3 days ago
Cottesloe nature artist wins first award in 35 years
Cottesloe nature artist Kim Maple has landed her first art prize in 35 years with her painting Family at the Town of Claremont Art Awards and Exhibition.
An environment and nature artist, Maple said she was inspired to paint the grass trees, or xanthorrhoea, after seeing them growing along the rail line in Claremont and her visits to the Wheatbelt town of Dandaragan.
'I've been painting grass trees for quite a long time now, quite a few years,' she said. Cottesloe artist Kim Maple. Credit: Supplied
'They just attract me because they're quite little or big characters and they've got quite a nice sort of graphic quality with the dark trunks and all the ferns everywhere blowing in the breeze.'
The artist named the piece Family after it was completed as she noticed the grass trees appeared to be grouped in families.
'The little grass trees sort of stood out to being something similar (to family) in the way they, if left together in their natural environment, group together,' she said.
'I've done a few little trips up north, up and around Dandaragan, where there's fields of these grass trees that are all sort of growing together and staying together.
'They group together like a family.'
She said she never expected to win the Claremont award, admitting she even made an early exit before the winners were announced last Friday.
'I haven't entered anything for many, many years since I first started some 35 years ago — I did enter a few when I was just starting out,' Maple said.
'I certainly didn't expect to win, that's for sure.' Family by Cottesloe artist Kim Maple. Credit: Supplied
In fact, the last award Maple claimed was first prize at the 1975 Channel 7 Young Artist Award for drawing at the WA Art Gallery in Perth.
Maple said she had previously visited the Claremont Art Awards and Exhibition and thought she would 'give it a go'.
Judges said Family was strong in its rendition of the landscape, with a flow of movement, living curves and shapes created through an over-painting of the grass tree's edges.
'This technique creates an evocative reference to a mirage, a canopied view blinded by the sun and fire,' they said.
Jennifer Cochrane nabbed second place with her artwork Sleeper self-portrait, and Harry Young's Featherby House won the sculpture category.
Pippa Lightfoot's Resilience 2 was named winner of the Claremont Local Award, and Lucy Couanis' Submerged was awarded the Youth Prize.
