The guest artist this year is Nikki Burns, who has been exhibiting in the annual exhibition for a number of years and has been a previous Simply Drawing Prize winner. Based in Millthorpe, Nikki has a love of drawing and painting with water colours, where she takes inspiration from the rural life surrounding her in her small home town. Nikki has been drawing since a young age and has a special affinity for drawing animals,

The guest artist this year is Frank Hodgert who has been exhibiting in the annual exhibition for a number of years and has always been a crowd favourite. Based in Glenmore Park, Frank spends a lot of time in the areas surrounding Portland and has painted a number of Portland streetscapes over the years along with landscapes of the surrounding natural beauty, in both watercolour and oils. Frank, who has taught art as well as

Guenter Barth was born in East Germany and started painting at the age of 16. In 1957, with his new wife, Edel and his paints, he fled from communist Germany into Berlin. They migrated to Australia in 1960, but it wasn’t until 1994 when he retired that he could follow his dream of devoting his time to painting. He has travelled extensively throughout Australia and has been inspired by the contrast and beauty of Australian

ANNIE JOSEPH is a long time supporter of the Portland Art Exhibition. She loves painting and drawing the landscape. “There is never any shortage of subjects, and am lucky to be able to work in my wondrous studio surrounded by beautiful hills and valleys of Old Bowenfels at Lithgow.” Her heartland is further west though, out in the central west where “the sky comes down to your boots!” Annie mostly works in charcoal, pen and

To celebrate the 40th Anniversary, the society has chosen to choose four feature artists. JOE PENN For over 30 years he has been painting full time, working in a variety of mediums. He is well known for his Impressionistic oils of landscapes, portraits and figures, he is currently Vice President of The Royal Art Society. LESLEY O'SHEA I am fascinated by faces. The challenge to portray an individual’s personality and likeness in paint is the passion that

Dennis Claydon – A Storyteller in pastels Dennis moved from Albury about 2 years ago and he and his wife Gae have now made their home in Orange. Dennis is a horticulturist by trade (in charge of Randwick Racecourse, Sydney Showground, Dreamworld and many others) and he commenced painting in 1993. The rest they say is history – as he had been winning major awards ever since. Some of Dennis’s achievements are: • Best Painting

The focus of his paintings is often around the fringe dwellers of outback society and their eccentricities. His endeavour is to catch the spirit of these people and their landscape with all its idiosyncrasies. A strong undercurrent of dry humour finds its way into many of his works. Eris has a great interest in the history of the outback and the history of art itself. He reads extensively, especially biographies of the past greats, whether