Helen says on her own practice, “I consider myself a Modern/Contemporary artist, and have been so since I was about 12 years old. I have had lessons in contemporary painting, and life drawing, and have exhibited six times in Brisbane since May 2010; mostly with other artists, but once solo. I have also designed and painted two murals for Qld Fire Service, two Brisbane cafes, and I have both painted, drawn, designed, and continue to complete digital artwork for a commercial Brisbane client.
I also write and self publish children’s stories illustrating them digitally, and with pen and watercolour drawings.
A Grandmother, my family/art life is balanced on a “what’s happening today” basis. I was born in New Zealand and have lived in Brisbane for 33 years.”
Charlotte is a full time 2D abstract mixed media artist from the Sunshine Coast.
With an enduring curiosity for shape and colour, Charlotte works with both printmaking and paint as she creates abstractions of experiences in the landscape and personal journeys.
Global wanderings have infused her visual aesthetic with a love of rich colours; texture and ornament; structures and forms; and the contrast between natural and constructed environments, which she weaves into her work through collage.
Diversity of human experience and the reality of unique personal narratives have always held a particular resonance for her and these thoughts are never far from her mind as she paints.
Charlotte’s work is held in public and private collections both in Australia and overseas and her work has been recognised through inclusions in art prize finalist exhibitions, locally and internationally.
She is a member of the annual Noosa Open Studios Art Trail and participates in group shows regularly throughout the year.
Congratulations to all the award recipients in the 2023 Art of Imagination.
Thank you also to all of the participants in this years exhibition, as well as our judge Rachel Favelle, Fellows Selector Dr Kay Kane FRQAS, and sponsor Art Shed Brisbane.
First Prize
Goddess
by Laura McCormack
JUDGE’S COMMENTS
A complex and detailed narrative which utilises innovative approaches to technology and media. A strong sense of personal style is evident in this work.
Second Prize
A New Era
by Natasha Zraikat
JUDGE’S COMMENTS
Beautiful application of paint to highlight soft contours and forms of the subject. An effective combination of realism and fantasy elements.
Third Prize
Delivering Spring
by Robbie Erskine
JUDGE’S COMMENTS
Subtle colour palette and attention to fine detail in a well resolved painting. Clever choice of symbolism in response to the theme of the exhibition.
Highly Commended
Daemon and Eidolon
by Jared Fountain
JUDGE’S COMMENTS
A highly emotive piece that highlights the importance of light and darkness in creating drama. A sophisticated use of media that utilises texture for effect.
Young Artist Excellence Award
Kevin the Koala
by Chris Corish
JUDGE’S COMMENTS
Effective exploration of shapes and colours in a stylistic representation of a koala. Simplistic composition that draws the eyes to the subject.
Fellows Recognition Award
Between the Sun and Moon
by Dave Groom
FELLOW’S COMMENTS
While all art is, in the end, a product of an imaginative mind, this landscape, with its innovative approach fulfils perfectly the brief of this exhibition, while exhibiting a thorough understanding, both technical and conceptual, of the basic tenets of creating a work of art.
People’s Choice – Announced at end of exhibition
The Royal Queensland Art Society is proudly supported by
Helen is a Brisbane based watercolour artist concentrating on landscape and portraiture. For her, art is neither profession nor a hobby; rather simply what she must do and has done since early childhood.
Helen’s begins most of her landscapes in the field sketching and painting from life. She seeks to immerse herself in the experience of a place, using the watercolour medium to convey the ephemera of shifting light, weather and mood of the scene before her. Helen feels that the special transparency and sometimes serendipitous flow of watercolour creates a spontaneity that says it all. COVID lockdowns did not disrupt this work but did concentrate her efforts. At her apartment windows Helen began a series of works that she calls At my window, or jokingly en plein lounge. One of her Brisbane river lockdown works, Evening Splendour, was a finalist in the 2022 Clayton Utz Art Award.
Occasionally Helen is inspired to create totally imaginary scenes or abstract work, with ideas coming from the environments and experiences of her travels or her night photography.
