Eutick Memorial Still Life Award 2014
Self-guided tour
POETRY COMPETITION
School students are invited to enter the EMSLA poetry competition.
Write a poem, verse or subjective response to anyone of the images in EMSLA 2014.
There are some wonderful prizes to be won.
Age categories
1. 5-12 year old
2.13-18 year old
3.19 upwards
Entries close on Tuesday December.2.
Submit your poem to gallery reception or to [email protected]
Include your name, age category, title of the artwork the poem is about and your contact number.
Either visit the gallery to view the works from Monday November 24 onwards or go to the gallery
website http://www.coffsharbour.nsw.gov.au/our-community/facilities-parks-and-places/regionalgallery/Pages/ go to EMSLA, click on learn more, a collage of images will appear, click on Pinterest to
find individual images and title blocks.
SCHOOL VISITS
The exhibition is open to schools from Monday November 24, 9am to 4pm.
Guided tours and practical activities are available free of charge.
Contact Sue McEntyre on 66 484863 to book your visit.
EMSLA
THE EUTICK MEMORIAL STILL LIFE AWARD
EMSLA Background
The Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery’s Eutick Memorial Still Life Award (EMSLA) was made possible
through the generosity of Dr Mal Eutick. The award is dedicated to his late mother.
Commencing in 2007, it is now in its eighth year. It is the only still-life painting prize in Australia and is
open to all Australian artists.
It is an acquisitive prize of $18,000 with a prize awarded to the most outstanding local artist and the
people’s choice award. The winners of these prizes a labelled on the wall.
The judges for 2014 are John McDonald, critic for the Sydney Morning Herald and regional gallery
director’s Caroline Downer and Jude McBean.
There were 243 works entered in the prize with 54 works selected representing 51 artists, three artists
have two works in the show, eleven of these works are by the local artists.
Troy Argyros
catch of the day, oil on ply,
$ 1000, 27 x 21
Shweta Bhargava
green ride, oil on canvas
$ 1500, 61 x 61
Troy Argyros. Drawing on themes from gay and Greek culture, this work is intentionally ambiguous,
playful and provocative. It employs a time-consuming glazing technique: several thin layers of linseed oil
are tinted with pigment to build a convincing sense of transparency true to the subject.
Shweta Bhargava. This painting is the result of my fascination with the reflection of light. It began when I
noticed reflections of surroundings on the body of a car and found myself lost in their beauty.
The dramatic reflections created on the windshield and on the body of the car take centre stage. The
reflection of surrounding trees becomes the medium to experience adjacent scenery and by looking at
them, we shift between the real and the imaginary, as reality gradually morphs into abstraction reflected
on the polished surface of the car.
John Bokor
the yellow tablecloth, oil on linen
$ 5200, 60 x 80
Terri Butterworth
the morning room, oil on canvas
$ 2600, 88 x 69
John Bokor. This is a painting of a collection of objects from my studio: bottles of medium, cans of spray
adhesive, various tins and jars of paint and the odd cup. It was painted from life in two separate attempts
many months apart. The objects on the table were different on each occasion and so the resulting still life
is really a fusion of both.
Terrie Butterworth the morning room can be any room flooded with the yellow light
of early morning optimism. Shapes change as the light moves across the bedcover and tossed fabrics.
The viewer brings their own interpretation. For me it is a reminder that all is in flux.
Marcus Callum
still life with eggs and buddha
oil on canvas
$ 16000
61 x 28
Marcus Callum
still life with wine, eggs and buddha
oil on canvas
$ 17000
53 x 31.5
Marcus Callum. Still life with eggs and buddha is concerned with universal themes of birth, death, life
and rebirth, the players observe themselves in the brass tankard. Viewers see the reflection of the objects,
the room, the artist and his paintings, inviting them to play their part in a triangular discourse. The buddha
oversees events in silent non-judgement.
Still life with wine, eggs and buddha
This painting is different conversation with the same players plus a guest.
Alison Chaim
string and bone, acrylic on canvas
$ 800, 35 x 26.5
Julie Davidson
still life with hippeastrum lily
and glass ball, oil on linen,
$ 8800,138 x 153
Alison Chaim. Chaim’s work is in response to a visit to Gallipoli. The bone symbolises the soldiers who
went and the string is a symbol for the ties at home to family and friends. It is about the politics of being a
soldier in Gallipoli and the tension the soldiers must have felt being trapped there. Ultimately the subject
of the work is tension.
