A young Kyneton artist has been recognised in a national youth art competition.
Ella Byass has been selected as one of 20 finalists from 2000 entrants in the Art Gallery of NSW’s Young Archie Competition.
The year 9 student’s portrait of her brother is on exhibit in the Art Gallery of NSW until October.
Ella and her family will head to Sydney in September to visit the gallery and hear the final judging.
“It will be pretty cool to see my painting in a gallery,” Ella said.
The teenager has been taking weekly art classes at the Folio Club Woodend Railway Station for the past five years. She produced the acrylic painting of her older brother Harry at a workshop late last year.
In its synopsis she wrote that she wasn’t certain why she was drawn to painting him.
“Maybe it is his raw expressions, and that to overcome all our fighting this was the way that we could make a special connection,” Ella wrote. “He hates having his photo taken, but surprisingly he let himself be the subject of my first painted portrait.”
Ella’s preferred medium is pencil or charcoal. “I like that I can be quite messy with it,” she said.
Ella aspires to pursue either a career in art, or study science and focus on art as a hobby.
