Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing

Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing Exhibition of Finalists Adelaide Perry Girl with kit bag. c. 1920s Officially Opened by Wendy Sharpe Ballarat Fine Art Gallery Gift of John Brackenreg, 1974. Thursday 1st March 2007

Aida Tomescu, the judge for The Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing 2007, was delighted to learn about the prize and hoped that more and more artists were encouraged to enter. Aida was very happy that all of the drawings here were able to be shown.

Originally her task was to choose 30 artworks from the hundreds that were entered but she felt it was a far too difficult a task to exclude such fine entries so 39 were finally selected for exhibition.

Of the judging process, Aida said: “I went on the intensity of the work, its power and the effect it had on me. I was more curious and interested in the work of five people and reluctant to be narrowed down to less than two because of the diversity and strength of so many works in the show.”

“How do you go past the power of the trees in Robert Shepherd and Terence O’Donnell, that I both like, or the commitment and sensitivity that I responded to in Anne Judell’s drawings?

In Amanda Robins work, that I would like to highly commend, I responded to the mysterious brooding, yet silent image that lent power to the show.

I was pleased to discover Michelle Zuccolo’s drawing and found the poetic approach moving with a desire to see even more of her work.

Lots more would be deserving, but I couldn’t take the responsibility of choosing just one because of the strength in more than just one drawing.”

It is not surprising therefore that for this year’s Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing, Aida Tomescu has chosen to split the prize to be shared equally by two artists, Joe Frost for his drawing The Back of the City and John Fitzgibbon for his nude Woman on a stool.

“John Fitzgibbon’s work that I have seen in the last couple of Dobells goes from strength to strength and I am entirely convinced by this drawing, in particular the striking power of the face. I feel the sincere strength of the approach deserves rewarding. I am entirely convinced by the clarity of language in Joe Frost’s drawing ‘The Back of the City’ that I found both intense and poetic.”

Adelaide Perry Gallery In “The Croydon” Centre for Art, Design and Technology at Presbyterian Ladies’ College, Sydney Corner of Hennessy and College St Croydon Ph: 97045693

Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing 2007

Rachel Ellis Living Room Window, 2005 Winner of the 2006 Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing

Tony Ameneiro White Skull Black conté pencil on Japanese Kozo paper stretched over board 150 x 80 cm $2, 200

This drawing comes from a larger series of drawings and prints based on the one view, the underside of a cow skull. Found in a field next to our home in Mittagong, these skulls have become a type of ‘slate’ for exploring ideas & techniques, as well as being a strong symbol of place and time for me. In this work the linear contour approach echoes not only the form of the original object, but also the tight contour lines from the topographic maps of Mount Gibraltar, a prominent landmark opposite our house and the field where the cow skull was found. It continues an interest of mine in looking at maps and drawing a sense of these back into the object. My drawing practice evolves from and feeds into my other area of work printmaking. The drawn line here is in a sense, an extension of the carved or engraved line.

Deborah Beck Fontainbleau Pencil and collage on board 153 x 61 cm $3, 800

I started the drawings for ‘Fontainbleau’ during a residency at the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris in 2005. While there I collected collage material – mostly maps and images of early French cars, and began a series of paintings in gouache painted directly onto the French maps. After returning to Sydney, I continued to work from the drawings, photographs and magazines I collected in Paris, resulting in composite images of street signs, number plates and cars, often forming grids or using multiple imagery. I began by drawing the cars freehand, then traced my original drawings so I could transfer them onto the maps and paint them in gouache. In ‘Fontainbleau’( the name is on one of the maps) I have used the maps I found in Paris as a ground for thirty of the drawings of cars. Because they were drawn onto fine tissue paper with pencil, I feel they have a delicacy that seemingly contradicts the subject matter. Drawing for me is an integral part of my painting practice. I draw constantly, and often use it as a way of collecting and keeping impressions and ideas which will later be developed into paintings. In the case of ‘Fontainbleau’, the drawings I did as research have become the basis for the finished work.

Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing 2007

Rachel Ellis Living Room Window, 2005 Winner of the 2006 Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing

Stewart Crawford Central Madrid Graphite on paper 70 x 100 cm $1, 200

My current focus in my drawing practice involves the exploration and depiction of cities and urban form. This perspective is informed by a conception of the City as a human artefact, and as, perhaps, Man’s largest and most enduring cultural statement. As a consequence, the physical form, pattern, structure and texture of cities, when seen from above, can evoke a strong aesthetic response. City patterns reflect both their history and present function and can be seen as a unique ‘fingerprint’. “Central Madrid” is an example of the rich aesthetic potential implicit in city form, when viewed from above. Through the interaction of thousands of independent decisions, over hundreds of years, by property owners, governments and builders, a unique physical pattern of land use and building form has emerged. Investigating this form on paper using graphite and charcoal reveals a tonal mosaic of buildings and a rich calligraphy in roof forms. A hatching approach has been applied to help evoke a sense of brick and masonry emerging from the ground.

Tom Doherty Maya sleeping Charcoal on paper 25 x 20 cm $700

Last year I worked on a series of portraits of my friends. Maya is the daughter of my close friend Emma. I find my connection with Maya is joyful and I appreciate her inquisitiveness and wisdom. When Maya turned 7 she recanted everyone who had been there from her birth until now. I was one of those people. Maya told me, as I was drawing her, that she was studying my techniques. Soon after that she fell asleep. Until 2004 I painted with oils and that was my dominant medium. I developed an intolerance to solvents which precipitated my move to drawing. Drawing has always been part of my art practice but now my artwork consists entirely of it.

Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing 2007

Rachel Ellis Living Room Window, 2005 Winner of the 2006 Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing

Viola Dominello The Park Charcoal on paper 30.5 x 78 cm $1, 650

The pensive and atmospheric mood in the lines Whose woods these are I think 1 know and The woods are lovely, dark and deep (Robert Frost Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening) remind me of my memories and experiences of certain European and Australian landscapes.

Mary Donnelly Last night I dreamed of elephant eye silk Triptych Mixed media on stretched paper 115 x 100 cm $880

Sometimes everyday life absorbs us, causing us to lose touch with the passion that fuels the inner spirit - a spirit rejuvenated by the appreciation of the beauty that surrounds us in life. In our ever increasing haste, we tend to look for beauty in the exotic or the unusual and overlook the beauty that surrounds us every day in the most common of objects and situations.

Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing 2007

Rachel Ellis Living Room Window, 2005 Winner of the 2006 Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing

David Eastwood Catalogue Charcoal and graphite on paper 70 x 100 cm $3, 300

Catalogue is part of a series of drawings and paintings based on discarded bookmarks found in library books. The scraps of paper are unveiled and displayed as though carefully catalogued, as the title of the drawing suggests. The title is also an oblique reference to the source of the subject matter, in that cataloguing is often associated with a library. Sketchbook pages, notepaper, a fragment of a cheque and a torn advertisement from a sales catalogue make up some of the found bookmarks scattered throughout the composition. Removed from the books where they were found, a sense of their history is attained through carefully reproduced creases, torn edges and sections of handwriting. David Fairbairn Portrait D.B. No. 8 Mixed media on paper 76 x 56 cm $2, 400

Primarily I am known for my drawing practice with a focus on portraiture of which the work included in this exhibition is representative. I work directly from the model in my studio and many of my subjects are family, or friends. I work with the one person over many weekly sittings that can sometimes continue over many months. The works are not only about the physical and psychological aspects of the sitter and the artist, but are also about the process of picture making itself. I use a variety of mediums in successive layers which generally include acrylic, gouache, pastel and various printmaking processes to define the image. (Represented by Stella Downer Fine Art, Sydney).

Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing 2007

Rachel Ellis Living Room Window, 2005 Winner of the 2006 Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing

John Fitzgibbon Woman on a stool Pencil 1160 x 920 cm $2, 100

This drawing was done in soft graphite pencil and turned out to have a quite controlled feeling. This may have something to do with the strong rhythms evident in the figure as well as resonances between the shapes of stool, chair and figure. The young woman is hunched inward, strong and introspective.

Equal Winning Entry

Rowan Fotheringham Republic - Cockatoo Island Charcoal on paper 430 x 350 cm $1, 650

This is one of many drawings and paintings I have made about the Historic Skiff Regatta that was held on Sydney Harbour last Easter. "Republic" was one of the oldest boats in the fleet and carries a true gaff rig. Keeping these boats upright with their large sail area requires great skill and coordination on the part of the crew and skipper. The old crane and industrial buildings on Cockatoo Island provided a dramatic and appropriate backdrop for the event.

6 Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing 2007

Rachel Ellis Living Room Window, 2005 Winner of the 2006 Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing

Garry Foye Capertee Elegy #5 Charcoal and ink 106 x 78 cm $4, 200

"Capertee Elegy # 5" is one of a series of drawings I am working on relating to the redundant mining area surrounding the town of Glen Davis, in which I am attempting to pay homage to, and express the poetic nature of, what was and still is, a harsh, yet strangely evocative and beautiful landscape. The scratching into the paper is reminiscent of the scaring of the mountains which were mined and the dark vertical marks are metaphors for tears of shale oil shed by the mountains the dark area at the bottom of the drawing is representative of the collection of those tears.

Garry Foye Capertee Elegy #6 Charcoal and ink 106 x 78 cm $4, 200

"Capertee Elegy #6" is one of a series of drawings I am working on relating to the redundant mining area surrounding the town of Glen Davis, in which I am attempting to pay homage to, and express the poetic nature of, what was and still is, a harsh, yet strangely evocative and beautiful landscape. In this work I have used the scraping into the paper as a metaphor for the damage to the mountains that were mined. The vague square shape also scratched into the paper is a semiotic for the mine adit (Mine entrance).

Joe Frost The Back of the City Pencil, coloured pencil, pastel on paper 56 x 76 cm $1, 800

Born 1974, Sydney. Studied at CoFA, BFA (Hons 1) 1995, MFA 2002. My work is of my local environment: the city, harbour and suburbs of Sydney. I draw in direct response to the experience of these subjects and to develop pictorial ideas. The drawing exhibited here is unusual in that it developed slowly, over a period of months, and involves many materials. I have held six solo exhibitions at Legge Gallery since 2000 and teach at CoFA and NAS. Represented by Legge Gallery

7 Equal Winning Entry

Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing 2007

Rachel Ellis Living Room Window, 2005 Winner of the 2006 Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing

Salvatore Gerardi Conversations with light Pastel on paper 177 x 56 cm $P.O.A.

‘Light transcends through nature’. My work deals with the ephemeral nature and metaphor of what is ‘light’. I document my interpretation of light as it transforms and exceeds nature. My experiences inform my art practice. This work is specifically centred on a renewed interest in the land and the subject of light. Light can resonate in the most intangible and abstract forms. Through tonal modulations my aim is to achieve a sensation of light that pulsates. I associate the illusion of movement with the transitory nature of light. This concept involves a reworking of the image and surface, hence the title ‘conversations with light’. The physical nature of layering the medium I equate with the accumulation of daily encounters, experiences and events. This concept resonates in my thoughts and in my art practice.

