Peter Churcher Betty at home (Betty Churcher)

Born Elizabeth Ann Cameron, Betty Churcher worked as a painter in Queensland in the 1950s and then as a teacher in Victoria. She was the first female appointed to head a state gallery in Australia (the Art Gallery of Western Australia, in 1987) and the first female director of the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra (appointed in 1990).

Betty Churcher is the mother of the artist Peter Churcher, who has produced many drawings of her over the years. 'Right up until the last minute I could not picture how to paint her… I suppose I had a thousand images in my mind. Was I going to paint her like my mum in her brunch coat eating cheese on toast or should I acknowledge her public role?’

By painting her 'with one hand extended and the other holding a toy for my young son’, he has managed 'to acknowledge both her public and private personae’.