Artist: Russ Cartledge
Artist: Kaylene Latimer
I’ve just come home from the annual Art Show in Creswick, about ten minutes from where I live. For a town with a population of just over 3,000, the quality and variety of art produced is impressive. I’ve sprinkled in just a small sample here, and at the end of my post. (And a huge thank you to these artists - I hope they don’t mind me spreading their talents around.)
My working life has been bookended with teaching art. It was only for the last four years before ‘retirement’ that I ended up doing it again, this time in a primary school. I loved encouraging kids to be brave, to turn their mistakes into something amazing, to be critical but not cruel in their self-assessment, and above all, to enjoy themselves. That was the aim at least - sometimes it worked, sometimes it crashed and burned.
A while back, one of my Grade 5 students, the beautiful and bolshy Crystal, asked me to explain why some artists were famous, and what made art valuable. This was a hard one to tackle late on a Thursday afternoon. We’d been looking at Van Gogh and as per usual, the kids wanted to know what each painting was worth. I’d been trying to boost their confidence in their creative abilities, but I could see I may have gone too far, particularly when some of them began to take notes!
We had a very spirited discussion about personal preference and the subtle difference between the intrinsic and dollar value of art. Funny for a bunch of young kids, but they were hard taskmasters and wanted answers.
I explained that in his lifetime, Van Gogh made practically nothing from his art - the gist of my message being that for him it was a very driven, tortured and solitary pursuit and only after his death was he appreciated by more than a small circle of family and friends. I wish I’d had access to this poignant clip from Dr Who at the time - please click on the link to view, but have a tissue handy.
Van Gogh comes back
Fast forward to these talented exhibiting artists from Creswick Art Show, who also were once inquisitive ten year olds, and in adulthood have generously shared with us themselves, and their interpretations of their worlds.
Value? Priceless!
Artist: Karen Garratt
Artist: Anne Van Beveren
Artist: Emma Grant