Skye’s the limit

REMEMBER the name, Skye McBain.

The 18-year-old Bacchus Marsh local has been awarded the Best 21 Years & Under artist at the Rotary Club of Bacchus Marsh Art Show for the third year in a row.

McBain said she was quite excited, and surprised, when her name was announced as the winner for her work Crowd Crush, at the Gala Opening Night on the King’s Birthday long weekend.

“I am very grateful,” she said. “I didn’t think they would choose me again, I thought they’d have to give someone else a go.”

McBain’s artwork is an etching on an aluminum plate.

“I scratched the picture into it. Then along with a technique called aqua tinting I etched the plate in acid for different amounts of time to get the different tones of the grey,” she said.

McBain said she did the artwork at school in Year 12, and was inspired by Fransciso Goya, an 18th century Spanish painter.

“I found his etchings quite unsettling, and I wanted to capture the same unsettling feeling in my piece, but also a contemporary and modern touch to it also,” she said.

The future path for McBain will be a Diploma of Fine Arts at TAFE in 2025, with the dream of becoming an independent artist “with my own gallery.”