It came as a surprise to Wellington farmer Tony Inder when he heard he'd won the Farmer's Challenge in this year's Arts and Sculpture Festival for the second year in a row.
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His sculpture in 2018 depicted a single ram standing so decided to do an action figure for this year's competition, which is how he came up with the idea of two rams fighting.
The winning artwork is aptly titled 'The Battle'.
"We've got a merino stud so I suppose the ram theme is something I play with every day and it's easier in my head to work with something I know what to do with," Mr Inder explained.
The sculpture was made out of discarded scarifier and took him approximately nine hours to create over three evenings.
"But there was probably 20 hours on and off thinking about it and how it would work, before I actually started," Mr Inder added.
"You get a basic idea but I don't actually start until it's all in my head and then I go from there."
Mr Inder was amazed with the quality of entries in this year's Farmers Challenge, so was quite surprised to hear he'd won.
"It must of won by the narrowest of margins I would imagine," he said.
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Mr Inder first entered the competition in 2018 thanks to his wife, but to keep it a surprise didn't tell her about the entry this year.
"That's where the name 'Wally Studmaster' came from. Lisa thought of that," he explained of his alias.
Mr Inder said it took some convincing for his wife to believe the 2019 winning sculpture was his.
His work now has pride of place in the garden on the Inder's property, 'Nyrang'.
When asked if he thinks he'll enter next year's challenge, Mr Inder said he doesn't think he has a choice and will keep with the merino theme.
"I think I've already thought about what I'm going to do next year...," he said.
The merino sheep producer encourages other farmers across the region to get involved in the festival saying it was good fun to be involved in.
Winners of categories:
- Open Sculpture: Jenny Shea from Orange with 'Miriam' a larger than life intricate sculpture made of nuts and bolts. The entire crowd were in awe of this incredibly accurate proportional creation.
- Farmers Challenge: Wally Studmaster (AKA Tony Inder) 'The Battle' Inspired by real life and the two sculptures captured the aggressive movements and actions of rams fighting.
- High School: Bree Willis is young lady to keep an eye on in the future! Her large work called 'Dragonfly' showed a modern and blended use of mixed media and the sculpture resonated with many admirers.
- Primary School: 'Fish & Chips' This gigantic interactive display was the creation of students from Wellington Primary School and depicted 2 and 3 dimensional colourful forms which floated under a canopy of nets and other marine life along with bags of chips!!
- Visual Arts: Stuart Vorias 'Movement In the Water' a large and soothing painting depicting coy fish in a reflective pool of water.
Taylor Jurd
Hi, my name is Taylor Jurd. I am a journalist with Australian Community Media, I write for the Western Magazine and Wellington Times.
Hi, my name is Taylor Jurd. I am a journalist with Australian Community Media, I write for the Western Magazine and Wellington Times.
