Elisabeth Cummings May Barrie

May Barrie is a sculptor whom Elisabeth Cummings has known for many years. ‘She’s a very small woman who is amazingly strong and makes beautiful stone carvings,’ says Cummings. ‘She’s over 80 now and she’s still working. She is stiff with aches and pains because of the hard physical work but she has an indomitable spirit. She’s a quite special person.’

Cummings was interested in painting Barrie in relation to her surroundings. She and her husband have created a very interesting sandstone home under the escarpment at Albion Park, NSW. ‘Her house is so much a part of her,’ says Cummings. ‘She and her husband are great travellers, so there are lots of carpets from around the world and sculptures. It’s a unique environment. And she creates a wonderful atmosphere. People love to visit May.’

Cummings studied at Sydney’s National Art School in the 1950s, furthering her studies overseas in 1961 at the School of Vision in Salzburg with Oscar Kokoschka. Her portrait of artist Jean Appleton was hung in the 1997 Archibald while she herself was the subject of a portrait by John Peart in last year’s Archibald Prize.

Cummings’s portrait of Barrie is now in the collection of Wollongong Art Gallery.