Sue Jarvis with her painting of Flinders Street Station, part of her City Perspectives exhibition at the Walker Street Gallery this month.
By Shaun Inguanzo
PLACE Sue Jarvis in a dull cityscape with a paintbrush and a canvas and she will return with a banquet of colours.
The artist is a self-confessed city-lover who spends most of her time discovering the finer details of cities and their people.
Ms Jarvis this week launched her City Perspectives exhibit to share with Dandenong people her experiences and discoveries of small details in big cities that many people would miss.
“I don’t know if you realise the Bolte Bridge has a brilliant red colour on its side,” she said.
“On a summer morning the red reflects on the water extremely brightly.”
Ms Jarvis said art lovers could expect an exhibition of impressionist paintings that depict city life and focus on colours many people miss in the concrete jungle.
But before Ms Jarvis delved into Melbourne, there was Dandenong.
Ms Jarvis was born and bred in Dandenong. She studied to become an art teacher before writing a thesis on the city in 1971.
“It talked about how Dandenong grew, and why it was the way it was,” she said.
“I picked out the main features, and even drew photos.”
Ms Jarvis said 90 per cent of the buildings she wrote about in that thesis had been torn down, leaving Dandenong with little heritage and its council with important decisions to make for the city’s future.
One of her paintings on show this month is of the The Drum Theatre and town hall.
“I think the council did a wonderful job, although some might disagree,” she said.
“It looks really lovely on the inside, especially the heritage part.”
Ms Jarvis said Dandenong was one of few cities still to have a town hall in the city centre.
She is now part of a working group planning a public art piece for the George Street Bridge.
The bridge is under construction and when completed will better connect Dandenong South with the CBD.
Ms Jarvis would not divulge much about the artwork, but said “it will definitely be designed to be specific to Dandenong”.
City Perspectives is running until 26 July at Walker Street Gallery, corner Walker and Robinson Streets, Dandenong.
