A Border artist’s chance encounter with an elbow orchid has inspired the latest artwork covering The Cube Wodonga piano.
Stephanie Jakovac, who exhibits regularly and has won numerous awards for her artwork, had been searching for the native orchid for 11 years and thought it was “nowhere to be found”.
Her last exhibition at the National Botanic Gardens in Canberra, which finished in January, displayed 30 species of local native orchids but the elbow orchid was not included as there were none to be found until nine months ago.
“After 11 years of searching for it, I found it at Mount Buffalo during a secluded walk,” Ms Jakovac said.
“To my amazement, there it was at the base of a tree.”
Ms Jakovac had begun to lose hope of ever finding the orchid.
“It is not very common and it is hard to see due to its small size – it’s about 10cm tall and as thin as a needle,” she said.
“After I found it, I was thrilled and I started taking photos and sketching what I could see.”
Ms Jakovac had big plans for her find.
“I have painted the orchid on a large scale and now it’s going to be on The Cube piano,” she said.
“I am happy to be a part of this project and share this artwork with the public.
“When I come to The Cube I always like to look at the artwork on the piano and see who has created it.”
Ms Jakovac worked on painting the piano over three consecutive days.
The piano is available to play in the courtyard from 10am to 4pm Monday to Friday.
Ms Jakovac pictured at her last exhibition at the National Botanic Gardens in Canberra earlier this year.