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Jamberoo Mountain Road

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JAMBEROO MOUNTAIN ROAD


JAMBEROO MOUNTAIN ROAD


GALLERY INTRODUCTION<br />

BRIDGET MACLEOD AND FIONA MCFADYEN<br />

There is something special<br />

about artist residency projects,<br />

and the exhibition <strong>Jamberoo</strong><br />

<strong>Mountain</strong> <strong>Road</strong> draws on that sense<br />

of excitement, wonder and shared<br />

experience. In the late 1970s artist Guy<br />

Warren and sculptor Bert Flugelman<br />

bought adjoining lots at <strong>Jamberoo</strong><br />

and the landscape provided a rich and<br />

constant source of inspiration from<br />

that point on. Following the death of<br />

Bert, Guy wanted to share the creative<br />

possibilities of “the rainforest, the<br />

mists and the magic of that particular<br />

piece of lush country,” and his new<br />

neighbour, Caroline Lawrence,<br />

generously opened her home for<br />

artists to stay in, continuing the legacy<br />

and extending the history of the<br />

Flugelman property.<br />

When Steve Lopes approached<br />

Shoalhaven Regional Gallery with<br />

information about the residency, the<br />

creation of works and the desire of<br />

the artists involved to exhibit in a<br />

way that told the story of this special<br />

project, we jumped at the opportunity<br />

to display such incredible works of<br />

our local area.<br />

We were lucky enough to visit the<br />

properties in January 2018, when<br />

photographer Riste Andrievski and<br />

artists Michelle Cawthorn, Steve<br />

Lopes, Euan Macleod, Peter Sharp,<br />

Luke Sciberras and Guy Warren were<br />

in residence. Gina Bruce, Ann Cape,<br />

Euan Macleod, Steve by river, <strong>Jamberoo</strong>, 2018, pastel on paper, 28 x 36 cm<br />

Paul Ryan and Ann Thomson had<br />

visited earlier, in late 2017. This was a<br />

fantastic experience as we were able<br />

to witness the artists’ engagement with<br />

the property and each other and be a<br />

part of the creation of the show from<br />

the beginning.


Seeing the way that each artist worked<br />

and what element of the landscape<br />

they chose to focus on was incredibly<br />

insightful. Some artists drew off the<br />

company of others, working in close<br />

proximity, talking and even painting<br />

each other. Other artists chose to<br />

venture further afield, explore on their<br />

own and find a unique area of the<br />

property to depict.<br />

The variety of individual interpretations<br />

is notable and makes for a diverse,<br />

interesting and exciting exhibition.<br />

Some sought out vistas, camping out<br />

on the balcony or climbing high for<br />

long views through to the coast. For<br />

others it was the close detail of the<br />

rainforest that captivated – vines, ferns,<br />

trunks and scrub depicted in lush tones.<br />

Others explored the local fauna– birds<br />

and beetles collected and captured in<br />

collage and charcoal. For Ann Thomson<br />

and Guy Warren, landscapes are<br />

intertwined with memories, impressions<br />

and ideas of place.<br />

This project could not have happened<br />

without the generosity of Guy<br />

Warren and Caroline Lawrence. Both<br />

welcomed us as openly and warmly as<br />

they did the artists, and for this we are<br />

very grateful, thank you.<br />

Thank you also to Steve Lopes for<br />

your wonderful organisational skills<br />

and help throughout the exhibition<br />

and catalogue planning, and to all of<br />

Guy Warren, <strong>Jamberoo</strong>, 1987, ink on paper, 25 x 33 cm<br />

the artists for welcoming us into your<br />

studios to select works and share your<br />

experiences. You were all a joy to<br />

work with and your enthusiasm for the<br />

project was infectious and reflected in<br />

the incredible works produced for this<br />

exhibition.


