Morgan Williams
Every community has its champions of art. Sometimes there’s just one, sometimes there are many. We are blessed with many in Hepburn. Last week one of our art elders passed. Trevor Williams was the brainchild behind Radius Art Gallery in Hepburn. He came from a linage of creatives, watching his father paint, draw and screen print and his mother design and construct clothes. You could say creativity was in his blood and art was always on his mind.
Trev was described in many ways; Beatnik, Hippy, SteamPunk, Eccentric, Radical, Alternative, Crazy Old Bugga, A Rebel Elder and many more. Having him as a father was never boring! To be in the presence of Trev meant you might be challenged, made to dive deeper, take risks, question things of the mind or even brainstorm a million of his creative ideas together. He loved to challenge himself and others around him. His desire to take risks and be subversive was a lifelong passion. If you were one of these people too, then he would actively seek you out. I see all these aspects as the core purpose of art in the 21st century.
Trevor and his life partner Stephany moved up from Melbourne to Ballarat in 2008 to open their first art gallery, B1. It was in Camp St, which ran for 7 years. B1 became a hub of exhibitions, events, music, group shows plus several for the Ballarat Foto Biennale. One of his favourite exhibitions there was Uberverse. This was a ground-breaking group show he curated where art from an online virtual world called “2nd Life” merged with art on the walls of B1, creating a hybrid of online / offline experience.
Trevor and Steph were very excited to join our Hepburn community 10 years ago and open Mingus Gallery. That name that came from his love of a jazz legend and our dead family cat! Over time, the gallery name changed to Radius Art, when Kim Percy and I stepped in. While running a gallery became a bit beyond him in recent years, he was always keen to see the latest shows and join all the events and exhibitions that he could. He never stopped creating and was in the middle of conceiving his next big show right up to the end. He was a big fan of Neoplasticism which grew out of the De Stijl movement and is typified by the artist Piet Mondrian which inspired his recent works. We will have some of these on display this weekend as part of a life celebration.
Trev passed in the early hours of 9th April 2025. There will be a memorial celebration of his life at Radius, 76 Main Road Hepburn Springs, on Saturday the 19th of April at 2pm.
Morgan Williams is the co-director with Kim Percy of Radius Art Space. His art practice spans a 30 year period and explores a diverse range of mediums and topics.
