Do you want to make significant art? How do you do that with jobs, family and other commitments?
Here’s the story of how I determined what creating significant art meant to me.
Todd's auction house
What a grand show on display at Todd’s Auction House at the Rialto building on Don Street in Invercargill in Southland, New Zealand!
Bill Todd and company had all sorts of second hand goods from deceased estates on the auction block ready to sell to an enthusiastic crowd of bidders and onlookers. I was there to gather inspiration for a painting I would soon embark upon called “All The World’s A Stage”.
Discovery before the show
Before the theatrics of the show began, I browsed through the collection of goods on offer. One in particular caught my attention. It was a local landscape by an artist unknown to me. Soon I found several other paintings by the same woman. It seemed the works were a part of her estate. They would be soon on the block. I gasped silently! Would my own family consider my works worthy of hanging on to? I revisited the Rialto a few weeks later. The paintings were still there.
significant art to me
That encounter prompted a life-changing decision: I would endeavour to create work that my family, and hopefully others, would consider worthy of holding onto after my dash on Earth is done.
This was certainly a lofty goal in the harsh light of the reality of raising and blending two families…of creating art around life in 2005. Check out my last blogpost and video below.
how that looks in practice
I wanted my determination to be evident in my 2006 solo show, Noble People Treasured Land, at Anderson Park, which celebrated 150 years of Southland. Have a look at that exhibition by clicking the link.
I was still thinking transcendence when I approached Bob Martin at his art gallery in Gore. I wanted to paint a series for his gallery using Hubble images I had discovered as inspiration. He gave me an enthusiastic go ahead.
So, how did I manage to create my show, Ephemeral Perception, midst the hectic life of raising three teenagers and caring for two university students? Watch the video below to find out.
