Peter Finlay and Bruce Daniel yarn about the visual artist’s creative process and how memory can be used creatively.
Picture or painting? Representation or abstraction? From life or from imagination? These are the questions that recur when Peter Finlay talks about his artmaking.
Read More »Art and memory
I had the pleasure of attending the opening of Edwin Wilson’s latest (last, according to Edwin!) solo exhibition, Mullumbimby Revisited. The show was opened by SMH art critic John McDonald, who gave some really interesting perspectives. One thing is for sure – it will definitely be his last exhibition at Artarmon Galleries – the building is up for sale. It’s… Read More »Edwin Revisited
My brillant, beloved uncle, William Priest, passed away in 2006. Today is his 92nd birthday. Bill was the closest thing to a father-figure I ever had (my own father passed away when I was an infant). He was tall, smart, funny, loving and had a killer hand-shake – what more could a kid want?
Read More »Remembering Bill Priest
It seems a little hard to believe that I recently spent two hours with Edwin Wilson, septuagenarian painter and poet, talking at length about his life and art, wholly unaware that he carried with him a terminal cancer diagnosis.
Read More »Edwin Wilson Painter-Poet
About four years ago, portrait artist Dana Lundmark began playing with clay.
‘I’d had no training at all,’ she explains. ‘I was just sort of playing with blobs of clay. Pretty much straight away a human figure formed. I guess that happens a lot, do you think?’
I shrug my shoulders.
Read More »The Universe and Dana Lundmark
While this blog may at first seem a bit tangential to the matter of artistic expression, it’s actually pretty close to the core. We’re talking about living a life with enough space to step away from stress, let the mind roam free and bring imagination and creativity back into play – and without guilt. We’re talking about the problem of work. And who better to guide us than Bertrand Russell?
Read More »In praise of space
My first encounter with pianist David Miller was from the depths of the bass section of Sydney’s Taverner Consort of Voices in a suburban church hall in the early nineties.
He was attacking a torrid passage when one or two ivories – possibly stuck down specially for the occasion – came flying off the piano’s keys and clattered to the hardwood floor. But he was unfazed, leaning forward, eyes glued to the score, with a half-smile, equal parts concentration and joy. It was as though the disintegration of the piano was half-expected, almost necessary, in order to magnify the thrill.
Read More »David Miller – ensemble pianist
Waking in the wee hours with the feeling that I don’t really fit a human world whose agenda seems to have nothing to do with me, nor humanity. The phrase ‘lost boy’ comes to mind.
Read More »Laughing Boy
Read More »Musing on the material[Harmonious proportions] arouse, deep within us and beyond our sense, a resonance, a sort of sounding board which begins to vibrate. An indefinable trace of the Absolute which lies in the depth of our being. This sounding board which vibrates in us is our criterion of harmony. This is indeed the axis on which man is organised in perfect accord with nature and probably with the universe.
Le Corbusier
Artists turn up where you least expect them. They’re hiding under rocks. In this instance she was right next door, visiting her family, when we dropped in for a barbie (pre-COVID, of course).
Read More »Interview – Mary May Simpson
My solo exhibition Yunta Landscapes happened only four months ago, but it feels like another age. It’s as though we’ve all passed through the eye of a needle since then. Or a cyclone. Priorities upended. Only now does it feel like the dust is settling and we’re venturing out to survey the damage.
Read More »Yunta Landscapes revisited A few minutes into our conversation, Nate Gilkes gives me a solid-gold clue as to what drives his artmaking.
“I was playing second violin in the school orchestra. It was Shostakovich’s String Symphony. It was extremely dissonant, there were these long string sounds – the strings around me, my own violin, even the bow – the sounds went right into my body. Something awakened in me. I was emotional for days after.”
Read More »Interview – Nate Gilkes 
Welcome to Artists on Art— the space for conversations on creativity!
Launch day has arrived!
Artists On Art grew out of my interest in understanding how artists really tick. I am curious about what motivates artists to create day after day, and what they consider to be the source of their inspiration.
I want to get closer to the nub of how individuals approach creativity. What is it to be an artist? Why does it even matter?
Read More »Welcome to Artists On Art!