Katherine Hattam Presentation of Self in Everyday Life Mixed media on paper 77 x 114 cm $4,900

A grid of recycled book pages creates the ground, literally and metaphorically, over which the image is drawn - including a domestic table over which the landscape is viewed. Studying literature before art school, reading continues to give pleasure and inform my experience. Aged sixteen, I drew a series of small self-portraits on Basildon Bond note paper and continued to work only in black and white on paper for the next fifteen years, pushing the limits of drawing, the paper becoming bigger, with personal and immediate subject matter the influence of Japanese and Chinese decoration, pattern and perspective remaining constant while the figure appears and disappears. In this work, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, I wanted the figure to return but not as a self-portrait, but as a stylised figure, referring to the Japanese woodblocks I have recently revisited.

Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing 2007

Rachel Ellis Living Room Window, 2005 Winner of the 2006 Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing Alan Jones Research Drawing Ink, pastel, compressed charcoal and collage on paper 57 x 76 cm $N.F.S.

Research Drawing began in 2004. Its initial purpose was to directly act as an aid for the painting I was working on at the time, Head and a Grey Field (2004, oil on linen). I was not looking for a resolved drawing but rather purely for fresh visual stimulation through loose and new marks in a different medium. Using collage, wet and dry media, the two works, Research Drawing and Head and a Grey Field, were worked on in the studio, simultaneously feeding each other. In the last weeks of 2005 I decided to rework Research Drawing with the advantage of a more objective mind and eighteen months distance from the formal issues I would have been dealing with in 2004. Represented by Legge Gallery

Anne Judell Noir II Gesso/Charcoal on Hahnemuhle paper 79 x 107 cm $4,800

The drawing and I stumble along an uncertain path in the dark to an unknown place which I recognize only when I arrive. Beauty and mystery are what I seek in this strange process which can, and usually does take a very long time. I stop when I recognize that there is nothing more that can be either added or taken away.

Anne Judell White series #7 Gesso/Pastel/Graphite on Hahnemuhle paper 82 x 123 cm $4,800

Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing 2007

Rachel Ellis Living Room Window, 2005 Winner of the 2006 Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing

Peter Kingston Stella James Lodge Charcoal on paper 64 x 86 cm $3,000

Drawn on the spot at the Walter Burley Griffin designed gem “Stella James Lodge” at Avalon on the Northern Beaches. Artist, Cressida Campbell was in residence and that’s what took me there. She can be seen far right at work on a woodcut print, in the corner is my Scottish terrier “Denton”, now deceased, and Cressida’s husband can been seen through the far doorway.

Peter Kingston Holden or Ford? Charcoal on canvass 110 x 140 cm $8,000

It was done at Austinmer Beach on the south coast as a drawing for a painting still yet to be done.

Elizabeth Lamont The one forgotten Pencil on Arches 24 x 34 cm $1,200

Over the past five years I have been exploring the notion of memory through the medium of drawing. The one forgotten is the first drawing in a series of newly commenced works. They are based on a suite of black and white photographs taken in the early 1980’s when I was a young adult living in a rural area. I have carefully revised the photographs taking each one and recreating them into drawings on paper. The drawing’s main focus is a small bird placed in a boat shaped vessel. The vessel was formed by using pulped cotton rag made from my own clothing and set into a mold. The work alludes to the fragility of nature: we act as witness to the scene, the bird at the end of its life moves on with the aid of a vessel and what remains is a landscape that echoes a more distant past, one that has been forgotten. 10

Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing 2007

Rachel Ellis Living Room Window, 2005 Winner of the 2006 Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing

