By Garry Howe
An artistic gesture to a “true gentleman” and life mentor earned Gembrook artist Calvin Osborne a prize on debut at this year’s Art Show Pakenham.
Calvin’s ink drawing, titled Paperman, of former Star News Group director and managing director Ian Thomas was judged as the best exhibit by an artist depicting the Cardinia Shire.
“I wanted to pay respects to one of my mentors in life,” Calvin explained. “Ian gave me my first job, which led to my whole career.
“He is one of the hardest workers I have come across – doing every job – and is a true gentleman and a great bloke.”
Ian hired Calvin and his Kooweerup Secondary College schoolmate Tracey Johnson, who both went for the same graphic design job. He couldn’t decide between them – so hired them both!
Calvin, who now works for Yarra Trams, has dabbled in various art mediums his whole life as a hobby but had never entered an art show before.
He was inspired to produce the winning piece by the Gazette’s special centenary edition in 2017. He used an old front page produced with that paper and various stories within it touching on the contribution of Ian, his wife Dorothy and their son Paul, the current managing director, as a backdrop.
“Essentially it’s ink on paper, which is appropriate, and I wanted to keep it black and white and make it a bit scribbly and messy.”
The judges loved it, remarking that it had: “a strong graphic line of a newspaper background, iconic of black and white use… with strong reference to local and earlier times”.
For more on the art show, turn to pages 50-51.