Julie Davidson. This painting is a meditation on light and beauty; both intangible, both transcending the
material. Still life offers us the opportunity for a quiet, personal deeper narrative. “Beauty is unbearable,
offering us for a minute the glimpse of an eternity that we should like to stretch out over the whole of
time”. Albert Camus
Louise Feneley
preserving brighton, 1955,
oil on belgian linen, $ 7700, 120 x 80
A reflection on time past,
A recollection of underwater-watching
As a child.
A tribute to the seahorse,
Gathered
By my mother
Almost 60 years ago
And to the sea grasses, so thin now.
The light
The bright, clear light of summer
With no shadowy place left to go.
Still ocean,
Delicate as glass.
Louise Feneley
tide of an interior mind
oil on belgian linen, $ 7700, 122 x 84
It seems to me that, as the days of one’s
life progress, one’s consciousness
(thought, feeling, responses) seems to
ebb and flow, rise and fall, like the
curious tide in perpetual motion.
Perception of this is often hardly noticed,
only vaguely detectable, and seemingly
unremarkable, yet remains mysteriously
and inexplicably powerful.
Robert Fenton
the dyslexic florist
oil on linen on board
$ 2200
41 x 56
Emily Ferretti
together (bedroom still life)
oil on linen
$ 7000
138 x 185
Barry Fitzpatrick
big red and all the pink
ladies
oil and acrylic on board
$ 4500
122 x 160
Robert Fenton. The work was painted in oil glazing technique with an acrylic undercoat. I worked from
life at the start of the painting then referred to photos as the flower wilted. The dyslexic florist
is about things that are wrong and mixed up but still have a bright and beautiful presence.
Emily Ferretti Together, bedroom still life, is a personal painting about companionship, partnership and
devotion. It depicts the bedroom that I have shared with my partner for 10 years, combined with
imaginary objects and abstracted elements. It was inspired by folk-art painting from the early twentieth
century, specifically still life imagery of everyday life.
Barry Fitzpatrick’s painting examines the natural world and the way we interact with it.
In order to leave the interpretation open, I avoid a strong referential or narrative approach. The kangaroo
and apples here could be interpreted as classical elements of still life or as symbols of industry,
temptation, greed, shame or glory.
Josh Foley
wild bunch #5, oil and acrylic on linen
$ 8500, 107 x 122
Francis Giacco
studio still life, oil on marine ply
$ 6500, 95 x 65
Foley depicts Tasmanian wild-flowers. Through the technological manipulation of their representation
and experimental painting techniques they have been conceived to become apparition-like and to form an
aesthetic militia contingent sent to dominate this canvas. They hover above, and beyond the drab and
miserable colonial tropes behind.
Franco Giacco. For decades I've had these still-life objects and painted them numerous times:
the mandolin (music is an ever-present theme in my paintings), the yellow shaving jug and tapestry from
my father's barber shop. I'm interested in texture. Most of the painting is done with a palette knife to give
a stitched texture across the surface.
Guy Gilmour
still life with stella, acrylic on canvas,
$ 6600, 137 x 92
Barbara Goldin
protea, acrylic on canvas
$ 2100, 76 x 92
Guy Gilmour has painted objects from his rural lifestyle. He has frozen a moment in time, capturing the
early evening light that falls across the scene and the pensive gaze of the dog awaiting the return of his
master. Secondary to this are the objects on the ute tray that indicate human presence: the remains of
afternoon tea from the esky and buckets for maintenance work.
Barbara Goldin. I just had to do a painting of the magnificent king protea that was given to me by my
dear friends. The flower was in a tall glass vase on my kitchen table with various objects around it. I
painted in situ using a mix of charcoal and ink to sketch directly onto the canvas and then applied
paint. The work was completely spontaneous, it felt good, the paint just flowed. The protea reminds me of
the Cape where I once lived.
Elisa Hall
Happiness is the truth, oil on canvas
$ 1800, 33 x 28
Leanne Halls
Daisie,oils on linen,
$ 700, 41 x 31
Elisa Hall. I loved the idea of painting a flat a two dimensional object and making it look three
dimensional to create an illusion.
It's like a self-portrait. The theme is happiness in its lovely naive simplicity. Who wouldn't be happy to be
a rabbit wearing green overalls and having wheels?
