By Graham Davis
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PO
Gavin Stevens admires the brush work of painter Jan Williamson.
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Photo:
POPH Bill McBride
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Petty
Officer clearance diver Gavin Stevens, a veteran of two Gulf Wars,
has a $9,600 price on his head in the nicest sense of the term.
Soon after returning home as member of Clearance Diving Team Three,
the unit which did yeoman service locating and clearing mines
in the northern end of The Gulf, Gavin was invited by the newly
formed non-profit Portrait Artists Australia, to have his portrait
painted.
Assistant Surgeon General, Brigadier Brian Pezzutti, a doctor
who has served in Rwanda, East Timor and Bougainville, was also
invited to sit.
North Shore artist Jan Williamson painted Gavin while Paul Newton
painted BRIG Pezzutti.
The completed portraits then became auction items for the organisation’s
inaugural “Faces of Charity” fundraising
dinner held in September at the Art House Hotel in Sydney.
During spirited bidding, PO Stevens’s portrait sold for $9,600
and BRIG Pezzutti’s for $20,000.
The proceeds will go to Legacy soon.
