Alison’s cobbler bags art prize

By Kath Gannaway
WOORI Yallock artist, Alison May’s strong impressioniststyle portraits are, she says, a move away from the style of traditional Mont De Lancey Acquisitive Art Award winners.
“My experience is that this type of work isn’t the first pick of judges in this award,” she said.
“In the past it has been lovely valley landscapes or lovely interpretations of stilllife, which have captured the judges, so to have my quite bold, heavy oil, black framed, cobbler capture the judge really surprised me,” she told the Mail.
Alison’s painting of a Melbourne cobbler titled “The Leather Bag” won first prize in the annual Mont De Lancey Acquisitive Art Awards exhibition. The painting was one of 78 works entered this year by Yarra Ranges artists.
The Acquisitive Award was established by the Olive Sebire and Annette and Neville Lord Trust in 1995 to recognised and encourage artists living in the shire.
Alison said it was an honour to have her work chosen by judge Nola Clark as the best in the exhibition, which is currently on display in the new gallery at Mont De Lancey in Wandin.
“The Leather Bag” is now part of a collection which, when completed in 2010, will comprise 15 impressive works kept in trust for generations to come.
Alison combines her career as a fulltime artist with the demands of her other roles as a fulltime mother of two young children and fulltime wife.
She says her earliest memory of being transfixed with art was in primary school when she was eight. She worked in various graphic/design/art areas before finding her personal forte in fine art.
“Basically it is a type of figurative work and whether it is a nude portrait or a person going about their everyday life, most of the images I paint will have a dominating figure,” she said.”
On style, she says her work has been described as impressionist, along the lines of the French impressionist works. She is comfortable with that but says it is portraits, which she specialises in and which are her main commission work.
“Rembrandt was always my one first love in art and I feel that’s where my passion for portraits comes from,” she Alison said.
“To be able to stand half a foot away from a Rembrandt original (at the recent Dutch Masters exhibition in Melbourne) just emotionally grabbed me.
“It’s not just what you are looking at, but realising they mixed their own paint, painted by candlelight … that just amazes me.” she says still in awe of that moment.
The award night, was also aweinspiring, Alison said.
“It was such an honour as an artist to have Nola select my work, but there was also the support from other artists who were so warm and full of praise on the night towards what I did. It was truly wonderful,” she said.
The exhibition is on display at Mont De Lancey in Wellington Road, Wandin, until Sunday, 6 November.