Portia Geach Memorial Award 2007

Portia Geach Memorial Award 2007

This year’s Award attracted submissions of 316 works from which 55 works were selected for the exhibition at the S H Ervin Gallery, Observatory Hill from 28 September to 4 November. 

The event was held at the Gallery and was opened by Jillian Broadbent AO, Board Member, Reserve Bank of Australia.

This year, the 2007 Portia Geach Memorial Award, worth $18,000, was won by Maryanne Coutts for her work titled Melbourne.  The judges also highly commended Kim Shannon’s Self Divided.  To read the Judges’ comments please enter here.

A list of artists in this year’s exhibition is available by entering here or continue on this page to view a selection of this year’s work.

Winner – Maryanne Coutts, "Melbourne"

Over my life as an artist I have painted a lot of self-portraits. At first it was simply an exercise in observation, but over time it has become the more considered practice of painting regular, contemplative self-portraits. It is now almost a narrative project which enables me to both document and reflect on the events and feelings of my life as well as consolidate the concerns of my creative work.

This painting is a response to my move over the last eighteen months from country Victoria into Melbourne. It has been a long slow process, but here I am, in the city. Part of this move has involved a couple of residencies at St. Vincent’s hospital: a wonderful opportunity to use a very large studio which is high up on the edge of the city. This painting is simply what I saw in the mirror there and is, therefore, a mirror image of Melbourne looking out along Victoria St towards the Dandenongs.

About Maryanne Coutts
As an artist, Maryanne Coutts has a long standing interest in painting narrative as well as a commitment to drawing. This practice has recently extended into the area of hand drawn animation.

Currently a lecturer in drawing and painting in the faculty of Art and Design at Monash University, she completed her degree at the Victorian College of the Arts and studied in Sydney at the City Art Institute (then, now COFA) before completing a PH.D through the University of Ballarat in 1999.  Over the past 20 years, Maryanne has continued to exhibit her work throughout Australia both commercially and as a finalist in awards such as the Portia Geach Memorial Award, several Dobell drawing exhibitions, the Moet et Chandon Touring Exhibition and the Doug Moran Portrait prize. She has won a series of awards which include the Blake Prize and this year’s Williamstown festival Award.

 
Highly Commended – Kim Shannon, Self Divided
This painting began when I saw different views of myself at one time in two mirrors tucked away amongst a lot of other clutter in the corner of the studio, I enjoyed the abstract nature of the whole thing. As with a lot of paintings, self-portraits in particular, it becomes more about a state of mind than a likeness.   

Carole Best, "Thoughts Immured"
John Maclean is a professional wheelchair athlete. He has competed all over the world at the top level of both able-bodied and wheelchair events. As amazing as that is, it’s his work and support of children in wheelchairs through the John Maclean Foundation which inspires me. I admire people like this – people who have overcome immense personal difficulty and turn around to give so much back to the rest of us. I wish I had the same emotional resilience and level of fortitude he has.

While sitting for this portrait John was training for the Hawaiian Ultraman. He was sometimes tired and preoccupied. This was beneficial to me as I could get really close and stare at him as he dozed off. While I stared at him all the while I never knew what he was thinking, so I drew this to show the reflection and the deep contemplation I could see in his eyes.

The portrait is on plywood with gesso and charcoal. The image is built up in layers and then rubbed and sanded back. I chose to use black and white because I love the contrasts it provides but also because I just love black. It’s my favourite working colour. It was a quite a physical work because the piece is pretty big for me. Drawing a human head so large does funny things to you –it demands an accuracy and an emotional awareness which smaller pieces don’t.

 

Camilla Connolly, "Mungo"
Mungo Maccallum is a delightfully erudite character and a leftie journo - who lives near me in the Northern Rivers of NSW.  I had the opportunity to paint him this year from life, in Bangalow, and asked him if I could enter the work in the Portia Geach. I love this painting. For me, it exhibits a clear understanding of what I consider to be the essence of contemporary portraiture, which must operate as both portrait and self-portrait simultaneously.

I am always after the guts and sensitivity of the person and the human condition in my work, and I am mostly interested in a kind of universal fusion of technique, sensitivity and painterly application.

 

Julie Corfe, "Rita"
I had known of Rita, a fellow artist living on the other side of our village in the Adelaide Hills, for twenty years.  However, it was only last year that chance, or a moment of initiative, brought us together.  I attended her amazing exhibition of bundled textile drawings at the Hilton Hotel, and we discussed her recent successes in the Waterhouse and Dobell Prizes.

Rita Hall, her dogs Monty & Mia, and her cat, Kevin, all sitting in her studio, became the manifest subject.  Beginning on a cold clear winter morning, Rita’s life was set on canvas.

