Kobe, Jasmine & Sharlisha Claim Port Lincoln Art Prizes

Three PLHS Art students received awards at the recent 2023 Port Lincoln Art Prize – congratulations to Kobe Dodd (Year 10), Jasmine Tiller (Year 9) and Sharlisha Roderick Varcoe (Year 9) on this wonderful recognition.

Kobe claimed the prestigious $500 Port Lincoln Rotary Club Youth Award with his painting entitled “The Chase”. Jasmine’s “Eyes” drawings earned her the $250 Port Lincoln Arts Council Youth Highly Commended Award, while Sharlisha won the Bendigo Bank Port Lincoln Community Bank Merit Award for her “Sisters and Brothers” artwork. An accompanying Practitioner’s Statement for all three pieces can be found below.

Congratulations to these three talented Art students, their families and their hard-working PLHS Art teachers – we are very proud to continue our successful record in Port Lincoln’s most coveted art prize.

Artist: Kobe Dodd // Title: The Chase

Statement: I am a Ngarrindjeri artist. Ngarrindjeri country is located near Murray Bridge in South Australia.

This painting shows a funny memory of me and my family being chased by emus in the Coffin Bay National Park. We were there to collect cockles to eat. Me, my brother and two friends went for a walk into the bushes and saw a baby emu and as we approached it, we saw the father emu (who looks after the chicks) and then other emus chased us out of the bushes and we ran as fast as we could laughing and screaming. We were lucky we got a head start on them and we rushed back to the car. The emus gave up the chase once we were out of the bush area.

The complementary colour palette that I have used makes the colours stand out from each other and reflects the colours of the landscape in the National Park. I achieved perspective by making the circle patterns bigger at the front and going smaller to the back on the sand and in the ocean.

I added details to the bushes in the foreground of the painting to bring the focus to the emus and the story.

Artist: Jasmine Tiller // Title: Eyes

Statement: Most of these drawings were inspired by the eyes of my family members. I spend a lot of time on the iris, and I really enjoy the challenge of creating the unique colours and patterns in each eye. I also really like how the reflection in the eyes can tell a story of their own.

Artist: Sharlisha Roderick-Varcoe // Title: Sister and Brothers

Statement: The two concentric shapes in the centre of the painting represent the females in my family, my sister and me. We have a very strong connection. The semi circles around the outside show my seven brothers. The yellow represents the sand at the beach where my family spends lots of time together.