Val Landa Redundant Charcoal on Hahnemuhle 84 x 113 cm $2,000

For me, Drawing is the basis of all creative art, regardless of the medium, i.e. charcoal, paint, pencil, ink, crayon, abstract or figurative, or sculpture or collage. It is the creative process of drawing and painting and the aim to achieve a balance of design, colour, mark and especially mood in the final rendition of that process, which gives me great joy and personal satisfaction. The concentration needed to render a drawing or painting provokes, in me, an inner contentment. My drawings are often portrayed in an imaginary place with suggestion of a surreal mood. I am motivated by the buildings and deserted mining machinery and equipment especially in the Broken Hill area, which I have visited on several occasions. The rooflines and shadows in the late afternoon have special appeal. Charcoal is my favoured medium which helps create this mood. In 2007 Val wrote: “There is an amazing sense of space and quiet atmosphere in the Australian outback low hills and flat plains, interrupted by man’s interference by building mines and houses, which create a bleakness and make a strong physical statement in the land. The bleakness is created by the ugliness of the Industrial paraphernalia required, which in turn is stark and quite surreal, and being surreal, it becomes unreal in its position in such situations. This is especially so when the machinery is abandoned. There are peculiar twists and turns in the pipes and wires and steel and tin and wood and rock. But it is the stillness and mood in those places that fascinates me most of all.”

Judy Lane Still Life - Broken Hill Clayboard and ink 36 x 48 cm $4,000

Country towns of outback N.S.W. are littered with wonderful remnants of the past . I was surprised to find myself drawing still life as part of the landscape. Drawing has always played a big part in my practice but has become a priority in the last five years. It is where my passion lies at this time in my many years as an artist.

Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing 2007

Rachel Ellis Living Room Window, 2005 Winner of the 2006 Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing

Brigiat Maltese The Sound of The Sky Watercolour and ink 1.2 x 1.30 m $2,000

“One morning Cosimo saw the air vibrating with a sound he had never heard, a buzz growing at times almost into a roar, and a curtain of what looked like hail…” The Baron in the Trees, Italo Calvino The bleeding and rubbing back of ink creates colour cadences and detailed surfaces where there is encouragement to linger, absorb and to ponder difference. It is a series of works that I hope provides respite. There is within “The Sound of The Sky” the coexistence of large and small, the reproduced series and the handmade unique object. It explores the experience of seeing in what is becoming a digitally-rich and time-poor culture.

Peter H. Marshall Aureole Charcoal on Fabriano paper 80 x 80 cm $3,500

The word ‘Aureole’ is from Old French. It means a border of light or radiance enveloping an object (usually a figure), represented as holy. Some species of eucalyptus trees are conspicuously marked with scribbles made by the larvae of insects that live under the top layer of bark. My drawing combines the scribbly lines made by the insects with the outline effect of an aura, to create a lively tapestry of leaf shapes. The drawing suggests the possibility of a spiritual aspect to the lives of trees.

Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing 2007

Rachel Ellis Living Room Window, 2005 Winner of the 2006 Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing

Jocelyn Maughan Fisherman Carl Ink and grisaille 77 x 102 cm $3,500

Since moving to the fishing hamlet of Patonga, ten years ago, the fisherfolk and their toil has been an ongoing theme of Jocelyn’s oils, temperas, prints and drawings, many of which formed an exhibition at the Gosford Regional Gallery in 2006. Of necessity; boat handling, net hauling and fish sorting require a quick sketching technique. However this very relaxed fisherman, Carl, gave an opportunity for a longer study. The drawing technique used, grisaille, allows maximum freedom and responds to the build up of a broad tonal pattern as well as being capable of quite fine analytical detail. Jocelyn has always been a devotee of figure drawing from life, since sketching on the beach as a young child, and later at the National Art School, where the five year full time painting Diploma course gave daily studies of the life model. Two books of Jocelyn’s paintings and drawings have been published “The Draughtsman’s Contract” (1998) and “Genre” (2004).

Genevieve McCrea Shifting Sand Lake Mungo Charcoal, graphite, sand on paper 33 x 77 cm $P.O.A.

Everything you look at in nature has waves in it somewhere, whether clouds or mountains, whether visible or invisible. I am interested the mechanics behind the formation of self- organizing sand structures in nature. Experimenting with sand has provided a way to both explore and embody the self- organizing capacity of nature The sand is a very receptive medium creating an endless variety of fresh marks. Its delicacy and minuteness of scale are also of continuing interest as well as the skin-like quality which the sand presents. I am using sand in this way to get closer to the rhythmic language of nature itself. This enquiry has bought with it a Detail deepening perception of the dynamism within nature.

Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing 2007

Rachel Ellis Living Room Window, 2005 Winner of the 2006 Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing

Noel McKenna Bird flying between 2 cliffs Ink on paper 26 x 58 cm $N.F.S.

Birds have been a subject I have drawn and painted for a long-time. I am drawn to them for a variety of reasons, the look of them, being able to fly, the quality of them often being above humans looking down on us. The bird in this work is moving so easily through the sky between 2 cliffs that could take me maybe days if they are high enough up. Such an efficient design, they are. I am not a prolific drawer as I often work on paintings with no preparatory works at all. Rather I do works on paper in spurts, maybe a week at a time I will concentrate on ink, watercolours and then not for months.

Beth Norling Without artifice Plasticine wallpaper scratches 40 x 60 cm $1,600

‘Without’ : Plasticine & Wallpaper. My work is subtle and understated and appears to best advantage when examined up close. ‘Without’ maps the movement of thought and describes the patterns and marks made on the psyche by emotions. I use domestic tools and materials in the preparation of my plasticine work. Second hand wall paper and frame become the background to the shapes and colours created by children's plasticine. The plasticine is mixed to achieve subtle colour variations and is flattened onto the surface of the wallpaper using spoons or a rolling pin; this smooth surface is then etched with the fine point of a knitting needle. I also work in the more traditional mediums of tempera, watercolour and ink with my children's book illustrations. Previous books include: 'the stone baby,' 'cherry blossom and the golden bear' (for which I won an international illustration prize, the IBBI), and 'sister night and sister day' which is part of the permanent collection of the State Library of Victoria.

Detail

Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing 2007

Rachel Ellis Living Room Window, 2005 Winner of the 2006 Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing

Catherine O’Donnell A & W Series # 8 Charcoal on paper 130 x 130 cm $1,600

Drawing is the major component of my studio practice where light, form and tonality shape each of my pieces. Using a chiaroscuro interpretation, it is the elusive quality of light that is central to my charcoal works. I draw from my immediate environment, using my experiences to inform my practice. The often overlooked, suburban landscape becomes my focus and has inspired many works such as the A&W Series. The charcoal drawing, A&W Series, # 8, is from this series and is based around one of Western Sydney’s largest chemical plants. Working from photographs, I have attempted to capture familiar forms depicted in the stainless steel sentinels. The structures stand solitary and motionless, nestled within the darkness and illuminated only by the refracting artificial light. Represented by Wallspace Gallery

Terence O’Donnell Sandy Creek - Fowlers Gap Charcoal on paper 95 x 130 cm $3,000

The subject of this drawing is a dry creek bed in the far west of New South Wales, not far from the South Australian border. My initial impulse to do this drawing was a fascination with the richly textured trunk of the river red gum in the foreground. However, once I had started the drawing my attention quickly shifted to a meditation on the interplay of light and shadow between trees and rocks and the rhythmic dance of forms and spaces. I use charcoal because of its rich qualities of tone and also because it requires me to be direct and honest in my observations.

Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing 2007

Rachel Ellis Living Room Window, 2005 Winner of the 2006 Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing

Emma Robertson Living Fossil: The Natural History of the Ginkgo Biloba Pencil, graphite, conté, acrylic on paper 76 x 56 cm $1,200

My current research focuses on a series of drawings on a set scale, which explore ideas and images about memory and loss. The map-like grid varies in dominance and images fade in and out. The process of the drawing also communicates part of the concept, and layering the different media indicates the idea of a memory changing and evolving over the passage of time - sometimes fading away, and sometimes in sharp focus. This is reinforced by the interplay and overlap between images and words. My most recent drawings on memory have used the subject of endangered plant species, and have also featured the boxes of collectors, or the instruments of scientific analysis. The prize-winning works selected for the 5th International Biennial of Drawing in 2006 developed this theme. Recent scientific study of the many medicinal properties of the Ginkgo Biloba have suggested a possible use in the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease, so the concept of memory in this Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing entry has two possible interpretations - that of the use of the plant to treat human memory loss, and of the importance of the Ginkgo Biloba to the collective memory of the world. This drawing honours this ‘ascendant species’ through a depiction of its life cycle, both in fossil form and in our own era. The beauty and tenacity of the Ginkgo Biloba provides a counterpoint of good news - the survival of a species both needed and protected by mankind.

