Penola artist Lois Hodge is recognised throughout the region for her art and her long involvement with the Penola community – making her a familiar face to many.
Ms Hodge was initially a nurse but said she had always painted.
Pursuing her passion for art, she dropped two paintings off to sell at Local Images Art Gallery on Church Street in Penola in 1985 and ended up buying the gallery herself.
“I thought, oh well, if it does not work I’ll go back nursing, but I did not have to, people were wonderful,” Ms Hodge said.
“Naracoorte and Mount Gambier and Penola, they have really supported me.”
Ms Hodge attended many art workshops over the years, focusing on watercolour and she taught at TAFE in Naracoorte and Penola.
“I love teaching, I made a lot of good friends,” she said.
Ms Hodge has held many exhibitions for more than 30 years.
“I opened a gallery with my own exhibition because I had been overseas with a group of artists and two teachers, and I never thought I’d do anything like that,” she said.
Ms Hodge held the first John Shaw Neilson Acquisitive Art Prize at her gallery, which moved to Penola High School 19 years ago after outgrowing its former location.
She is proudly an Honorary Member of the annual Penola Coonawarra Arts Festival.
Aside from exhibitions, Ms Hodge has been involved with many other projects over the years.
Before digital cameras came about, Ms Hodge sketched pictures of houses for sale for Penola TDC Livestock and Property for the paper, adding watercolour to the sketches when they sold.
“I did that for some years, which was very good for me,” she said.
Ms Hodge completed sketches for a book by author Andrew Eastick called Living History: Penola-Coonawarra, which still sells today.
She has been heavily involved with tourism in Penola, with her artwork adorning tourism brochures.
Her Local Images art gallery is likely the oldest private art gallery in the South East, which she now leases but owned for over 13 years.
Ms Hodge said there is now an artist in residence in her studio.
“You meet so many interesting people in the gallery,” Ms Hodge said.
“I have been very lucky.”
Ms Hodge still paints today and said she enjoys art because it allows her to switch off and gives her a mood boost to do something worthwhile.
“You’re so busy trying to get the image to what you want and it never turns out that way, so it’s frustrating, it’s solitary,” she said.
Ms Hodge said art is also beneficial for people struggling with mental health.
“Because you cannot think of anything else, you’re too busy trying to paint,” she said.
Ms Hodge said there was lots of talent in the region and she loves the South East.
“The South East, you could not live in it and not be artistic, because there’s so many beautiful things,” she said.
“I think we’re so lucky living down here.”
