Cockatoo print flies

LINO printmaker Amanda Western has won a blue ribbon for a piece featured in Geelong Art Society’s Linework exhibition.

On show at the Shearers Arms Gallery until Sunday 2 June, Western was awarded the top place for her Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo print on opening night.

Judged by printmaker Michael Fitzgerald, formerly of Melbourne Etching Supplies, Western said it was an honour to receive the recognition.

“It’s an acknowledgement that was delightful. They were so welcoming when I attended the opening and the award announcement,” she said.

“A third of the gallery was being utilised by [Jacinta Leitch] for her own exhibition and we had a great talk.

“The other thing that enthralled me was the judge Michael. A learning I came away with was that he called my linework contemporary which was great to hear because I hadn’t identified that myself.”

Western’s first place-awarded piece is joined in the exhibition by two of her other prints, King of the Bush – Kookaburra, which won in the other class at the Warrnambool & District Easter Arts Festival, and an earlier work Wedge-tailed Eagle. Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo is one of a cluster of Western’s works inspired by photos from Ballarat wildlife photographer Anna Every.

“It was a section of a larger photo she’d taken,” Western said.

“I wanted to strip it down so there was a lot of negative space, and that would allow for the contrast of the deep black ink and make it very dramatic.

“What drew me to Anna’s capture of these cockatoos was the foliage was so spiky and really dramatic. It lends itself really well to linework.

“It’s a nice 3D piece where one of the cockatoos is quite forward from the rest which I could accentuate.”

Following Linework’s conclusion,Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoowill be on display at the Mercure Ballarat after which it will feature at Western’s dedicated space Restore Gallery.