Like the idea of sketching-up a koala, or painting a pig-footed bandicoot?

Entries are now open for the Wellington Arts Australian Threatened Species competition, which aims to raise awareness of endangered native animals, while bringing out the Monet in kids and adults alike.

“This is the third year we’ve held it, it was just a subject of interest to us,” Wellington Arts Centre secretary Natacha Richards explained.

“We’ve always held an art exhibition around the same time as the Eisteddfod, which runs from about mid-July to mid-August. So, rather than just a general exhibition, we thought we’d do one that had a specific theme,” she added.

The competition is not only for adults, but teens and children also, with separate entries for flora (plants) and animals (fauna) with prizemoney of up to $1000 on a subject close to every Australian environmentalist’s heart.

“Because of our isolation, we’ve lost hundreds of native plant and animal species over the past 200 years,” she said.

“With the introduction of cats and foxes and other species, we’ve had one of the highest rates of extinctions in the world,” Natacha added.

You don’t have to be an Archibald finalist to enter either, with the competition aimed more at participation and effort, rather than strict virtuosity.

“It’s only just out there now, and entries don’t need to be in until the fifth of July.

“We haven’t received many yet but, last year, we had more than 100 entries,” she said.

Now, is a good time to get started, with entries expected from throughout Australia.

“They’re not just from locals, they can come from anywhere in Australia; last year, we had one from South Australia and one from Western Australia.

“They’re often people who have visited us before, or have become members and get to know about our exhibitions, and they come from all over NSW,” Natacha explained.

Entry forms and entry fees must be received by the committee no later than 5pm on Wednesday, July 5, and be ready to be exhibited and hung for a Show that is about art, but on a very important theme.

“We’ll be opening the exhibition on Friday, July 14, running for two months, with the exhibition closing on Threatened Species Day, on September 7.

“This issue impacts all of us. We’ve heard rumours that we’ve got quolls locally, and there are a number of small bird species that are also threatened in the Wellington area,” Natacha concluded.

For more information, email infowellingtonarts@gmail.com.