Daisie involves synthesising components of abstract expressionism with classical realism. My intention is
to combine the abstract beauty of paint quality, colour and tone with just enough imagery to deem my
work realistic. The subject matter is the vehicle, not the reason, for my work.
Nicholas Kachel
Gina Kalabishis
prickly pear still life after the sunflower oil Sara, oil on linen
on board, $ 2500, 90 x 111
$ 6000, 137 x 121
Nicholas Kachel. Kachel has combined his admiration of Vincent Van Gogh’s sunflower paintings and
the cactus in this painting. The cactus is set not on a salt pan with a blue sky but on a white table-top with
a blue background just as Van Gogh’s sunflowers. He has captured the beautiful colours and complex
forms of the prickly pear as the surface planes of the stems form a dense interlocking pattern. In the
bottom right hand corner Kachel has placed a motif he designed as a lucky charm.
Gina Kalabishis. Sara loosely references the novel “Picnic at Hanging Rock”.
The euphoric energy of the rock absorbs Sara; remnants of her hair and pelvic bones are intermingled
with native flora, creating a surreal ikebana arrangement.
It not only draws on her physical anatomy but on psychological synergies of Sara’s state of mind and how
the unforgiving Australian landscape does not reciprocate her love.
Nicole Kelly
bush flowers with stripes
oil on polyester, $ 800, 51.5 x 41
Elena Kolotusha
unwritten letter, oil on
canvas, $ 2500, 36 x 44
Nicole Kelly’s approach to painting is grounded in direct observation but also draws from her background
in abstraction. Working from life allows her to keep painting as direct as possible and to maintain a
continual and close relationship with the subjects while translating these observations into the language of
abstracted form and colour.
Elena Kolotusha unwritten letter. All the objects in this small still life are purposefully selected and
positioned as I was trying to create a narrative, a story for the viewer to discover. On one level I was
attracted to the textures and shapes but there is underlying emotional aspect -the crumbled paper and heart
stone suggest some romantic feelings hidden there that need to be expressed and the shell, as in
Renaissance times, could be a symbol of sensuality and the pleasures of the flesh or just a simple piece
which brings memories of the beach and happy days.
Georgie Lucock
untitled (plane)
oil on linen
$ 1250, 50 x 50
Georgie Lucock
untitled (skull)
oil and gold leaf on board
$ 1250, 50 x 50
Georgia Lucock. Lucock has always had an interest in the mid 1900’s and the wars of this era. Untitled
(plane) is a small scale painting of a large scale American bomber. Her palette of blues and browns
locates the work in this era whilst capturing the metallic quality of the plane.
The work was built in ten delicate layers of oil paint.
Untitled (skull) depicts a ram’s skull propped upon a bench. It was an object that interested Lucock during
a visit to Tasmania. It reminded her of Georgia O’Keefe’s paintings of skulls and inspired her to create
this work with freely applied oil paint, loose contour pencil lines and a dab of gold on the teeth that gives
this skull (usually a symbol of our own mortality) a sense of whimsy.
Sue MacLeod-Beere
the studio chair
oil on canvas
$ 780, 25 x 35
Guy Maestri
bounty no. 2, oil on linen
$ 4500, 53 x 63
Graham Marchant
garden fragment, oil on board
$ 4500, 124 x 94
Sue Macleod-Beere the studio chair. I painted the chair as I felt it had character. Once I had painted it I
realised how it evoked time passing, waiting for the next person, the next project, the next story. The
skeleton just happened to be there and added to the narrative together with the young girl’s portrait and
recent still-life sketch.
Guy Maestri bounty no.#2. Maestri has chosen a table-top arrangement with an animal skull. He uses the
flowers as the symbol of life and the skull as the symbol of death, referencing symbolism in the Dutch
masters’ still-life painting.
Graham Marchant garden fragment. I have been producing painting of still-life’s and gardens over many
years but always as separate entities. By chance, I moved a bouquet of poppies from my studio to the
adjacent garden and saw the integrated relationship between the bouquet and its source, the manicured
garden bed. Garden fragment was the response.
Angus McDonald
ray of light, oil on canvas, $ 16000, 125 x 75
Angus McDonald. This piece was part of a series of still-life’s I painted in my studio this year using the
ceramic objects of the late Gwyn Hanssen Pigott.
Her talent was to make ordinary everyday objects seem majestic and to imbue them with illuminated
beauty. Hence the name of the painting.