 

Prudence Flint, "Aviator #3"
I wanted to capture a sense of quiet control and of the future.  I like the transcendent associations of flying especially through the night sky. I researched the insides of planes and I photographed a woman in profile with her hands on the joystick of her own plane. 

Images from science fiction films have often inspired me.

 

Helene Grove, "Monday"
As I had nominated a self-portrait for the Portia Geach Memorial Award 2007, (Today) I’m taking some time out to reflect on a typical day in the life of ‘This Artist’.
 
Living in isolation (except for ‘Old Cat’), very much surrounded by a floor and four walls, where the perfect landscape is either a painting on the wall or a wishful figment, I find that a Monday is like a Tuesday, and a Tuesday like a Wednesday…….

So, because today is Monday, I called my portrait ‘Monday’.

 

Trudi Harley, "Self Painting Selves"
As an educator I’ve always been interested in how we learn.  I spent ten years teaching art and reading every book under the sun explaining the ways of ‘How to Paint’, ‘How to Draw’, ‘How to Print’, ‘How to … (You fill in the gaps)’.  I once asked someone “How do you get to be a painter?” The response came back simply “Stop reading books telling you how to paint and just paint”.   The answer resonated with me, so when confronted with the task of painting a self-portrait and the obvious lack of resources, I just painted. The best learning device accordingly is the simple act of immersion.

Self Painting Selves is the educator being the student being the educator.  The more I paint the more I learn about everything!

I believe our existence relies on our ability to interact with our environment and the various anomalies and challenges within it, we should be encouraged to seek outside our comfort zone so that we may experience personal growth, for me painting and drawing acts as the vehicle for that challenge.

 

Frances Hayes, "My Secret"
Portraits, essentially self-portraits and painting from life are a major focus in my work. This portrait was exploring the use of underpainting with the opposites of purple and yellow, then overpainting with the red (+ white) and green opposites to depict skin tones.  What is being communicated in the expression of the subject is of growing importance also.

 

Polly Ifould, "Kathy Lette’s Palm Beach Summer"
Serious portraits are in the main painted in a solemn and very serious style.  In fact, it is rare to find a portrait depicting even a hint of a smile, let alone teeth revealing full-blown joy!

But, when I chose to paint Kathy Lette, the zany, intelligent and talented writer, it was impossible to portray her without the exuberance that both she and her writings exude. So this painting is a serious portrayal of a seriously happy and humorous woman.

I have endeavoured to portray Kathy’s wit, warmth, enthusiasm and lifestyle choice in this portrait – in a way that epitomises the Australian carefree way of life filled with laughter, sun and surf.

 

Eugenie Lee, "My Tree Lives Here"
This particular painting has proven to be quite difficult to talk about.  A lot of turmoil surrounded my life during this time and this work was one of the images I produced as a visual response. The image is set in a supposed, well-ordered room setting; however the tree is representation of my other self, the part that is slowly dying.

The intricate weave of the wall pattern comes alive and grows at an alarming rate; I am not certain whether it pullulates to protect my tree or to drown us both. The Akira-esque temperament of this pattern subliminally freezes my space in time.

To produce such a painting I start off with my dollhouse setups and/or miniatures to create a stage, followed by superimposing an image of myself into the scene in order to dramatize the narratives. This process is a vital part of my work as I create a psychological/emotional intimacy with a miniature installation. 

My growing obsession with repetitive patterns is also apparent in this particular painting and I have given it a strong voice of its own.

 

Carolyn McKay, "White Noise (Self Perception)"
White Noise (Self Perception) emanates from my studio project as part of the Master of Studio Art degree at Sydney College of the Arts.  It degraded images from a decaying analogue TV screen, with their mesmerising patterns, providing the reference material for my studio project.

Associated research has led me to consider questions of vision, visual consciousness and the perceptual experience. Painting a self-portrait is always a confronting perceptual challenge for the artist. With the Op Art inspired white noise patterns, I aim to provide viewers with a moment of conscious visual exploration.

 

Samone Turnbull, "Face to Face: Kay Lawrence AM"
Face to Face is a portrait of the textile artist Kay Lawrence, completing with a final pearl shell button a memorial piece in the image of a skull.

The Skull blanket project refers to the violent exploitation and loss of aboriginal life in the development of the pearling industry in Broome, Western Australia.

 

Zuza Zochowski, "Self Portrait, 2007"
Self Portrait, 2007 is from one of my many walks in the park to enjoy the effects of light in the landscape.

My most recent body of work has been looking at the patterns, colours and textures created naturally by light. I have also been interested in including myself into the landscape as a personal record of her moment in time.

My latest body of work has been inspired by a recent travel overseas. My interest in the Impressionists were renewed by a visit to the Courtauld Institute of Art and by my recent readings of Bridget Riley who also has a high interest in the likes of Monet and Seurat.