Amanda Robins Second Skins: Contained Graphite/pencil on Arches (Sponsored by ARCHES) 175 x 115 cm $6,500

Over the last five years, my practice has revolved around an interest in drapery, garments and fabric. The garments I have used are mainly highly structured vintage coats. I am interested in the detail of their construction and the way they can be made to stand in for the absent body. Most of these large works investigate the interior of the coats as they hang on the wall manipulated and pinned by me, with the sleeves turned inside out. The coats have their own history and presence as second-hand garments which influences the reading of the form. The smell, the creases, the texture and surface, the wear and tear and the imperfections, are an important part of what interests me. The physical proximity of the object is absolutely integral to the process. The works refer to the existing history of the garments, but also to the living reality of my body. The natural set – the creases and folds, becomes like a residue of the people who have worn the coat before me. They are like discarded skins, holding the memories of bodily presence. Contained extends this investigation of the theme of garments and the body. It is based on a second-hand coat which I have manipulated and abstracted to form the shape of an egg or womb. While it might appear to contain drapery forms, it is itself contained by the delineation of its boundaries, a sidestep from the familiar shape of the coat as it is hung or worn. Dr. Amanda Robins is Studio Head of Painting and Drawing at the South Australian School of Art. 16 Highly Commended

Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing 2007

Rachel Ellis Living Room Window, 2005 Winner of the 2006 Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing

A. S. Russell Composition No. 1. Charcoal on watercolour paper 104 x 143 cm $5,200

My work begins with the objects that nature discards; leaves, pods, bark. A celebration of small things. Initial sculptures are made of wire and mesh, they are studies of the structure of the found objects. These sculptures then become the source material for future drawings and paintings. One work leads to another, at each stage moving further from the original object; eventually each piece becomes something entirely of its own. At times a seemingly impossible tangle of lines, Composition 1 was a challenging puzzle to be solved. I am seeking the delicate balance between structure and space while retaining intuitive poetry of drawing and the line. There can be greatness in the disregarded and overlooked. Something monumental can be found there.

Robert Shepherd An Uncomfortable Life, Murrunrundi Charcoal watercolour 92 x 156 cm $2,200

In the foothills of the Liverpool Ranges, 327 kms northwest of Sydney, a Eucalyptus Radiata grows awkwardly against a large weathered chunk of conglomerate rock. In its dry, disorderly surroundings, I can’t help but wonder if this tree feels discomfort or discontent with this exceptionally close neighbour. It throws its arms up in protest as I approach it from the lower valley, perhaps hoping that I may be of some help in resolving this somewhat prickly relationship. As I draw this majestic beauty, I remind myself that I should be more tolerant and appreciative of my own neighbourly environment.

Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing 2007

Rachel Ellis Living Room Window, 2005 Winner of the 2006 Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing

Sharon Stevens An instructional guide Perspex and brass 16 x 29 cm each $4,000

The increments of knitting stitches act as a metaphor for text, the needles and process as a means to communicate that language, which is imbued with layered cultural associations. The marks on the surface of metal and perspex explore the practice of drawing in a contemporary context.

Detail

Mika Utzon Popov Babka’s Lead pencil on paper 21 x 29.7 cm $250

Drawing is the most immediate form of expression available to an artist. Working with drawing allows me to capture my immediate impressions of a new subject, physically or emotionally, before my hand becomes guided by memory and interpretation, by self.

