AN artist’s tribute to her four younger sisters will hang in Gannawarra Shire Council’s Kerang customer service centre in the coming weeks.
Laura Kirby’s piece, Eagles, took out the council’s acquisition award at the Rotary Club of Kerang Art Show, held from Good Friday to Easter Sunday at the Maxwell Street basketball stadium.
The announcement of major award recipients occurred during a gala opening on Good Friday night, with hundreds of people taking time during the weekend to view the close to 450 works on display across the weekend.
“The art show is becoming something that is really, really important to our area,” Gannawarra mayor, Cr Brian Gibson said.
“It’s fantastic to have such a wonderful response from our community and it gives the artists who take the time to do all of this an opportunity to show their wares.”
Cr Gibson was given the role of selecting a piece to be added to council’s collection, with the municipal leader looking for an entry that was “symbolic to the shire”.
“When I came across Laura’s piece it just jumped out at me in the way it was done,” he said.
The win left the apprentice chef, who grew up in the area before moving to Melbourne for employment, stunned.
“It is a tribute to us girls, my four younger sisters and I, and our totem, being the eagle or hawks which, means that someone is always looking out for us, no matter where we are,” Ms Kirby said.
Ms Kirby used toothbrushes, tooth picks and handles of paint brushes during a five-day period to create the award-winning piece.
“It’s been good to get back home and to my culture and sit around with my mum (local Elder, Esther Kirby), doing all my paintings and just relaxing,” she said.
Ms Kirby’s award was one of 12 accolades handed out during the opening night, highlighted by the Best of Show piece.
The 2017 honour went to Joel Magpayo’s watercolour piece, Young David.
“It captivated me because it drew me in to and have a look,” art show judge, Julie Goldspink said.
“The hands are done so beautifully, and the work makes you look all the way around and then into the face, and then you go back around again.
“It just keeps you captivated, and that what makes a very good artwork.”
