Phillip Cheaffey - Seeds of hope

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Phillip Cheaffey was born in Sydney in 1950. As a boy he loved to draw and paint as well as model small sculptures with clay dug out of the ground.

Phillip studied art in high school, taking 1st level art for the higher school certificate in 1968. The following year he completed the first year of the Graphic Design Diploma at technical college then the Ceramics Certificate at East Sydney Tech, (1972-73). Pottery had remained as a hobby particularly since 1997 when he set up his own workshop at home with the attainment of the Diploma of Visual Art in 2014.

Seeds of Hope oil on canvas depicts images of seeds being sown over time, a basic need of humans to be connected to the soil. The montage of figures from the past merging with children planting seeds in the present day expresses the desire to see more young people involved with planting and growing food domestically. The setting is Western Sydney, St Marys, and Mamre House under the watchful gaze of Samuel Marsden. The rainbow expresses hope and was once the symbol of the nuns who lived at Mamre in the past.

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