Lorna Chick (b.1922-2007) was born on Yorta Yorta Country in Wangandary, Victoria. She spent her entire life living on a farm in Victoria’s Northeast, not far from Wangaratta. Chick was a self-taught artist who began painting in her forties, developing her own unique style and colour palette through her love of painting her surrounds¹. Her work is often framed within the naive school of painting due to her flat panoramic vistas and almost topographical aerial perspective. She was extremely passionate about the environment, capturing her beloved surrounds with extraordinary and minute detail.

Wooleen from a helicopter by Chick presents a panoramic view of Laurie Ledger’s² station in North East Victoria. The elevated farming land, rolling hills and rugged ranges in the background are rendered with meticulous detail, Chick’s vibrant palette depicting nature at its brightest and sunniest. Her minute observations of daily farm life – of sheep and cattle grazing, flowers and trees blooming, and station workers carrying out their daily routines – stretch the entirety of the canvas, offering a unique insight into the artist’s immediate environment undergoing rapid change.

1. Alyssa Allen, “Celebrating the Life of Lorna Chick,” ABC Local, published January 23, 2013, https://www.abc.net. au/local/audio/2013/01/23/3675167.htm.
2. In 1972, Laurie Ledger a local stock and station agent and founding member of the Art Gallery Board, donated his personal art collection to Benalla, along with a sum of $75,000 towards the coast of a new building. What has become known as the Ledger Bequest, forms the core of Benalla Art Gallery’s Collection.