In 1962, an aspiring Queensland artist, Joy Roggenkamp, sent one of her pictures to the NSW State Gallery as an entry into the then Wynne Watercolour Prize. Such was the response to Joy’s painting that when she met Sir Lionel Lindsay, a trustee of the gallery, to collect her prize she received universal praise and congratulations. Sir Lionel even told her, “You are the best watercolour painter in Australia and the prize is a fitting reward.”
When the gallery introduced the Pring Prize for Women for the best watercolour in Australia, Joy won twice. She declined to enter for a third time because “she didn’t want to be greedy”. Born in Roma, Joy has been named as the most influential water colour artist in Brisbane in the 1960s and 70s and achieved a distinguished and long-standing career of more than 50 years in her beloved medium of watercolours.
In 1997 she was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in recognition of her own artistic talents and for the support she gave to her local community in judging numerous art competitions.
Joy sadly passed away in November 1999 at the age of 71.
