From Faces to People and Places

GALLERY ONE SMALACOMBE PORTRAIT PRIZE AWARDED ARTISTS EXHIBITION

Glenda Fell Jones PRIZE WINNER 2022

Jax MacMillan M & M CARBINS YOUTH PRIZE WINNER 2022

Sophie Hann GALLERY ONE PAMELA OBORN HANGER’S CHOICE PRIZE WINNER 2022

John Baxter HIGHLY COMMENDED 2022

Glenda Fell Jones

Whether I am in a painting shed in the south-west coast of Victoria or up in a caravan on the Southern highlands of NSW . . . I paint every day .I lose myself in the direct application of oil paint colours, whether it’s applied with knife or brush or a rag.I paint portraits and landscape (mostly plein air) and still life.

Glenda Fell Jones has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in both Sydney and Melbourne. She been a finalist in the Archibald Prize; Salon des Refusés of the Archibald; semi-finalist in Doug Moran Portrait prize; finalist in the Portia Geach Painting Prize and finalist in the NSW Parliamentary Plein Air Art Prize.

Jax MacMillan

Jax is a 17-year-old student in Sydney. The major focus of his educational interest is visual art, especially painting. He has contributed to a number of youth art exhibitions including the 2022 Gallery One Smallacombe Portrait Prize exhibition, 2022 Brisbane Portrait Prize – Next Gen(Highly Commended), 2022 Mosman Youth Art Prize (Finalist),2021 Southern Sydney regional Young Archie Hazlehurst (Finalist), 2022 Doyles Art Award – Junior.

Recently Jax had the opportunity to participate in the National Art Gallery summer art scholarship. Jax hopes to pursue a career in visual art and continues to look for opportunities to learn and to express himself creatively.

In this exhibition Jax will show, among other works, 2 portraits of family’s cousins who both have a disability. Jax has expressed concern that people with a disability are under represented as portrait subjects and so was keen to include these 2 works.

Sophie Hann

Sophie received a Bachelor of Art from Flinders University and studies at the New York Studio on a scholarship. She enjoyed an informal mentorship with the master of tonal realism Robert Hannaford. Sophie has been awarded a number of prizes including the Ruth Tuck Travelling Scholarship, the Art Gallery of New South Wales Dyason Bequest and three Arts SA Grants. Her work has been selected for a number awards, including the Doug Moran Portrait Prize, Alice Bale Award, Brett Whitely Scholarship, Hans Heysen Landscape Prize, the Portia Geach Memorial Award to name a few. https://sophiehann-blog.tumblr.com/

Awards Education

1996 Studied Art, New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, NY, USA.

Recipient of the AGNSW’s Dyason Bequest for international study.

1995 Bachelor of Arts (Visual Art & History) Flinders University

1991-90 Mentorship with Robert Hannaford

John Baxter

I started painting as a young child, growing up in rural Western Victoria in the 1960’s.The landscape intrigued me then and has remained a huge source of inspiration. Fortunately my family encouraged an interest in art and music. While my peers were mastering football and cricket, I spent my childhood in piano and painting classes. In my teens life changed dramatically with a move to Melbourne and the shock of leaving the bush for suburban life. The transition came with opportunities, most notably a chance to attend private painting classes with John Balmain, himself a former student of the Max Meldrum school.

John Balmain mentored me as a young artist, trained my ‘eye’ to understand tone, composition and the rich colours of the Australian landscape. He taught me to appreciate the power and clarity of natural light, best experienced painting ‘plein air’ despite flies, mosquitoes and the odd snake, apparently attracted to my easel and oil paints. I learnt life drawing, the discipline of studying still-life and the challenge of portraits. I was inspired to have a teacher whose works were selected for the Archibald prize and I dreamt of a career in Art. Despite the culture shock of life in the big city, and the typical roller coaster journey of adolescence, I graduated from year 12 then suddenly had some hard career choices to make. I pragmatically opted for a career in architecture rather than following opportunities to study fine arts. Ironically painting was the major source of funds throughout my years at Melbourne Uni architecture school. I received commissions for portrait and landscape works and held a series of student exhibitions, cobbled together with my enthusiastic but inexperienced circle of creative friends.

Architecture proved rewarding but in terms of artistic freedom, never approached the intensity I had enjoyed in art. In the 80’s my architectural and artistic interests converged when a generous Rotary Foundation undergrad scholarship provided an exciting opportunity to study at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. Denmark and travel around Europe exposed me to new ways to look at art and a whole new context in which to develop my skills.

Recently my work has become more spontaneous currently exploring the ‘cusp’ between realism and abstraction, as I apply traditional techniques through a newfound lens. Each work is a stepping stone to my next exploration. Nature remains a driving force, the colours, light, patterns and movement which I interpret now with vastly greater freedom.I throw myself into the creative process and am humbled by how the works speak to different people in individual ways. I’m driven to explore a full spectrum of subjects, the natural environment, urban and social contexts, emotional and personal experiences.I want to create art that resonates with people, through sharpening and altering perceptions of the familiar and by exposing them to unfamiliar places, stories, colours and emotions.