Recent Awards and recognition
2022 Finalist Clayton Utz Art Award
2018 Finalist Glencore Percival Portrait Painting Award
2018 Finalist 9×5 Landscape Award, Woollahra
2017 Finalist 9×5 Landscape Award, Woollahra
2016 Awarded Glencore Animal Portrait Prize
Exhibitions
Solo and duet
2019 SOLO Favouritesen plein air at Perc Tucker Regional Gallery
2017 Duet exhibition Bell’ Italia, with Gai Copeman at Mo’s Art Gallery
Group
Group finalist exhibitions
Numerous group exhibitions with
Townsville Watercolour Group
Townsville Art Society
Urban Sketchers Townsville
Watercolour Society of Queensland
For more information, please follow the links below:
I am a Brisbane based emerging artist having painted as a hobby from a young age. Pursuing a creative career, my background is in Interior Design (Bach App. Sc. Built Environment QUT 1991). This has no doubt influenced the way I see and interpret subjects in art.
Returning to painting after health issues, art has now become my main vocation and passion. I work primarily in Oils and occasionally in acrylics/mixed media. Colour and composition are vital to my paintings that aim to capture subjects I am drawn to in a vivid and striking style. While I enjoy tackling a variety of topics including portraiture and floral, landscapes and architecture feature heavily in my portfolio. I am inspired by Travel and in recent years my focus has turned to our unique Australian landscape; in particular our stunning beaches, waterways and rocks.
I hope that through my artwork, I can share the joy I feel in capturing these beautiful environments with others.
Gary was born in Brisbane where he received private tuition under the late David Fowler. He also trained in illustration and has worked extensively in this field. His training and involvement in the graphics industry are evident in his use of colour and composition.
Beginning with his first one-man show in 1971 in the Harry Dunwell Gallery, Rowes Arcade, Brisbane, Gary has held over 45 successful one-man showings, including Shanghai and Brighton, UK. His works have been purchased for private, corporate, and educational institution collections across Australia and many overseas countries.
Currently he is represented in galleries across the eastern States including Tasmania. He exhibits on a regular basis with Kevin Hill as a Top Ten Australian Artist. He is an exhibitor and visiting tutor at Sydney Art School and occasionally tutors for various Art Societies as well as from his own Studio.
Gary has attained many awards over the last 50 years and most recently, he has been a finalist in the Clayton Utz, Hornsby, and the Sunshine Coast Art Prizes. Gary is a full-time artist residing in Maleny in Queensland’s beautiful Sunshine Coast Hinterland where his family dates back four generations.
Saturday 14th & 28th October 2-4pmTicket Cost: $20 members and $30 non-members. These wine and cheese events will be a chance to hear the artists, entrants and key individuals talk about their artwork and their art practice.
Congratulations to all the recipients of the Petrie Terrace Gallery Awards. Each Selector for the Salon des Refuses has chosen a work to receive this award. Visitors have also voted and chosen the Peoples Choice award.
Selected by Lizzie Reik
Portrait of a Queer Father as Icon
by Jeremy Plint
SELECTORS COMMENTS
Plint’s self-portrait immediately stood out to me. It’s deeply personal, its challenging, and it’s also familiar. What comes to mind is the ‘mother and child’ imbedded in art history, juxtaposed with that exaggerated masculine character from the movies – the ‘bad guy’ sitting in the loungeroom with a gun.
He looks at the viewer defiantly, showing that these symbols – the tiara, the floral chair, the gun, the tattoos, don’t have to inherently belong to separate identities.
Plint’s work is strong technically, and it is also thought-provoking – it makes us want to know more about the sitter, but also makes us reflect on our own preconceptions about others, and how we construct and constrain identity.
Selected by Dr Kay Kane
Purple
by Purple Chang
SELECTORS COMMENTS
Purple Chang
This self-portrait evidences a relentless intensity of looking and seeing. The viewer cannot help but gain a very real sense of the perceptiveness of the artist and thus the character of the subject.
