Back in the saddle after 13 years

It has been 13 years since Jaime Prosser has unveiled a solo exhibition so it has been exciting for the Tatiara based artist to put together the Karatta Wine Room and Gallery exhibition which opened at Robe on January 13.

“I’ve very much enjoyed getting ready for this exhibition and the opportunity to show a collection of my work,” Jaime said. “This show has developed to encompass three series of subjects I’ve loved to explore and also have a connection to the Robe, Limestone Coast region.

“I’ve grown up around the farm lands and coast of this area and enjoyed reflecting this love in this exhibition.”

Jaime made the decision to be a full time artist back in 2000, taking a five year hiatus when her two daughters were young, building on a passion for creating that she has had since she, herself, was a young child.

“I was an extremely quite kid and would go off on my own a lot and find something to draw – I’m still like that,” Jaime said. “I like the solitude of being immersed in the act of drawing or painting. The simplicity of creating an image on a blank piece of paper still excites me today.”

Armed with a Bachelor of Visual Arts from UniSA, Jaime has never stopped developing her skills and evolving her style.

“These days it is easy to search out on social media what other artist are doing in their art practice and find new and interesting ways to approach subjects or ways to use different materials,” she said. “I love discovering artists and getting an insight directly from them on how they create their art and then experimenting in my own studio.”

Oils on wood panels has been her latest go-to technique but she never strays too far from her first love – drawing.

“I have been enjoying developing a technique of drawing on wood panel and I have artworks in the Robe show using both of these mediums,” Jaime said.

This Robe show came about on the back of Jaime’s victory in last year’s Southern Ocean Art Prize – the latest in a string of successes for the artist, which started in 2000 when her first exhibition, which was a solo show, sold out.

“I’ve been lucky to have shown in a variety of exhibitions and art competitions,” she said.

Jaime has won the Waltzing Matilda Art Prize in Winton, the John Shaw Neilson Art Prize and has also been accepted to show in the Paddington Landscape Art Prize, Heysen Landscape Art Prize and Tatiara Art Prize multiple times.

“I’ve had local gallery shows, the latest one about six months ago in the beautiful Walkway gallery and another show that stands out was when I was invited to exhibit in Melbourne at the Without Pier Gallery,” she said.

Jaime and her work are all about the detail with her inspiration coming from the natural world.

“I tend to be inspired by a certain subject and continue to develop that idea for a while,” she said. “In the last 12 months I have been looking at gum flowers and being intrigued by the details of light and form and how the flowers are so delicate yet hardy at the same time.

“Throughout my art practice I am interested in seeing the details in subjects that are usually not the focus of most people’s every day. Scenes that are driven past all the time but the details are not really seen closely.”

And that is what she delivers with her latest offering at Karatta with Series 1 looking at the gum flowers; Series 2, which builds on her Southern Ocean Art Prize winning work of windswept trees along the coastline and Series 3 draws on her strong childhood memories of holidays at the Kingston Caravan Park.

“I feel a strong connection and have loved creating a series of ocean pieces,” Jaime said. “I’ve used my drawing technique to try and create the feeling of movement in the water as well as pieces in oil.”

The gum flower series are close up oil paintings from larger than life scale to cute minis, while Series 2 is where Jaime has explored her drawing on wood with charcoal and graphite, incorporating acrylic and oils as well.

“I am excited to show these new ones and see what people think,” she said.

The exhibition continues until late next month.