Winners of our 2025 Mini Series Art Prize
2025 Mini Series Art Prize.
Announcing the Winners of the 2025 Mini Series Art Prize
We’re so excited to share the winners of our fourth edition of the Mini Series Art Prize!
Our panel of judges – Madeline Young (Gallery Director, The Corner Store Gallery), Belinda Hungerford (Curator, Orange Regional Gallery), and Calina MacGinley Jamieson (Exhibitions Officer, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery) – had an incredibly tough task ahead of them, selecting just a few winners from a field of 40 exceptional finalists. The calibre of work on show this year was outstanding.
We’re thrilled to announce that the winner of the 2025 Mini Series Art Prize is Rachel Lucas. Her stunning ceramic series "Mortals" was a unanimous favourite among the judges. Refined, grounding, and deeply resonant, her work made a lasting impression. Rachel has been awarded a solo exhibition at The Corner Store Gallery in 2026, and we can’t wait to see what she creates for this body of work.
Two artists have also been recognised with Highly Commended Awards:
Samantha Mackie, for her exquisitely crafted porcelain sculptures
Andriane Georgiou, for her beautifully striking still life paintings
Both artists will receive an online exhibition with us next year, and all three award recipients have been offered ongoing representation with The Corner Store Gallery.
A huge thank you to all of our finalists for being part of this year’s prize. The quality and variety of work was inspiring, and it’s been a privilege to share it with our audience.
If you haven’t yet explored the full collection, it’s available to view and purchase online now.
Thank you, as always, for supporting contemporary Australian artists. View the full collection here.
Rachel Lucas, Winner of the 2025 Mini Series Art Prize.
Winner - Rachel Lucas
Rachel Lucas, BSc PhD. Rachel learnt to throw at the National Art School, Darlinghurst in 2019 and recently started exhibiting, including Art with Heart (January 2025), Bouddi Society Sculpture Show (June 2025), HBCC Easter Exhibition (2024), and BPAT (2023 and 2024). As a ceramic artist, Rachel’s hands are guided by the rhythms of the earth and the stories whispered by the landscapes and people she encounters. Each piece she creates reflects the natural world - its textures, forms, and quiet strength - and the impressions left on her soul by her journeys.
Clay, for Rachel, is a living material, rich with history and possibility. Its malleability mirrors the ever-changing nature of the environment, while its grounding presence reminds her of our deep connection to the earth. She works with stoneware and porcelain to honour this bond, combining wheel-throwing and hand-building techniques to create shapes and textures that carry the essence of the places she’s explored and the people she’s met along the way.
On those days I catch a glimpse in the mirror and wonder where that girl went? And who is this woman? It’s good to remember that there can be beauty even as things start to fail. I lost a dear friend during Covid. She was relatively young. This series called ‘MORTALS’ is a tribute to aging- to the privilege of living long enough to grow old, a privilege not everyone is fortunate enough to experience. It’s a reminder that while youth, with its perfection of form, is quite simply beautiful; age has a more complex and profound beauty- the beauty of experience, of grace in the face of adversity. It’s also a reminder that there is often incredible strength and inner peace in those who are approaching death.
Expressing faith in endurance despite the ravages of time, these works balance mass against negative space, that which survives against that which has been lost, to evoke perfect forms that are still fully realised, seen clearly in the mind’s eye. Time breaks and degrades all things natural and unnatural, all human lives and artefacts, yet even undergoing these processes of destruction our works and our lives may retain strength and grace. The body breaks; the spirit is intact.This one’s for you my darling friend.
Andriane Georgiou, Highly Commended, Mini Series Art Prize 2025.
Andriane Georgiou - Highly Commended
Born in Sydney and raised in Athens, Andriane Georgiou now calls Brisbane home, where she lives and works. Nurtured by the cultural heritage of Greece, her artistic journey began with pencil and ink drawings, before evolving into oil painting, a medium she embraces for its richness in colour and depth.
She explores the beauty of everyday life, mostly through still life painting. Her compositions often feature a mix of native flora, fruit, vegetables and collected objects sourced from op shops, markets or her travels. With a focus on strong forms and texture, she brings clarity and structure to each piece, using colour and light to create a sense of warmth and comfort. Her work captures the character of ordinary things with honesty and care, inviting viewers to explore the world of the painting.
Andriane pursued her formal education in visual arts at Sydney University. She spent quite a few years travelling between Australia, Europe and Asia, collecting photographs and sketches along the way. After settling in Brisbane with her family, she spent more than a decade balancing part-time painting with a full-time administrative career, all while raising four children. In 2024, she made the decision to focus fully on her art practice and now paints full-time.
She has participated extensively in group and duo exhibitions, with her artworks finding homes across Australia and internationally. Her current work, mostly still life paintings, reflect a cozy and welcoming atmosphere offering a sense of home and an escape from the complexities of modern life.
My still life paintings are inspired by the everyday things that surround me. Objects picked up in local shops and op shops, treasures found while travelling, or familiar things from home. I'm especially drawn to the intricate forms of native flowers, the colours and curves of fruit and vegetables and anything else that helps shape a visual story. I like to work with crisp edges and rich textures, keeping the colours clear and fresh to give each painting a strong and expressive feel. The works aim to evoke a sense of comfort and curiosity through the interplay of warm and cool tones, light and shadow. Each piece invites the viewer to feel at ease and find joy in the quiet beauty of ordinary things.
Samantha Mackie, Highly Commended, Mini Series Art Prize 2025.
Samantha Mackie - Highly Commended
Samantha Mackie is a Sydney based artist who predominantly works with porcelain to create delicate sculptures driven by linear forms. She holds a Diploma in Ceramics and was selected as Diploma Graduate of the year 2024.
Some pieces take the form of abstract grids; others explore the linear rhythms of landscapes and built environments. Every work is built to consider the interplay of light and shadow that shift continually throughout day. Generally left unglazed to highlight the beauty of porcelain, they are formed from fine porcelain slabs, built up through hundreds of brushstrokes. The firing process subtly distorts each piece, making the balance between her intent and the kiln’s unpredictably an essential part of the final form. Recently she has been exploring using silver and copper in her sculptures. Samantha’s work has been selected for the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize 2020, Little Things Art Prize 2019. Most recently her Gridline series was selected for the Ravenswood Art Prize 2025.
Walking into an old shearing shed in Binda, NSW, I was struck by the beautiful light and the linear rhythms of worn timber floors, fences, and gates. The Following the Lines, Chasing the Shadows series draws from that moment -distilling lines and shadows into sculptural forms that rest on surfaces or hang on walls, casting new shadows of their own.