art

Nina Lipscombe Art – ‘Witch’ Exhibition, Katoomba, March 2019

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Image courtesy of Nina Lipscombe Art

Interview with Nina Lipscombe, Katoomba (NSW)

Arriving in the Blue Mountains for a few days at short notice, I consulted the font of all knowledge on what was going on in most regions (Facebook Events), and it turned up an exhibition in Katoomba called ‘Witch’ by local artist Nina Lipscombe.

The paranormal, mythological, and mystical aren’t things that normally pique my interest, but increasingly, I’ll have a look at subject matter outside of normal interests.

I’m glad I did.

‘Witch’ is an intriguing exploration of themes that may not exactly leap off the promo flyer or internet page. Speaking of our friend social media, a comment on the event page led to an exchange with the artist Nina Lipscombe, and a few days later, we were sitting in the leather-padded comfort of the guest lounge at the Carrington Hotel.

Bill Quinn: Just for my background, can you tell me a bit about how you came to be involved in art.

Nina Lipscombe: It’s an interesting story, because I didn’t do it very much in high school. I was doing theatre and television, but right after high school, I decided to dabble in it.

So I bought a kit from Hobby Lobby! It was Bill Alexander; he was the original happy painter. He’s the one that actually taught Bob Ross, with the happy clouds and the trees and everything else.

I bought this oil painting video, went to my garage, started painting, and I fell in love with it.

From then on, I started to make acrylics, water colours – mostly oils still – and it just kind of evolved from there.

I didn’t really get too involved with the arts scene in Tennessee at the time. But later in 2011, I moved to Argentina, and it kind of thrived from there.

I had exhibitions, I did workshops, I had private classes with really amazing teachers there, and I took off.

BQ: When I think about art around the world, Argentina definitely is on that list. I’m gonna say that the Tennessee art scene is not one that immediately springs to mind. What was that like?

NL: Yeah, you’re right about that! I’m not 100% sure; I never got highly involved with it. They do have some good art galleries, and really good art has come from Memphis. But the art scene there compared to Argentina and compared to here in the Blue Mountains is not quite as big.

Image courtesy of Nina Lipscombe Art

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Karen Green Artist (Canberra) talks about art, social justice, and Grey Woman Matters, October 2016

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grey-woman-matters-2014-exhibition
Grey Matters Woman exhibition, 2014. Image reprinted by kind permission of Karen Green.

Audio of interview with Karen Green Artist also of Grey Matters Woman.

Karen Green talks with Bill Quinn of Overheard Productions about art, entering the Archibald Prize 2016, and expressing her passion for social justice through art and Twitter.

Karen Green first came to our attention via her art on display at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre.

Karen came into the studio with fellow artist Gosia Orzechowska one morning for a chat, and Overheard Productions has been interested in her works ever since.

*** Audio file will be removed by the end of March 2020 ***

*** Audio file will be removed by the end of March 2020 ***

In more recent times, Karen Green has been very active on Twitter, sharing thoughts, links and events about social justice. It was this interest that led to a chain of events that saw her enter a portrait of Kon Karapanagiotidis of the Melbourne-based Asylum Seekers Resource Centre in the 2016 Archibald Prize.

kon

Kon Karapanagiotidis by Karen Green.
Entry in 2016 Archibald Prize. Image courtesy of Karen Green. Continue reading →

Adam Maidens: miner, cockie and artist from Cobar, 2013

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Adam Maidens at Sprout Café in Dubbo
Adam Maidens at Sprout Café in Dubbo

Interview: Adam Maidens, Artist

This is Adam Maidens.

Adam is based in Cobar and is getting his fledgling art business off the ground. He creates the most amazing art and as you’ll hear, he uses a fairly unconventional ‘palette’ and ‘brushes’.

His scenes range from rural to Paris street-scapes to portraiture to musicians.

On a Friday about three weeks ago, I was having breakfast with a friend at Sprout Café in Dubbo. (Do yourself a massive favour; your taste-buds and wallet/purse/money-belt will thank you. If the accoutrements continue to talk with you, I suggest seeking professional assistance and possibly lay off the cinnamon.)

My position right at the back of the venue was not smart: all the sound of a happily busy breakfast crowd was washing my way like an uppity surf swell. I just about had my earphones plugged in to let The Clash take over noise delivery services when I heard the young barista talk with a man whose back was to me, and I heard these individual words: ‘my’ ‘art’ ‘shear’ ‘comb’.

My interest was more than piqued.

I put the earphones down, asked Joe, Mick, Topper and the other one…….Paul — to take five, and cautiously approached the speaker.

One hour and one pot of very good chai later, and all I wanted to do was to kill about another five pots of chai and talk through the day with Adam Maidens. But we had by that stage recorded this interview.

What a classic, classic guy.

1. Art. Check him out here: https://www.facebook.com/adammaidensart – Facebook page has since been removed. Adam’s new project is the Dudley Dog book(s) about a sausage dog who loves to travel.

2. Mining. Also covered in the interview: the guy works in an office. 600m+ underground.

3. Farming background. Born on the land and you should hear the world and political perspective that has given him. Maybe not what you’re thinking. Or maybe so.

4. Critical communication. If ever there was a role model for how to critically assess mass media, Adam Maidens is your man. We covered all this after I switched off the recorder, but you could purchase one of his creations or have something commissioned by Adam, if only to discuss media ownership and media content production with him.

What a breath of fresh air.

Meeting Adam came at precisely the right time. Coming towards the end of a fairly wild 12 days on the road, and starting to think about my future directions (geographical, career-wise, metaphorical). This meeting was made in heaven.

Thank you, Adam.

Check out Adam’s art and eloquent speechificationing:

*** Audio file will be removed by the end of February 2020 ***

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