Recently, cricket chaplain and Baptist minister Mark Tronson, has been dabbling in cricket art. The Well Being Australia chairman took up painting professionally in 1999 to cope will a serious stress related illness. He used art for his own personal respite and found that he was rather good at it.
As a direct result of his involvement with art, Mark was privileged to see the construction of the Basil Sellers Art Centre in Moruya, opened in 2003 by art collector Basil Sellers and internationally acclaimed artist John Hackwell.
In 2004 the $10,000 Basil Sellers Art Prize was created as an incentive for up and coming local artists to showcase their work. The competition is held biannually by the Eurobodalla Shire Council and will soon be open to artists in the five surrounding Shires.
By 2006 Mark Tronson's art skills had developed significantly. He relocated to Tweed Heads to establish the athlete respite facility, 'Basil Sellers Tweed'. Using his artistic skills, Mark visited the six Australian Institute of Sport Units in South East Queensland and worked on an artistic expression for each Unit.
In 2007 two of his paintings were presented to the AIS Men's and Women's Cricket Units, another was painted especially for Cricket Queensland, and a fourth for Allan Border as a thank you for his years of supporting his Cricket Ministry.
Another highlight for Mark was a piece he painted to celebrate the Australian Institute of Sport's 25th Anniversary. It was presented to the Australian Sports Commission CEO, and is still hanging in the AIS. Entitled 'Maturity', the painting philosophically depicts various shapes and forms of flowers with blossoms against a blue sky.
Mark's 'sporting art' has enabled him to cement his reputation as a key local artist. He has sold art works at various exhibitions in the Tweed and Coolangatta regions under the name 'Tronson du Coudray – the missionary painter'.
His latest cricket work, 'The Bigger Picture,' has been accepted by the new AIS Men's Cricket head coach, Greg Chappell. Its message?....those with a bigger picture convey broader insights.