Gazette

The refused

24th June 2009 02:00:37 AM

Glo Edkins at work on a portrait. Rejection and acceptance have turned out to be two sides of the same coin for the Archibald Prize entrant. 32272Picture: Stewart Chambers

THERE is a moment in the whole pomp of the Archibald Prize when some of the rejected artists feel like winners.

Glo Edkins of Berwick knows that feeling this week.

Her entry, a portrait of the City of Casey’s 2008 mayor Janet Halsall, hangs in the Hidden Faces of the Archibald 2009 Victorian Exhibition of the Refused.

The Archibald attracts 700-800 entries every year. Forty are hung, and from the rest, another 30 to 40 make it to the refusals exhibition.

Glo is in good company. The tradition goes back to 1864 when the breakaway Salon des Refuses exhibited the works of Impressionists Manet and Cezanne after the jury of the official French Academy refused their paintings.

Glo’s 2009 entry is her second in the Archibald. Her first was in 2005, a portrait of Professor John Miller of Berwick.

“It’s a great honour to be accepted in the refusals,” she said.

“With so many entries, a lot of artists are very disappointed.”

Exhibition organiser Jacqueline Taylor has encouraged artists to continue to strive to win, Glo says.

“Victorians are at a disadvantage because of the costs of sending large paintings to the National Gallery of New South Wales.”

Glo’s subject Janet sat once in her robes and once in ordinary clothes, for the painting.

“In those sittings I had to get as much as I could of my complicated subject.”

Glo is a member of Berwick Artists Society.

She is often seen in the village cafes sketching people while they chat and sip coffee.

The refusals exhibition is at SMARTartZ Gallery in South Melbourne until 12 July.