editorial and advertisement spreads in fashion magazines of the day. For example, he was commissioned to illustrate the re-publications of Australian classic children’s stories, such as We of the Never, Never and Clancy of the Overflow by Australian poet Banjo Patterson (Angus & Robertson (1987, 1989 & 1990). For this kind of work, he received a coveted award from publisher Random House for Outstanding Cover in 1999. Following this success, publisher Hodder Headline enlisted Ploeg to illustrate the cover jackets for seven books of Geoffrey McSkimming’s children’s adventure series Cairo Jim (1996). Theatre Work In addition to his regular portraiture commissions, Ploeg has for the past decade been involved with Australian arts and social change company Big hART Inc., which conducts large-scale, long-term community development projects. In September 2010, he joined the cast of their highly acclaimed Namatjira production at Sydney’s premier Belvoir Street Theatre, which relates the biographical story of late Western Aranda watercolor painter Albert (Elea) Namatjira (1902–59). Ploeg was painting lead actor Trevor Jamieson’s portrait while he was performing his role live on stage, retelling the story of one of Australia’s most famous Indigenous artists. Over the season and its subsequent national tour (2012), Ploeg completed eight paintings, which were exhibited and sold at the Adelaide State Gallery & Museum together with other visual art created in the context of Big hART’s project. Ploeg’s association with the company has continued beyond the Namatjira Project, with him participating also in creative developments of their Yijala Yala Project in the Pilbara communities of Western Australia (since 2011) and in their seafaring project Blue Angel, which saw him spent a seven-day residency onboard the oil tanker British Loyalty in 2014, painting crew members on their way from Sydney to Brisbane. Those works were first exhibited in the 2015 Tasmanian 10 Days on the Island Festival as part of a site-specific theatre production in Hobart’s Astor Hotel, with a subsequent presentation having occurred at the Wooden Boat Festival at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney on board the tall ship James Craig in 2016. In between these engagements with Big hART, Ploeg was also invited to sketch a live portrait of actor Kurt Sutton while performing in the play An Evening with Mark Twain at Elm Street Theatre in Woodstock (Atlanta, USA) in 2013. Recognition, Honors and Awards Internationally, Ploeg has had a long involvement with the Portrait Society of