By Andrea Louise Thomas
B
eing a finalist in the Archibald Prize is a really big deal. It’s one of the most prestigious art prizes in Australia.
To pull that off as a first time entrant in a field of nearly 800 entries is all the more impressive, but that’s exactly what Melissa Grisancich did with quiet conviction.
E ssence
46 | PENINSULA
November 2018
“I’d never entered a competition before. I wasn’t considering the option of not being a finalist. I was so adamant that it was just going to work out,” she says. Working with single-minded intensity and focused on getting her portrait of Australian singer/songwriter, Courtney Barnett completely right, it never occurred to her that her painting would not be one of the 57 finalists selected.