Iluka artist Cass (Catherine) Gartner’s watercolour of Collie man Arthur ‘Banjo’ Paterson, has been voted the $1,000 People’s Choice winner of the Collie Art Prize.
Catherine Gartner with her work Banjo – The old shearer
When Cass heard about the Collie Art Prize she decided she wanted to find a real Collie character, someone born and bred in the town, though she admits she might have been taking the prize’s theme of ‘identity’ a bit too literally;
‘I rang up the pub and I asked the woman there if she knew of anyone who had a character face, someone who lived in Collie, who was born and bred there, and she suggested Mick Murray the local Member of Parliament. But she said he was only about 60, and I thought no, I was looking for someone with more of a weathered look. Then she suggested Banjo. I rang his daughter-in-law and asked for a meeting. And when I saw him I thought, yes he’s got the sort of character I’d like to paint.’
Catherine Gartner, Banjo – The old shearer
The People’s Choice price was announced at the end of the Collie Art Prize exhibition when all 900+ votes cast by visitors to the exhibition had been counted.
Over 500 entries were received for the $50,000 Collie Art Prize which was awarded on March 2, 2018 to Cairns-based artist Brian Robinson for his linoprint By Virtue of This Act I Hereby Take Possession of This Land. Two individual $5,000 Rotary Club of Collie prizes were awarded to Darlington artist Alistair Taylor for his Synchronymity (96 Alistair Taylors) and Sarah Smith for her work Cotton Candy.
