A MOOROODUC artist won a top award at this year’s Chelsea Rotary Art Show, taking out first place in the oils/acrylic category.
Janis Barbieri’s Tropicana was deemed best in show in its category by judges at the 43rd annual Chelsea Rotary Art Show held at Chelsea Hall on 9-11 June.
Barbieri, who signs her maiden name Janis Taber on her artworks, said it is the first arts award she has won since taking up inks and oils six years ago after working in the fashion industry.
She said her art is “creative botanical and inspired by nature”.
“I love combinations of colour so with something like that I’ll decide on a colour palette but the painting evolves as I go.
“As I’m doing something the name often comes to me. I don’t have a name beforehand. It’s a feeling.
“I thought there were tropical colours [in her winning entry] and it had a tropical feel, so the name Tropicana was appropriate.”
The fashionista, who enjoys working on her art at her Moorooduc hobby farm, said she also hand paints silk scarves, decorates vases and paints on ceramic tiles and tables following colour palettes chosen by clients on a commission basis.
This year’s Chelsea Rotary Art Show exhibited more than 450 entries from talented artists.
All proceeds from the show are donated to community organisations including the CFA.
“Over the three days, the art show was very successful, with both sales and attendance numbers up on last year,” entry secretary Lesley Pitcher said.
Ms Pitcher said 34 Indigenous paintings from Kakadu were included in the show and proceeds from their sale will go towards eradicating the trachoma eye disease in Indigenous communities.
See janistaber.wixsite.com online for Janis Taber artworks and chelseaartshow.com.au for a list of all winners and some other entries.
First published in the Western Port News – 19 June 2018
