The winning art work from Cottesloe’s 14th annual Sculpture by the Sea exhibition will be gifted for permanent public placement to the City of Busselton by Rio Tinto.
Artist Harrie Fasher was announced as the recipient of the prestigious $50,000 Rio Tinto Sculpture Award for her abstract steel work Transition.
The sculpture is based on an Icelandic myth of a horse travelling between worlds, and depicts a horse rising out of the sand.
Ms Fasher said she was overwhelmed and honoured to receive the award.
"Transition embodies everything that it is to be an artist – dreams, struggles and persistence,” she said.
“It's a very important sculpture in my creative practice and I'm delighted it will have a public home in the City of Busselton.”
Transition will be the third sculpture gifted by Rio Tinto to Busselton, joining last year’s recipient Harsha Durugadda’s Column of Sound and 2016 recipient Dale Miles’ Parallel Thinking Space.
Sculpture by the Sea founding director David Handley said Transition was one of his personal favourites to date.
“This award is a wonderful way in which to add to the public art collection of Busselton and regional WA,” he said.
Rio Tinto Iron Ore chief executive officer Chris Salisbury said their partnership with Sculpture by the Sea was part of a broader program to enhance the social and economic prosperity of Perth and regional communities in WA.
The public art coup for the City of Busselton follows the successful Sculpture by the Bay exhibition in Dunsborough over the long weekend.
The foreshore was packed with residents and visitors taking advantage of the free public art show.
The exhibition was part of the Dunsborough Arts Festival and featured more than 30 works.
The event, which began in 2010, was coordinated by volunteers from the Dunsborough and Districts Progress Association.
Tony Heritage was named the winner of the JMW Real Estate People's Choice Award for his work, Robofish and Voytek Kozlowski won The City of Busselton Acquisitive Award for his sculpture, Right To Be.
The Braeco Sales DarnArt 2018 Recycling Award was jointly won by Alan Meyburgh and Justin Webb.
Happs 2018 Emerging Artist Award was also a tie, with Wayne Smith and Graeme Hall named joint titlists.
Artist Dennis Wilson took out the Dianne Laurance 2018 Sculptural Excellence Award for Wren’s Reflection and Greg Gelmi received the Dunsborough Soaps 2018 Award.