Commission for the Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards

The Dorothea Mackellar Memorial Society have used one of my artworks for their poetry awards theme of ‘Rich and Rare’ across their promotional materials for 2021. The little gouache painting entitled ‘Wheat Emerging’ was painted in July last year, capturing the vibrant greens as winter cereal crops began to flourish after a long period of drought in the North West.

The Society has a long association with visual artists from their hometown in Gunnedah, commissioning artworks each year for prizes for their annual poetry competition for school-aged children across Australia.  I was honoured to be asked to create 12 small artworks which will presented to winners in this year’s competition.

The commission also ties in with the current exhibition I am working on called ‘My Country’ which will be held at the Creative Arts Gallery in Gunnedah, opening Friday 28 October 2021. The exhibition will feature a series of paintings that respond to the poem ‘My Country’ by Dorothea Mackellar. The artworks revisit the collection of 32 watercolours created by Jean Isherwood (owned by the Dorothea Mackellar Society) in the 1980s with a contemporary perspective, exploring the Gunnedah region’s distinctive landscapes and the poet’s connection to the area.

If you would like to learn more about the Dorothea Mackellar Memorial Society, visit their website www.dorothea.com.au