Jenny Sages Jackie and Kerryn

Dr Kerryn Phelps is a medical practitioner, media heath commentator and the federal president of the Australian Medical Association. Jackie Stricker is Phelps’ executive assistant. She was a teacher for over 20 years, has a masters degree in special education from the University of Sydney and will shortly be publishing her first book.

Jenny Sages has this to say about her portrait: “Jackie and Kerryn are two beautiful, intelligent women whom I am privileged to call friends. I have known Jackie since she was a little girl. Her parents are my friends, her father is my beloved dentist.

“Discussing my thoughts with them I mentioned that I have been working with white for the last year or so and added that I envisaged movie star glamour.

“They arrived at my studio beautifully made-up with two gorgeous white dresses made especially for them, as well as a cream rug for my dirty floor. They sat on my kitchen chairs, Jackie put her hand on Kerryn’s knee, Kerryn covered it with her own and there it was… I started drawing and for the first time it just flowed.”

Born in Shanghai, Sages arrived in Australia in 1948. She studied at East Sydney Technical College, the Franklin School of Art in New York, then with John Olsen and Mary White. This is the tenth time Sages has been represented in the Archibald.

The portrait, highly commended by the judges, is now in the collection of Tweed Regional Gallery, NSW.