Morgan Williams
Visual artistic creations happen mostly as a solo endeavour. The individual artist toiling away in their studio day or night, labouring over their creative ideas even has a romantic connotation. Secretly producing their work and then revealing it to the world with little input from others can really build anticipation for the creative and their audience too.
At art school however, we are often creating in a group environment. The luxury of a solo studio maybe elusive for years. Life drawing classes inevitably happen in a group setting too, everyone responding to the same visual input but often with vastly different responses. For me that’s the most exciting aspect of the creative process – how diverse responses can be to the same inputs. For the past few years, I have given my first-year design students the same assignment, to create a mandala embedded with their own values. With a new cohort every semester I’ve already seen a couple of hundred mandalas. No two are ever the same. How could they be?
The excitement of different artists response to the same stimuli has become a popular genre. So much so that ABC TV launched a new show this month: “Portrait Artist of the Year”. Each week 9 artists paint portraits of 3 famous Australians. The results are always so different and the environment in stark contrast to the tortured artist working away solo in their studios. Personally I’m not sure I could stand all that pressure!
Of course, we are creative leaders here in the Central Highlands and the idea of collective response art is nothing new to us. For the past 3 years a group exhibition called “Wide Open Road” has seen a collection of artists travel to an outback location to allow their creativity to flow together. This year the expedition saw local artists Phillip Edwards, Michael Lelliott, Peter Gebralder and Samantha Newstead take to the road.
Their destination was the Gammon Ranges, a rugged desert location in South Australia, for 8 days of discovery and raw adventure. With a small camp site as their base, their days were spent contemplating the surroundings and responding to the harsh reality of their shared environment via brush and pen. I had a chat to everyone while hanging their show last week. When asked what the most memorable aspect of the experience was, they all responded “The Storm”. On day 3 a vicious dessert storm rolled in smashing the campsite and pushing everyone to their limits.
“It was such an immense spectacle. I was suddenly aware of our extreme isolation and vulnerability. Being plunged into danger made my whole perspective change. I realised everywhere I looked there was a new painting. How do I capture all this? The enormity of it all,” reflected Sam.
That was the macro experience. A shared event creating an elevation of fear while at the same time uniting everyone and their work via adversity and a new fresh perspective. On the micro level Phil discovered the Wormy Mallee Root which features heavily in his work. Phil’s approach was to go on big hikes each day, chancing on endless mini gorges and a never-ending array of scenes to draw upon.
Mike found working in a group setting exhilarating. “All the different interpretations and expressions were amazing. Being forced into an environment to work and talk and live together, outside of our own little artistic ghettos added a new dimension to the experience for me that wouldn’t be there otherwise”.
Everyone spoke of difficulties, but isn’t overcoming adversity part of the challenge? ‘What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger’ and all that! So often art communicates a tension which adds to its richness and the connection we have when experiencing it.
Peter left feeling that the land will always win. He came across abandoned homesteads and began to realise that the storm was so necessary as it also brings life: “Instantly flowers started to appear. I became aware of the transient nature of our human inputs and that the power of nature will continue long after we are gone”.
“Wide Open Road” is our last exhibition at Radius for 2025. It is a mesmerising group response expressing raw fear and intense beauty within the context of a uniquely Australian landscape. While the works are all individual, you are bound to notice a strong sense of the collective experience when you visit, which is for me what makes this show truly unique. The works pictured above are part of a silent auction and there will be an artist talk on the 29th of November. Oh, and what a perfect seasonal gift, a bit of Aussie art by a local creative!
Do yourself a favour and pop down for a look before 20th Dec. We are open Thursday to Sunday, 10-4 for the duration.
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.