Sylvia McEwan
black and white still life
enamel on aluminium on board
$ 4000, 93 x 123
Morna McIlraith
the roman spoon
oil on linen, $ 10500, 101 x 76
Sylvia McEwan. I have been predominately working in painting over the past few years. Recently I
wanted to reintroduce sculpture to my work. Combining both sculpture and painting evolved into my
metal wall assemblages. Black and white still life refers to my earlier series of still life paintings.
Morna McIlthraith The roman spoon. I found this ancient spoon in a downstairs curiosity shop in the
maze of idyllic Roman back streets. Keen to try out a new medium containing dammar varnish and
influenced by the still-lifes in the European galleries, I found this a suitable spot for it.
Michelle Molinari
nature morte
oil on aluminium
$ 6500,122 x 96
David Moore
the draped cloth
oil on linen
$ 8000,120 x 90
Michelle Molinari. I taxidermy birds and then paint them from life. The human gesture is maximised
though the placement of the birds under glass and then unnaturally suspended. This artificiality of the
constructed composition drives home the idea that the bird’s state is beyond death, this being the
objective of the taxidermy process.
David Moore. Moore has painted a classical tonal composition; two objects arranged on a table-top where
the light flooding in from the left is important in creating the soft still tone of the painting.
Deb Mostert
‘i guess i'll never be satisfied because there
are always more out there' kingfisher fish
knife, oil on linen
$ 2400, 102 x 102
Stephen Nothling
three Queensland graces
oil on canvas, $ 2500, 115 x 76
Deb Mostert’s painting is part of an investigation about what birds might collect if they were as prone to
collecting as we are. Collectors often gather objects in which they have a professional interest. Fish
knives would surely be useful to a kingfisher.
Stephen Nothling three Queensland graces. A few years ago when my daughter was thirteen she made
quite a number of hand-stitched portraits of her family and friends out of old terry-towelling nappies,
scraps of fabric and buttons. Some of these figures lived in various places around our house. The three
I’ve painted here form a tableau on a side-table with some of our pineapple bric-a-brac. Included are
references to Raphael and Picasso to suggest a continuance of the three graces as a theme in art in which
I whimsically dare to include myself.
Julie Playle, ribbons
acrylic,61 x 92,$400
Matthew Quick, the eternal struggle
oil on linen, $ 12500, 101 x 120
Julie Playle ribbons started with simple loops or curves of colour meandering down the canvas.
Later, from those loops emerged ribbons of different colours branching out to who knows where.
To me, the ribbons seem like ideas (some brighter and more interesting than others) which often come
from wandering thoughts or daydreams.
Matthew Quick. Buried with the palace of Titus for 1400 years, the Laocoön group was unearthed in
1506. Michelangelo advised on the excavation and reconstruction and scholars have debated the exact
configuration ever since. The only known facts are as depicted: the eternal struggle will continue, as it
always has.
Don Rankin
Double gladioli, oil on canvas,
$ 9000, 160 x 100
Don Rankin has painted two different varieties of gladioli. It is through the contrast of background colour
and the colours of the flowers that this orderly still-life arrangement moves away from the typical floral
arrangement but still celebrates the beauty of the flower as a desirable object.
The gladioli in 17th century Dutch painting represented grief or suffering due to the sword shape of the
stalk.
Isabel Ricketts
Talisman, mixed media, $ 1500, 60 x 75
Rosalind Robertson
Jack's bathtub flotilla
mixed media on canvas
$ 925, 61 x 91
Isabel Ricketts. Everything in this painting has a meaning to me. The plaster bust of a boy represents
openness and reminds me to live in the present. The bottle of ink and brush are my tools. The eucalyptus
leaves from my daughter bring the bush with its scent into my studio. The pot belonged to my mother.
Rosalind Robertson. Faded plastic boats decorate the rim of the bathtub, reminders of a former active life
with Jack at the helm. Sweeping gestural marks laid down at the outset of the work had a freshness and
spontaneity I was keen to maintain, with layers of collage and drawing employed in support of the
subject.
Evan Salmon
bottles and jars VI, oil on linen
$ 1400, 46.6 x 37.2
Evan Salmon bottles and jars VI belongs to a series of paintings which depict familiar everyday objects,
in this case items used in the artist’s studio. The objects have been carefully arranged as a group on a
simple shelf and painted from observation in one sitting.
