OA
Funding Director of Heide Museum of Modern Art
Jane Stewart
Coordinating Curator of Art at Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
2009
John McDonald
Author, Art Critic Sydney Morning Herald
John Beard
Artist
Alex Baker
Senior Curator Contemporary Art National Gallery of Victoria
2008
Peter Timms
Art Critic and Author
Professor Ian North
Artist, Writer and Adjunct Professor at the University of Adelaide and University of South Australia
Kelly Gellatly
Curator of Contemporary Art at the National Gallery of Victoria
2007
John Wolseley
Melbourne based artist
Craig Judd
Co-ordinating Curator Fine Art, Tasmania Museum and Art Gallery
Robyn Daw
Brisbane based artist and Arts Consultant
2006
Rick Amor
Artist | Melbourne
Professor Noel Frankham
Head of the Tasmanian School of Art, University of Tasmania | Hobart
Elizabeth Ann McGregor
Director, Museum of Contemporary Art | Sydney
2005
Dick Bett
Bett Galley | North Hobart
Professor Vincent McGrath
Head of the School of Visual and Performing Arts of the University of Tasmania
Janet Laurence
Artist | Sydney
2004
Max Angus
Artist
David Hansen
Senior Curator of Fine Arts, TMAG
Professor Noel Frankham
Professor of Art and Head of School UTAS
Nevin Hurst
Masterpiece Fine Art Gallery & Antiques Pty Ltd.