News
28 March, 2025
People’s Choice artists for reimagined classics
PAT Lawrence has been awarded the People’s Choice First Prize at the Kilcoy Courthouse Art Gallery’s ‘Paint Like a Master’ exhibition, earning recognition for her stunning work inspired by Claude Monet’s 1896 painting ‘Portrait of Madame Louis Joachim Gaudibert’,which is housed in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.
While Monet’s original masterpiece was created using oils, Lawrence took a unique approach, replicating the iconic portrait with the intricate art of paper quilling. Over the course of several months, Ms Lawrence meticulously rolled and shaped thousands of tiny pieces of paper, starting in March 2024 and completing the piece just days before the exhibition’s opening in February 2025.
An interesting tidbit from Lawrence’s creative process is that she reached out to the Musée d’Orsay to inquire about a mysterious object on the table in Monet’s painting. To her surprise, the museum responded, revealing that the item was, in fact, a bonnet worn by the woman in the portrait.
In addition to Lawrence’s achievement, Susan McConnel Art took home the People’s Choice Second Prize for her contemporary piece, ‘The Regatta’. Inspired by Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party (1881), McConnel’s artwork reimagines the figures in Renoir’s painting in a modern context. McConnel placed Renoir’s iconic characters into contemporary settings, with one girl holding a phone instead of a dog, and another giving a “side eye” to a man, reflecting how social dynamics have evolved over time. McConnel said it was a lot of fun and hoped she “did justice to the ethos of his era into ours.”
The ‘Paint Like a Master’ exhibition showcases the work of 21 talented Kilcoy Art Society members, all of whom have reinterpreted classic masterpieces through their own unique lenses. The exhibition runs until the end of March and is open to visitors at the Kilcoy Courthouse Art Gallery, Thursday to Monday from 9:00am to 1:00pm.