Otto Schmidinger
Prized,oils on linen
$ 6500,120 x 90
Otto Schmidinger. Sometimes we use possessions to define our identity to others and even ourselves.
The owner of the bike has parked it on the footpath as close as possible to the restaurant while she has
dinner. I wanted Prized to show how attached we become to objects in our life, for a while.
Kim Spooner
the girls,encaustic on panel
$ 10000,120 x 90
Catherine Tait
Offerings,oil on linen
$ 1200, 60 x 90
Kim Spooner. the girls represents core aspects of my practice: the elevation of ordinary things through
careful observation, use of metaphor and humour, the illusion of light using traditional encaustic
technique with brunaille underpainting and transparent glazes. An important painting in my practice,
taking three years to complete, it is unusual in that it is singular and not part of a suite.
Catherine Tait depicts a table-top still-life of attractive possessions painted in beautiful colours awash
with light. The visual effects of colour are revealed by the play of light across an array of objects. This
infinite beauty of colour is not only in every object itself but also in the interaction between objects, their
shadows, and the surrounding space as light travels over and amongst them.
Martin Tighe
broken bread, acrylic on linen
$ 1500, 35 x 35
Seabastion Toast
still life with a pokemon
acrylic on canvas
$ 1800, 75 x 75
Martin Tighe. My painting broken bread is a both a simple representation of a sliced loaf of bread and a
religious icon. I carefully selected the loaf and then painted it using acrylic paint. The background is
worked over and over with layers of transparent paint before I start work on the bread.
Seabastion Toast. This medium-size painting depicts in a painterly but realistic style a child’s toy that has
toppled to its side. The shadow is important in locating the toy within the open space and contrasting with
the light tones of the toy’s body.
Clare Toms
equilibrium, oil on linen,
$ 2200, 65 x 75
Peter Wade
inside miro's tool shed, acrylic
$ 2100, 120 x 89
Clare Toms. Equilibrium explores notions of physical and intangible transience. Transience and travel
play an important role in my work; there is fleeting beauty yet non-negotiable finality to all that we
undertake and it is these moments of realisation and the balance between the two that I find most
fascinating.
Peter Wade. Joan Miro has been a favourite of mine from an early age. The objects in my work all come
from the strange world of Miro's paintings. It is painted on the textured back of masonite board, an old,
durable material that allowed me to constantly rub the surface back between layers. Primer filler was
applied beneath the objects.
Guy L Warren
fading bouquet, oil on canvas
$ 3500, 100 x 120
Polly Wells
persimmons and ruby glass
oil on canvas, $1200, 76 x 76
Warren depicts flowers past their prime. Flowers have been used for centuries in still-life painting as
metaphors for the human condition, political events, commercial enterprise and as religious symbols. In
this case they reference the inevitable passing of time and our ultimate death.
Polly Wells. Vessels used in food rituals are imbued with emotional overtones and evoke memories of
happy times spent with family and friends. Similarly the seasonal blooms in the garden become beloved
friends, markers of time and the seasons.
Maryanne Wick
the nest, oil on wood
$ 3600, 100.5 x 63
Robert Williams
Untitled, watercolour
$ 1000, 52 x 70
Maryanne Wick. In the nest, lizards and birds are taking centre stage, surrounded by bush pods and found
objects from my locale. More often than not, I prefer to depict these beautiful creatures through
suggestion and imagination. We can all relate to a glimpse of a tail, a silhouette, a shadow or a feather on
the ground. My still-life compositions are often metaphorical but, in this case, the painting was created in
response to something I witnessed earlier this year from the window of my studio.
Robert Williams. This is a metaphorical piece that describes the abandonment of the constructed nine-tofive routine and the severance of old relationships. Ironically, if I had not abandoned the old routine to
embrace change, this piece would not exist.
Chris Wilson
betty knows it's a jungle out there
oil on canvas
$ 10000, 150 x 150
Christine Wrest-Smith
Upturn. oil on linen
$ 4000, 84 x 66
Chris Wilson. This series is about women negotiating power in their world. She has used art deco
figurines in highly staged settings. The series will move forward, becoming looser and using real women
to show how roles have changed. This piece changes the dynamic. The modern woman invites Betty to
come down from her safe place on the bowl but Betty knows it’s a jungle out there.
Christine Wrest-Smith. My intention in this work is not to represent death but instead to show an elegance
and dignity to a life which has past and become something new and fascinating in its own right, to be
viewed now from a different perspective.