I see here a soul laid bare, achieved through masterly use of the medium. Colour harmony, composition and exposition of edge are so well-ordered that to change anything would be, in my view, to spoil the whole thing. I will say no more except to quote one of Australia’s best contemporary writers on art, Christopher Allen:
“Talk is cheap in art, and the only ideas that have true weight in painting are those that have been fully assimilated and realized in the very handling of the subject matter and the shaping of the imaginary world, such insights reaching deep into the mind of the viewer.”
Congratulations Purple.
Selected by Laura Brinin
Self-portrait in the Morning
by Leo Liu
SELECTORS COMMENTS
Shadowing, dripping washes of colour alongside heavier brushstrokes of thicker paint and a relatable facial feature of discerning one’s own creative work strike the viewer with a real sense of witnessing a realistic and at once exaggerated version of a studio environment. The skill and dedication of Zheng Liu’s creative practice are evident in the paint application, witnessed with the mix of expressive marks, controlled shadowing and the use of colour to sway the timbre of the work. The self-portraiture genre is a sometimes damning and at once celebrated revelation of how an artist views themself; in this instance, the subject appears to be nonplussed with their creative results, looking upon their work with a critical but experienced view. A resigned stance, along with the title suggesting an early-rising and committed practising artist, adds volumes to the relatability of the piece for many viewers and artists alike.
Congratulations to all the artists selected in the 2022 Salon des Refusés, run in conjunction with the Brisbane Portrait Prize.
Exhibition on show at Petrie Terrace Gallery from Thursday 6th October – Sunday 6th November 2022
Opening Night is sold out, but get your tickets to our wine and cheese afternoons here. To find out more about our selectors click here.
Anna (Lady ‘C’) Leigh Schoenheimer Tired Chris England Queen of Drama Lindy Mackintosh Merging Worlds of Clairy Laurence Bronwyn Doherty Tarcisio Carol Oh Just a Moment Timothy Grey Muse in green Marijke Lambregtse Poet and Dog (Anthony and Benny) Julie Manning Stable Table Robyn Moon Monique Kirsty Dixon Art + Music = an interesting life Linda McInally 2021 Isolation and exhaustion Margaret Bending A Journalistic Researcher Christine Hall 5:19am Kirilee West Liz Preston: “Grandmother” to many Graham Preston Lounge Art Jo McFadyen Selfie 2022 Justin Buchner Damien Power Alison Mooney All That Glitters Elizabeth Barden Nature Nutures Nurse Lynne Day Outcomes of Introspection De Gillett Cox To Joh Sangeeta Mahajan Purple Purple Chang “I can’t wear yellow…” Carol Goodwin Born in the Year of Tiger Nam-Trung Nguyen Lost but now I’m Found Laine Walker Dylan Stephen Tiernan Seize the Clay Tania Carmichael Johnny in the Studio Min Jia Johnny Huang The Conduit Kris Anderson Portrait of Dr Andrew Amey Brett Poulsen Lingering Hannah Brouard The Show Must Go On David Wells Patience Cameron Seymour Andrew + HB4 Andrew Weil Camila Monique Baques The Profound Void of an Empty Stomach Charlotte England Steph Nadya Constantinidis Lighting up Change Carla Benzie Dr Young Zhi Peng Wu Nina Ginsberg and Leki The Flower Bike Dr. Ekaterina Strounina Buckley Mr. Casey Charles Floating Mind Reece Woodland Next Gen Claudia paints Keith, Emerging to Established Donna Gibb The Enabler Samantha Groenestyn This is Me. Self Portrait. Monica Batiste Decisions, Decisions…What Shoes Will I Wear Jamie Congdon Jamie Simon Brown The Colour Behind the Uniform Melanie Kilby Portrait of a Queer Father as Icon Jeremy Plint Marcel Daniel Butterworth Calming the Mind Wendy Fry The Bubblegum Blazer Amy Knie Buckley Natalia Bertelli Self-portrait in the Morning Leo (Zheng) Liu Unfinished Business Annette Raff Lineage Nicola Hooper In Her Eyes Amy Bridge
