At the 2010 Helpmann Academy Graduate Exhibition, visual artist Kim Buck was voted the winner of the Peoples’ Choice Award.

The prize – which is selected by a popular vote of exhibition visitors - is worth $500 and is proudly supported by Peter Walker Fine Art.

Kim’s series of charcoal on paper drawings were a clear favourite among this year’s exhibition goers, who described her detailed work as “brilliant”, “outstanding”, “extraordinary”, “eye-catching and clever”, “exquisite in every way”.

“Rendering these drawings through an intensely laborious and humanly flawed process is my attempt at contesting and exposing the unseen forces that surround us,” Kim says, a graduate of the South Australian School of Art (UniSA).

“They represent a disconcertingly familiar internal battle: the metaphorical space in which balance has been disrupted and we are faced with the choice to hold on and fight or to give up the battle and simply let go.”

The Helpmann Academy for the Visual & Performing Arts assists emerging artists to make the leap into professional practice, by providing a range of programs and opportunities including exhibitions, awards, grants, mentorships and international exchanges.

The Academy’s partners are TafeSA - the Adelaide College of the Arts and Vizarts O’Halloran Hill; University of South Australia - South Australian School of Art; University of Adelaide – Elder Conservatorium; Flinders University - Flinders Drama & Flinders Screen Production; Adelaide Central School of Art.

For more information on Kim's work, visit her website: www.kimbuck.com.au.