Represented by The Australian Galleries

Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing 2007

Rachel Ellis Living Room Window, 2005 Winner of the 2006 Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing

David Warren Reclining male nude III Pencil on Fabriano paper 70 x 98 cm each $9,500 This drawing is one of a group of figure studies, paintings and drawings, completed between 2000 and 2006. It has been part of my studio practice to realise my drawings as complete in technique and endeavour, as my paintings.

Michelle Zuccolo In essence, this drawing presents a ‘diary’ of visual imagery depicting gifts given to me by my mother over the past forty years. The selection Spring lamb of still life objects provokes childhood memories and relates to themes Direct brush wash on paper of parental love. 126 x 86 cm each $1,100 The composition explores tonal passages and spatial relationships between the objects. In particular, the role of shadows is scrutinised. I have recorded their subtle repetition of shape and lingering presence throughout the picture plane. Drawing has been important to me since my early years in primary school. I was fortunate enough to receive tuition from Pam Hallandal during my tertiary education in the 1980s. I completed a Bachelor of Fine Art, majoring in drawing at Victoria College, Melbourne. I consider myself a specialised drawing teacher, and have taught this discipline to all age groups during the past twenty years. This includes many years at tertiary level, secondary level and in community based programs designed for primary aged children and adult learning groups. My own drawing is generally based on the practice of working directly from observation. Gradually I manipulate the subject matter, exploring the arrangement of forms and spaces until I am satisfied with the aesthetic balance of elements. Primarily through line, I analyse the visual information and contemplate its relevance in my composition. The drawing undergoes a gentle process of constant re-adjustment, retaining the gesture or essential character of the forms and attempting to suspend or unify the whole through rhythm and directional movements. For me, each new drawing is a challenge and a learning experience. Questions emerge during the process of looking and translating. I work towards resolving my new found problems, and develop a series of related drawings exploring visual possibilities and potential solutions.

AdelaideAdelaide Perry Perry Prize Prize for for Drawing Drawing 2007

Adelaide Perry Girl with kit bag. c. 1920s Ballarat Fine Art Gallery Gift of John Brackenreg, 1974.

Adelaide Elizabeth Perry was a remarkable woman with an eventful career. She studied under Bernard Hall and Frederick McCubbin and experienced early success by winning the National Gallery of Victoria Travelling Scholarship to study at the Royal Academy in London in 1918. During her three year sojourn abroad she exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Francais in Paris and upon returning to Sydney in the late 1920s exhibited with the Society of Artists, Academy of Art and the Contemporary Group as a founding member.

Like many women artists she remained single and thus devoted much of her life to teaching art. She taught at Sydney Art School with Julian Ashton, Henry Gibbons and Thea Proctor and later established her own Chelsea Art School that continued for twenty years. She was an active and productive artist exhibiting her paintings, drawings and printmaking for over forty years. Like most female artists, she was overlooked by public galleries until the Art Gallery of New South Wales acquired her work in the late 1940s. Most state and regional galleries in Australia now have representation of her work in their collections. Her portrait of Dame Mary Gilmour, thought of as her finest achievement in this genre hangs in the National Library, Canberra.

In 1930, on the recommendation of Roy de Maistre, Adelaide Elizabeth Perry was retained as a part- time teacher of drawing at Presbyterian Ladies’ College, Sydney. This association with Art at PLC was to continue until 1962 when she retired as Art Mistress.

The Adelaide Perry Gallery was opened in her honour in June, 2001.

“Her constructive approach to drawing and painting and particularly (in my view) her application of design to landscape stamped her as a new force in Australian Art” (Lloyd Rees 1970)

Anita Ellis Director, The Croydon Curator, Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing

20 Adelaide Perry Gallery In “The Croydon” Centre for Art, Design and Technology at Presbyterian Ladies’ College, Sydney Corner of Hennessy and College St Croydon Ph: 97045693