Everlasting honours

Pasted on the wall of an art studio at Geraldton’s Railway Station building, is a page bearing the letterhead of Buckingham Palace and addressed to the artist.

It thanks Margaret Danischewsky, on behalf of Her Majesty The Queen, for the “wonderful Aboriginal painting” presented in honour of her visit to Australia in 2000.

“I am sure the painting will serve as a lasting reminder of such an enjoyable tour,” the letter reads, which was signed by the Queen’s assistant private secretary, Tim Hitchens.

Mrs Danischewsky is proud her painting was selected, however, she declined the honour of personally presenting it to Her Majesty.

“They wanted me to present it, but I didn’t, it’s just not me,” she said.

Recently, the modest artist almost didn’t attend another up-front occasion in her long career, when she was announced the winner of the inaugural Baker Williamson Studios Art Prize.

Mrs Danischewsky’s acrylic and sand painting, Bush Walk, was selected for the $1000 art prize by judges James Davies from Geraldton Regional Art Gallery and Valli Papini, who is Arts and Cultural Development Council gallery manager.

Depicting the transformation of the “vast and barren landscape”, the one metre squared canvas was created by the artist who used her finger and a stick dipped in paint.

She said she worked on the painting for two to three hours a day over a two-month period and the work depicted everlasting flowers which were significant in her upbringing and “very dear” to her.

“I was brought up in the bush surrounded by everlastings. They … were a big part of my life,” Mrs Danischewsky said.

“We’d collect big bunches for my mum for Mother’s Day and birthdays. We didn’t have much of anything, but we did have the flowers. The bush was our florist.”

Jeweller Gemma Baker said she hosted the exhibition and art prize to provide exposure to local artists and to complement her latest jewellery collection which depicted the everlasting flowers of the Mid West region.

The art exhibition ends this Friday at Baker Williamson Studios in the Railway Station building, Chapman Road.