portrait
JENNY KEE : AUSTRALIAN FASHION DESIGNEr
Finalist Archibald Prize - Art Gallery of NSW
‘Jenny Kee’ 1.5m x 2m Mix media on linen, Carla Fletcher
Jenny Kee is a pioneer of Australian style and an internationally acclaimed artist and fashion designer, whose work reflects her passion for the Australian environment.
‘For the sitting I went to the Blue Mountains and stayed in Jenny’s stunning Glen Murcutt-designed studio for a couple of nights. I was not only in Jenny’s home but her spiritual haven and our connection was immediate.’
‘Jenny led me on an incredible bushwalk descending into the rugged Grose Valley. We marvelled at the bright yellow wattle, cascading banksias, exposed sandstone cliffs and the dramatic water flow of Govetts Leap Falls …When we reached the bottom we meditated together at the base of the majestic waterfall.’
‘We collected ochre, which I later ground down and mixed into the black background of Jenny’s portrait as a direct connection to her home and our time spent together.’
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LINDA JACKSON : AUSTRALIAN FASHION DESIGNER
Finalist Archibald Prize - Art Gallery of NSW
‘Twin Souls, Linda Jackson’ 1.5m x 2m Mix media on linen, Carla Fletcher
We really are twin souls. It doesn’t matter what I am doing, she is doing something similar. We can be miles apart from each other but we are on that path. When we come together there is something so deep. — Jenny Kee, 2016
‘Together they are magic, transcendent, creative collaborators who electrified Australia with bolts of luminous colour and dreaming. From their first meeting in the early 1970s there was an instant soul connection, a connection that remains strong’
‘Inspired by the colour and energy of the Australian landscape, Jackson crusaded a new path for Australian fashion. She explored new approaches to textiles and incorporated never-before-seen bold Australian motifs drawn from nature, including her magical neon opal prints and Sturt’s Desert Pea flowers.
Jackson and Kee sold unique, handmade one-off artisan pieces from Kee’s frock salon Flamingo Park in Sydney’s Strand Arcade to an array of buyers, from Sydney fashionistas to Princess Diana and David Bowie.’
portrait
DEL KATHRYN BARTON : AUSTRALIAN
CONTEMPORARY ARTIST
Finalist Archibald Prize - Art Gallery of NSW
‘Del Kathryn Barton’ 1.5m x 2m Mix media on Linen, Carla Fletcher
Del Kathryn Barton has won the Archibald Prize twice, in 2008 with a self-portrait with her two children, and in 2013 with a portrait of Hugo Weaving.
This is Carla Fletcher’s fifth time as an Archibald Prize finalist.
‘This portrait of Del is connected to Fletcher’s 2015 and 2016 Archibald portraits of Australian fashion designers Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson, both in the technical application of mixed media and in the magical, colourful and cosmic energy that they each bring to our world,’
‘Introduced by a mutual friend, my meeting with Del was electric, healing and full of love. In my portrait of her as the Star Goddess, seven chakra energy eyes witness her playing with primordial cosmic energy as she brings her creativity onto Earth. She has two sets of hands, which allow the real and imagined to coexist, and she is flanked by psychedelic wings that symbolise Del’s cherished mother who passed away a couple of years ago.’
PORTRAIT
DAN SULTAN : AUSTRALIAN SINGER SONGWRITER
Finalist Archibald Prize - Art Gallery of NSW
‘Dan Sultan’ 1.5m x 2m Mix media on linen, Carla Fletcher
Singer/songwriter Dan Sultan is a member of The Black Arm Band. In 2010, he won two Deadly Awards, two Australian Independent Record (AIR) Awards and two ARIA Awards for best blues and roots album and male artist of the year. He is only the second Indigenous performer to take out this award trifecta (Deadly, AIR and ARIA) after Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu. In 2014, the GO Foundation – which works to empower Indigenous youth – named Sultan as its inaugural ambassador.
Carla Fletcher met Sultan in 2008 at a recording session in country Victoria through her then musician husband Brett Langsford. Over the next few years, they talked about doing a portrait. The stars finally aligned in mid 2013 when Sultan visited Fletcher’s studio days before heading to Nashville to record his latest album Blackbird.
‘Dan has a commanding magnetism that propels his performance on stage,’ says Fletcher. ‘He is equal parts fragile and unhinged, beautiful and soul-driven, angry and passionate, the victim and the hero, in love with the land but battling the demons of the system.’
PORTRAIT
JOHN BUTLER : AUSTRALIAN SINGER SONGWRIT
ER
Finalist Shirley Hannan National Portrait Award Bega Valley Regional Gallery
‘John Butler’ 1.5m x 1.5m Mix media on linen, Carla Fletcher
John Butler, American-born Australian singer, songwriter, and music producer. An an APRA and ARIA-award-winning musicianHe is the front man for the John Butler Trio, a roots and jam band that formed in Fremantle, Western Australia, in 1998.
'This portrait made from crushed charcoal, from the ashes of the fire John and I sat around, honours the element of fire woven into John’s energy and family history.' Australian musician John Butler is named after his paternal Grandfather, John Wiltshire-Butler, a forestry worker who died fighting a Bushfire in Nannup, Western Australia.
PORTRAIT
C.W STONEKING : AUSTRALIAN SINGER SONGWRITER
Finalist Archibald Prize - Art Gallery of NSW
‘CW Stoneking’ Mix media on linen, Carla Fletcher
CW Stoneking is a blues singer/songwriter who plays guitar and banjo. Born to American parents in Katherine in the Northern Territory, he now lives in Melbourne Australia.
Carla Fletcher has loved Stoneking’s music ever since she heard his second album Jungle blues. Featuring original songs inspired by his experience of being shipwrecked off the coast of West Africa in 1997 while in the Caribbean to learn calypso guitar, it won a 2009 ARIA Award.
‘His music transports you to another world,’ says Fletcher. ‘It is visually rich and conjures another time.’
The names tattooed on his right hand are the names of his sons: Atticus (after the honourable lawyer Atticus Finch in To kill a mockingbird) and Ishmael (narrator of the 1851 novel Moby Dick). He and his wife also have a new-born daughter.
portrait
JOEL EDGERTON : AUSTRALIAN ACTOR, WRITER, DIRECTOR
Finalist Lester Prize - Art Gallery of Western Australia
‘Joel Edgerton’ Mix media on linen, Carla Fletcher
PORTRAIT
ANTHONY LISTER : AUSTRALIAN GRAFFITI ARTIST
Finalist Portia Geach Memorial Award - SH Erwin Gallery’
‘Lister’ Mix media on custom wood circle, Carla Fletcher