ESSAY<br />

GUY WARREN am<br />

This exhibition it is not so much<br />

about <strong>Jamberoo</strong> <strong>Mountain</strong><br />

<strong>Road</strong> itself as it is about the<br />

rainforest, the mists, and the magic of<br />

that particular piece of lush country<br />

which clings to the edge of the<br />

escarpment rising at the western end<br />

of the <strong>Jamberoo</strong> Valley. The visitor<br />

is first aware of this after leaving the<br />

fertile greenness of the farmlands<br />

in the valley and driving up the<br />

mountain road between walls of tree<br />

ferns and rainforest. The Illawarra<br />

coast was a source of inspiration for<br />

many of our early artists. Eugene<br />

von Guérard, Conrad Martens, WC<br />

Piguenit, A Henry Fullwood, Arthur<br />

Boyd and Lloyd Rees all come to mind<br />

among the many who have journeyed<br />

south of Sydney to experience and<br />

record their impressions of this<br />

area. I feel certain also that, long<br />

before European artists found it, the<br />

indigenous people must have made<br />

artefacts, records, marks of many<br />

kinds which referenced this particular<br />

country.<br />

One is never alone on those hills, in<br />

the gullies, in the forest. The land<br />

is full of memories, spirits, ghosts—<br />

whichever word suits you. Ghosts of<br />

the original inhabitants, of the early<br />

settlers, of the timber cutters. Walk<br />

through the forest on a dark night and<br />

you’ll meet them.<br />

I understand that in the early days<br />

of European settlement Hoddle, the<br />

government surveyor, together with<br />

a few convicts, established a packhorse<br />

track from the early farms on<br />

the highlands down to the coast<br />

which allowed farmers to get their<br />

produce to the Kiama harbour for<br />

onward movement to Sydney. The<br />

evidence of Hoddle’s Line of <strong>Road</strong> is<br />

still visible today running down the<br />

ridge from <strong>Jamberoo</strong> <strong>Mountain</strong>. To<br />

reach <strong>Jamberoo</strong> <strong>Mountain</strong> today all<br />

one needs to do is to drive up the<br />

<strong>Jamberoo</strong> <strong>Mountain</strong> <strong>Road</strong> or down<br />

from Robertson.<br />

Apart from the odd childhood<br />

memory of once visiting an uncle<br />

who managed the milk factory at<br />

Gerringong, my close association<br />

with the <strong>Jamberoo</strong> area began in the<br />

1970s, when I was working at the Tin<br />

Sheds, an informal art workshop at<br />

the University of Sydney. A friend and<br />

close colleague was the sculptor Bert<br />

Flugelman. We were both looking for<br />

a rural nest somewhere out of the city.<br />

I was seduced by the Hill End area but<br />

decided it was too far out of Sydney.<br />

Bert was looking south around the<br />

Illawarra area and found a block at<br />

the head of the <strong>Jamberoo</strong> valley, half<br />

way up the escarpment. Apparently<br />

a few drinks with the locals in the<br />

pub revealed another available<br />

block next to the one he’d already<br />

been offered. There was no vehicle<br />

access—the tracks established by<br />

the early timber cutters had long<br />

since been eroded and hidden by<br />

rain, fallen timber, massive trees, and<br />

exuberant rainforest. Eventually the<br />

old timber tracks were improved to<br />

the point where they could be used<br />

by a 4WD vehicle. In the meanwhile<br />

the bushwalk into the land was a great<br />

pleasure. Bert bought one block, I<br />

bought another, with neither of us<br />

being quite certain which was whose.<br />

That was decided one day in the<br />

middle of the forest by tossing a coin<br />

to determine who had first choice.


