This article was originally published in the Newcastle Herald.
USING her father as a muse, a young Newcastle artist has had her work put on show in the Art Gallery of NSW.
“My artwork is of my dad. I love my dad,” 16-year-old Amaya James said.
The San Clemente High School, Mayfield, Year 10 student has always had a passion for picking up a pencil which led her to being named a finalist in the Art Gallery of NSW Young Archie competition.
Using prismacolor pencils, she recreated an image of her father taken on Mother’s Day last year at Stanley Park in Port Stephens.
“It’s a really cute photo of my dad. He has always loved sunsets and he looks very Australian in that photo which I love, because it really embodies him,” she said.
“He’s a very outdoorsy, hard-working Australian kind of figure and that’s how he looks in my artwork. It really depicts the kind of person he is.”
Despite not taking the top honours among 4000 entries, Amaya’s artwork remains on display at the gallery until September 8.
“We went to Sydney when they announced the finalists on July 27 and dad got to stand next to it. So many people came up to him and asked to take photos of him with it. He was really proud,” she said.
Amaya said she has always loved art and would often visit the Sydney gallery as a treat for her birthday to look at the Archies.
“It’s one of my favourite things to do and I always loved seeing them and now to see me in there, it was surreal,” she said.
“I’m really proud of myself and I’m so happy that my dad is proud,” she said.
The Young Archie competition invites budding artists between the ages of 5 and 18 to submit a portrait. As well as online, all finalists are displayed at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in conjunction with the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes exhibition.
