Hitting its mid 50s stride, a renowned local annual art exhibition has celebrated a record number of entries this year.
Sherbrooke Gallery celebrated the opening of their 55th Streeton, Roberts and McCubbin Art Awards on Saturday 24 May.
A full room, with over 80 in attendance the exhibition had 152 entries this year contributed by 62 awards from Sherbrooke and beyond.
This year, Sherbrooke Gallery invited artist Sarah Anthony to judge the Streeton, Roberts and McCubbin sections, and it was a massive task to choose three standout works for the major prizes. She also awarded seven highly commended and one commended on the day.
“The exhibition was really strong – lots of amazing works. I was really impressed by the diversity of how artists had interpreted the broader theme,” said Sarah.
As a first time judge, she said it was an exciting new experience for her and was slightly daunted by the prospect of deciding between over 150 entries this year. .
“I set myself judging criteria of looking for works that had some flavour or sense of Streeton, Roberts and McCubbin’s works, but with their own artistic individuality,” said Sarah.
“I took three hours to really immerse myself in the works and I’m really happy with the winners I chose,” she said.
“The works each have a strong relation to the theme but are strong representations of each artist’s personal style.”
Sarah has recently worked on a children’s book with author Dee White on the story behind Tom Roberts’ most famous painting, ‘Shearing the Rams’, which hangs in the National Gallery of Victoria Collection.
It is titled ‘The Girl in the Painting’ and follows the story of Susie Bourne, a shy girl growing up on Brocklesby Sheep Station in Corowa, NSW.
“Sarah has painted all of the pages in this delightful book, which is so connected to our local history in Kallista, where Tom Roberts chose to live in the last decade of his life,” said a spokesperson from Sherbrooke Gallery.
On the day of the exhibition launch, Sarah spent a long time considering the array of artwork on display and awarded the Streeton Award for Best Landscape to It Hao Pheh, who is a tutor who teaches watercolour regularly at the gallery.
His magnificent watercolour ‘The Observer’s Reward’ was described by Sarah as a ‘quiet achiever’ and ‘one I could look at for a long time.’
“The drama of the mountains in the foreground and the soft vista receding into the background has all the best elements of Streeton’s compositions, yet the style is very much the artist’s own,” she said.
Artist in residence Jeffrey Murphy won the Roberts Award for best non-landscape for his Still Life painting of flowers titled ‘Mortum Florem’.
Spanning a career of 35 years, Jeffrey said he was greatly honoured to receive the award and Sarah described the painting as really reminiscent of the Heidelberg school era.
“A strong yet restrained painting, it’s a really nice example of tonal realism,” she said.
Jeffrey learned tonal impressionism under artist Glenda Wise, and said that it is a method of oil painting which emphasises tonal value (Dark to Light) and visual truth.
“For me, this occasion was a chance to take it slow, building in layers to achieve a classic chiaroscuro (dark to light) effect,” he said.
“I gave a gold leaf frame a custom finish to give a look of antiquity to compliment the piece.”
Describing the local gallery as ‘his art home’, Jeffrey has made painting his life and profession, teaching oil painting to adults at Sherbrooke and his work focuses on flowers and still life.
“My passion for flowers and growing flowers combines with my love of collecting and hoarding interesting relics and op-shop finds, which eventually feature in my work,” he said.
The McCubbin Award for best small painting went to Ben Winspear for his 9 x 5 painting titled ‘ Summer Haze, Dandenongs’ and the winner of the Walter Withers Award for Watercolour went to Jenny Nicholls for ‘Sheep Country’.
Sarah it was really lovely to be part of the opening and meet some of the artists and locals who run the gallery.
“It is such a strong community and the talent in the area is impressive,” she said.
“Everyone was so friendly and welcoming and it was great to put faces to names of local artists that I already follow.”
The exhibition will run now until 21 June at Sherbrooke Gallery on 62 Monbulk Rd, Belgrave and the gallery is open from Friday to Monday, from 11am-3pm.
