Don Ross (artist)

[1][2] He was a key figure in the Brisbane artistic and craft scene for the entire second half of the 20th century,[3] working across several different media – prints, etchings, woodcuts, pen and ink, oils, silver, gold, enamel, bronze and mosaics.

[7] Ross studied privately with Richard Rodier Rivron in the late 1940s, then attended life classes with Jon Molvig, Ian Reece and Roy Churcher.

[8] Mainly self-taught, using Max Meldrum's philosophy of tonal painting to execute portraits during the 1950s, Don Ross was soon Influenced by the work of English artists Ivon Hitchens and Victor Pasmore.

By 1962 much of his work was visually abstract, with the point of departure being "back in history or into space" where "anything new is still part of the old – Persian, Indian, Mexican, Peruvian and even the cave paintings which are as new as tomorrow".

[12] Entirely self taught, the skills he learned and used in his dental practice were the basis for his intricate work in gold, sterling silver and copper.

His jewellery is said to reflect 'a deliberate reference to historic styles and ancient symbolism, often earmarked by a gregarious theatrical whimsy, making use of enamels, casting and a variety of exotic dental alloys and porcelains'.

Jewellers and Metalsmiths Group of Australia, Mittagong, New South Wales, (1980),[13][10] touring in the same year to Japan, Hong Kong, Manila, and Seoul, and in April 1981 to the Queensland Art Gallery.