Art Prize
The Bridge Art Prize 2025
The Bridge Art Prize 2025 was a community collaboration between Derwent Valley Arts, lead bridge construction contractor McConnell Dowell, and the contractor’s partner businesses that assisted in building current Bridgewater Bridge.
With a prize pool exceeding $36,000 and a generous main prize of $25,000, The Bridge Art Prize was open to entries from across Tasmania.
The Bridge Art Prize celebrated and commemorated the construction of the new Bridgewater Bridge through local, creative expressions of what the crossing means to Tasmanians.
Category winners
| Category | Prize | Entry title | Name | Home |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main | Winner | Bridges and Bloodlines | Emma Bugg | Mount Nelson |
| Main | Highly commended | Welcome Home | Brie Ratten | South Hobart |
| Main | Highly commended | In the Balance | Alexandra Pitt | Sandy Bay |
| Contractor | Winner | New and Old Bridge | George Simonetis | Dromedary |
| Junior | People's Choice | Birds Eye View | Ivy Percy | |
| Main & Contractor | People’s Choice | Convergence | Brad Quinn | Westbury |
| Junior 15 - 18 | Winner | Building Blocks of the Future | Adam Willson | Midway Point |
| Junior 15 - 18 | Highly commended | From the Land | Xayla Wilson | Glenorchy |
| Junior up to 14 | Winner | Bridge Love | Jack Crump | Dynnyrne |
| Junior up to 14 | Highly commended | Grandpa's Bridge Recipe | Frida Barclay | Kaoota |
Emma Bugg
Dec 02, 1981
Bridges and Bloodlines
Everything comes from somewhere. Everyone comes from somewhere.
Our stories connect the dots, forming bridges across time -linking generations, making the present and carrying knowledge forward. For me, the Bridgewater Bridge goes beyond infrastructure. It's a thread woven through my family's history.
My parents grew up on opposite sides - my mother in Huonville, my father in Brighton. Both born in 1955, they met in 1979, crossing the river converging their lives, and creating new generations. This necklace is the connections bridges create.
Made from basalt, brass, copper, steel, aluminum, iron, zinc, bone, cast concrete, found objects and enamel, it reflects both the old and the new bridges, blending natural and man-made, raw and refined. Just as the original bridge was hand drawn with human precision and the new one is shaped by cutting edge technology, this piece bridges the past and future, holding memories while making way for what's to come.
One multimedia artwork with two elements - necklace and photographic print.
Total dimensions fit with in the 160cm limit and does not exceed 50kgs.
Necklace mounted on board: 140cm x W x 50cm x 4cm D
Photographic print: 140cm x 108 H x 1 cm D
Copper, iron, brass, zinc, steel, aluminum, basalt, found objects, bone, cast concrete with artists hair fibres, photographic print.
Brie Ratten
April 15, 2000
'Welcome Home'
52 second film
Digitally drawn animation
Welcome Home is a 52 second hand drawn animation depicting a father working away from home. He is stuck in the draining monotonous loop of office work and struggling to sleep on his mother's couch. The cycle breaks, his tiredness faltering, and a calmness washes over him as the tress fall away revealing The Bridge with a view of the mountain behind. He smiles knowing soon, he will get to see his loving family.
The Bridge is not just a link between two places but like an airport arrivals gate, it is an opportunity of physical connection between loved ones.
This animation is based on my late father's experiences of working away from his family, and the pure joy he would feel in the back of a taxi toward Hobart, seeking Kunanyi welcome him home. The new Bridgewater Bridge will be celebrated as a symbol of connection and love by families like mine.
View the film
Alexandra Pitt
February 18 1973
In the Balance
Vision, ingenuity, memory, connection. A portal of the other side. Transformation as we pass beneath the old; an altar to the Industrial Age. A tunnel-wrap of steel ribs and buttresses. The new; a monumental structure, a warm grey curve arching across the water, seemingly floating above the Bridgewater Jerry. We search for the Black Swans as we hang in the balance.
D 6cm x h 155cm x 155cm
Drawing/Painting - Indian ink, Pastel and Gouache on Saunders Waterford paper with collaged Mokulito print on Kozo paper
George Simonetis
Oct 21, 1965
New and old bridge
I wanted to represent the old and the new Bridgewater Bridge by combining them together.
H= 40cm x W= 700cm x D= 100cm
Steel sculpture
Ivy Percy
8 Years Old
Birds Eye View
The bridge is where we see the black swans once the new bridge is finished, we can see the swans from up high.
Medium – Paper, pencils, charcoal and water colour
Brad Quinn
May 09, 1958
Convergence
The new bridge at Bridgewater adds yet another laywer onto the complex map of human activity that is crossing point draws to itself. Every time I cross the Derwent at Bridgewate, I am intrigued by the convergence of industry and history, road, rail and river.
91.4cm H x 152.4 cm W x 3.2cm D
oil paints on stretched linen
Adam Willson
18 Years Old
Building Blocks of the Future
In August, I was lucky enough to get a tour of the location where much of the fabrication of the building pieces occurred. I took this incredible photo, composed of the man in high visibility, explaining the project to those touring the facility, with the massive joining pieces of the bridge stacked behind him. The photo represents the jobs, coordination and hard work associated with this project. Pops of colour, dramatic weather and a clear sense of the purpose drive this photograph.
Medium – Photograph
Xayla Wilson
15 Years Old
From the land
My piece is made with rocks as shells collected along the Derwent River, representing the water and land where the bridge is been built.
Medium – Shells, rocks, pain, canvas, glue.
Jack Crump
14 Years Old
Bridge Love
My dad is so excited by the bridge that he drives out most weekends to see its progress and likes us to go with him. He remembers his dad taking him to see the construction of the Bowen Bridge and in that way, it bridges 3 generations.
Medium – Paper, alcohol markers and fine liners.
Frida Barclay
12 Years Old
Grandpa’s Bridge Recipe
I created this still life to honor the old Bridgewater Bridge and the materials that made it strong – concrete, timber, and steel. These objects sit together like ingredients in a recipe. The blue background represents the Derwent River, which has carried the bridge’s reflection for many decades. My painting is a tribute to the raw materials and engineering that have provided safe passage for people for 80 years.
Medium – Canvas and Oil Paint
