The winner of Australia's only still-life art award will be announced tonight - and a painter from Berry is in the running.
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Craig Handley is a finalist in this year's EMSLA awards, to be held in Wollongong on Friday, November 8.
Mr Handley said he hoped to win the top gong, but was pleased to be one of the 55 finalists.
"When I saw the quality of the other work, it's nice to feel I've been included in that," he said.
Mr Handley has recently moved to Berry from Sydney, and said a combination of talented home-grown artists and Sydney escapees were driving a thriving local art scene.
His EMSLA entry, a painting of a gas mask, is part pun, part literary homage.
"It was based on a poem by Wilfred Owen, who had been through the war," he said.
"I wanted to pay homage to his work, without being as brutal as the poem. And [as a painting] this is a very still life."
He said he hoped the painting encouraged people of all ages to reflect.
