Smorgasboarder_23_Feb_2016-s

Far be it talking ill of Congo artist Brett Martin,
we are in absolute awe of his works that have
transformed peoples’ waste into stunning art
pieces. This is a man who together with his family
live their life left of centre and in doing so are
completely and utterly content.
One of life’s great pleasures is chatting with interesting people you
may not cross paths with in your normal day-to-day life. Through
conversation you feel a sense of enrichment, gaining a different
perspective on life, how they lead theirs and in turn how you can perhaps improve
yours. Now some may scoff that I am getting a bit too ‘deep and spiritual’ but it is
exactly how I felt following my interview with Brett Martin.
Born in Ballina, Brett grew up around Lennox Head and understandably developed
a deep love for surfing. Through his schooling years he discovered his other passion
in the field of art and in particular, painting and sculpture. He furthered his studies
in art at Southern Cross University finishing in 1997 and after a stint of travel
through South America in 1998, he and his partner Joel returned to Australia
settling in Congo on the far south coast of New South Wales in the Eurobodalla
Shire. Think south of Batemans Bay and Moruya and you are right in the heart of
God’s country, that’s the region.
Here Brett furthered his studies completing a Diploma of Education and when Joel
fell pregnant with their first child Asher, now fifteen years of age, he began work as
an arts teacher. Through the years he worked at various public and Catholic schools
and later with kids with handicaps, disabilities and troubled youths. His teaching
career saw the family move to Lightning Ridge in North-Western New South Wales
(near the Queensland border and a hell of a long way from the Coast). Brett picks up
the story.
“We moved out to Lightning Ridge when Joel was pregnant with our second child
Alex, she’s now 13. I was teaching in a composite school from kindergarden to year
12. Anyhow after Alex was born a bit of responsibility cloud came over me and I
thought we should get a home loan and all that sort of thing. You know, follow the
conventional path. That feeling didn’t last long though. About three weeks later it
came to a head and I thought, ‘Nah this is not for us.’ Joel and I decided we wanted
to be parents that could spend quality time with our kids; to raise them the way we
wanted to and not how they had to be in school or leave them sitting in front of the
TV because we were busy off at work. So we didn’t pursue the conventional path.
We were comfortable to step outside of the norm and do whatever we felt was best
for our family.
SUMMER 2016 | SMORGASBOARDER
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