IF you walk by Jane Grierson’s house and spot a large sprawl of weeds in her garden, don’t “tsk” or shake your head—it’s all in the name of art.
The Melville local has been on a mission to paint different varieties of weeds. The left-field endeavour has paid off with her beautiful painting of weeds in a vase, Wild and Free, winning the Resident category at this year’s 50th Melville Art Awards.
“It sounds weird but there’s some absolute beauties out there and the more I look at them the more I think, you know, why not just grow weeds?” Grierson says.
“Why waste all that time on flowers?
“The ones I painted for Melville were garden weeds but since then I’m working on a whole series and I’ve been collecting them from all over.
“I got the idea after my painting of dying flowers won in the Minnawarra Art Awards.”
Grierson loves seeing the beauty in everyday objects that others ignore or dismiss.
• The award-winning Wild and Free by Melville’s Jane Grierson (below).
Specialising in oils, she’s painted everything from fried eggs and snoring dogs to garlic bulbs and pigeons.
“Before Covid I used to go out and paint what I saw, but since Covid I started painting still lifes,” she says.
“I like arranging things that have a slight narrative or a different viewpoint, something interesting that not everyone would see.”
Grierson occasionally gives her still lifes a dark background, adding a sort of classical grandeur to prosaic items like bowls of figs.
She also imbues her works with cool blues, evoking Picasso’s famous Blue Period.
“I love Eau de Nil, the colour of the Nile River. It’s kind of like a milky, bluey green,” she says.
Originally from South Africa, Grierson moved to Australia nearly three decades ago.
She’s had art lessons since the age of six, but didn’t get serious about it until middle age, when she completed a diploma in visual arts at North Metro TAFE and a BA in Fine Arts at Curtin Uni.
“I originally trained as a graphic designer before computers, so we drew things and we painted things and it was all realistic,” she says.
“And then I got bored with doing that sort of thing and so I thought I’d learn a bit more about contemporary art and went to TAFE and it was brilliant.
“We had wonderful lecturers, I met some really great people and we still exhibit together 10 years later.”
Over the years she’s been given numerous awards, enjoying particular success at the Melville Art Awards, where she’s won the Pastels category three times and the Resident Award twice.
To mark the 50th edition, Melville council is showcasing artworks acquired through the Awards since 1977 in a retrospective exhibition at the Yagan Mia Wireless Hill Museum.
Over the past five decades, the Awards have featured more than 5000 artists and handed out over 400 gongs.
This year’s Overall Award, a $10,000 acquisitive prize, went to Harry Young for Doors Closing.
Ross Potter won the First Nations Award for God’s Hands, Pablo Hughes the Creative Melville Award for Wavelength, Dave Modi the Youth Award for Sacred and Dallas Perry the Print Award for Stumbling.
“The City of Melville are very supportive of both emerging and experienced artists with their workshops, art awards and open studios,” Grierson says.
The Melville Art Awards, in the Main Hall behind the City of Melville Civic Centre, are on until November 8.
’77 to Now: 50 Years of the City of Melville Art Collection is at Yagan Mia Wireless Hill Museum until January 31. Both events are free.
by STEPHEN POLLOCK