DAIRY farmer Jo Harper’s journey to becoming an artist began in 2022 after her mother was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.
“I said to a friend ‘I need to get away from the farm and the kids’, and I went to a ‘paint and sip night’ to sip – not paint,” Ms Harper said.
Little more than three years later, Ms Harper’s striking contemporary realist works now adorn the walls of the Cohuna Art Gallery.
Her current exhibition, Dairy Queens, is an exploration of the unique charm of dairy cows.
“Everyone says: ‘oh, cows are all just the same,’ and they’re not. We’re milking 103 cows at the moment and every single one of them is completely different with their own personalities,” Ms Harper said.
The Leitchville artist’s typical day begins at 4am to milk the cows, before getting her two youngest children ready for school and carrying out work around the farm.
Art is how Ms Harper balances her busy schedule and was a salve when her mother, Rev Janis Harper, passed away.
Janis Harper was a cherished Anglican Reverend at Swan Hill for several years, later moving to St Arnaud.
Through the fog of grief, Ms Harper became hyper-focused on her art.
“When I decide I want to do something, I’ll really, really focus on it,” she said.
Although admittedly self-taught, the talent and technical precision of Ms Harper’s work belies no traces of a neophyte.
Working with acrylic paint on raw varnished canvases, the artist’s use of bold, textured brushwork brings to life the expression of her subjects.
The series of dairy cows are set against a neutral, earthy palette evocative of rural farming life, with flicks of colour a subtle nod to abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock.
“I didn’t want to take away from the animal, so the splatter just worked,” Ms Harper said.
The cows which Ms Harper paints are a mixture of her own cattle and those of friends.
“Each one of these is someone’s beloved animal, they’re all special to the people who own them,” she said.
Dairy Queens is Ms Harper’s first exhibition, with the works originally painted for a cafe in Camperdown that since sold.
The exhibition runs until May 3 at the Cohuna Art Gallery, adjacent to the Cohuna Library on King Edward Street.
The gallery is open Thursday to Saturday from 10am to 12pm, or by appointment.