We both ended up happy. Since then<br />

that particular bit of bush has been a<br />

constant source of ideas, imagery and<br />

energy for both of us. For Bert, who<br />

by that time was head of sculpture at<br />

the University of Wollongong, it was<br />

also a permanent and conveniently<br />

situated home.<br />

Bert and his wife Rosemary built a<br />

house on a small ridge in the middle<br />

of the forest. My wife and I together<br />

built a simple shed on our block with<br />

the intention of later building a small<br />

live-in studio nearby capable of being<br />

worked in for short periods. Sadly<br />

this never came about when the local<br />

council announced a ban on any<br />

further building on the escarpment.<br />

Bert and I had often talked of inviting<br />

other artists, even briefly, to share the<br />

creative possibilities offered there.<br />

Sadly again, this didn’t happen until<br />

this year when the present owner<br />

of the Flugelman house, Caroline<br />

Lawrence, herself a sculptor and an<br />

enthusiastic lover of that area, offered<br />

to make her house available for that<br />

purpose. In several groups of four<br />

or five they came, they worked, and<br />

with this exhibition they present the<br />

results of their vision and reaction<br />

to the rainforest escarpment.<br />

While my own works are inevitably<br />

influenced by 40-odd years of close<br />

association with the land and with<br />

memories, many of these artists had<br />

not previously experienced this kind<br />

of country. Despite the long and<br />

still thriving tradition of landscape<br />

painting in Australia there is not a<br />

long history of artists working with<br />

the rainforest, with a few notable<br />

exceptions. The romance of the red<br />

heart and the gumtree have seduced<br />

the majority of artists and sent them<br />

inland or to the coast. Maybe they<br />

found it difficult to cope with leeches.<br />

This indeed might be the first time<br />

that a disparate group of artists have<br />

set out deliberately to capture what<br />

they see as the essence of this area.<br />

Now in this exhibition a group of<br />

artists of different ages and interests<br />

and backgrounds, having wound<br />

their way through the tree ferns of<br />

the <strong>Jamberoo</strong> <strong>Mountain</strong> <strong>Road</strong> (or<br />

reached it via Robertson), offer their<br />

reactions to this very beautiful part of<br />

the very beautiful Illawarra coast. A<br />

vote of thanks must be given to all the<br />

artists for their contributions, to Steve<br />

Lopes for his help and organisational<br />

skills and to the Shoalhaven Regional<br />

Gallery for offering to mount the<br />

exhibition. And a very special thunder<br />

of thanks should be given to Caroline<br />

Lawrence for her generous help with<br />

accommodation and her warm and<br />

enthusiastic co-operation.<br />

April 2018


RISTE ANDRIEVSKI<br />

A<br />

reconnection from 20 years<br />

past. As an art student we<br />

visited Guy Warrens and Bert<br />

Flugelman’s property as an art project<br />

to inspire us with our future art. 20<br />

Years later having the opportunity to<br />

revisit and reinvigorate the creative<br />

spirit. It was an inspiring opportunity<br />

to have that creative energy<br />

surrounded by artists that drew<br />

from an environment and land that<br />

provided a creative feed for artists.<br />

Photographing each artist that I met<br />

at the property was to document the<br />

process and energy that was present.<br />

Robert Malherbe, Riste, 2017, ink on paper


GINA BRUCE<br />

Painting outside in the landscape<br />

involves managing the elements<br />

as well as the painting process.<br />

The sudden gust of wind, or an<br />

approaching storm, and the race<br />

against the fading light, adds to the<br />

excitement. The moving clouds are<br />

so beautiful, but you have to be quick<br />

to capture them; the subject you are<br />

looking at is forever changing.<br />

Working alongside other artists on<br />

this <strong>Jamberoo</strong> <strong>Mountain</strong> <strong>Road</strong> project,<br />

was a great experience.<br />

I had never met many of the other<br />

artists before. I found the whole<br />

group to be inspiring in their stamina,<br />

work ethic, and generous spirit;<br />

both genders, across a broad age<br />

range from 39 - 95 years old. The<br />

conversations at mealtimes, enhanced<br />

by sketching each other, was lively.<br />

The hospitality of Caroline, the owner<br />

of the property was so generous.<br />

Walking through the forest, Caroline<br />

introduced me to the wide variety of<br />

fungi that she explained holds the<br />

whole rainforest eco-system together.<br />

The rainforest reminded me of up<br />

near Minyon Falls in the Northern<br />

Rivers area NSW where I lived for a<br />

while. The colours, smells, sounds,<br />

light, filling all your senses. One<br />

morning I enjoyed working up at Guys<br />

studio, a higher vantage point looking<br />

out and down into the valley through<br />

the trees.<br />

I started with drawings in my<br />

sketchbook, then moved to<br />

watercolours on paper, looking to<br />

capture the light, the colours, the<br />

space and feeling of this special<br />

place. I then moved to acrylic on<br />

pieces of cut polyester, then to<br />

larger boards. The 2 larger boards<br />

I continued on back at home in my<br />

studio.<br />

I would like to thank; Guy Warren and<br />

Steve Lopes for including me in this<br />

project, Caroline Lawrence for hosting<br />

me at her house, and the Shoalhaven<br />

Regional Gallery for their efforts in<br />

curating this exhibition. It was such<br />

a great pleasure and honour to work<br />

with all the artists on this project.


Green-Grey-Blue, watercolour, 50 x 34 cm<br />

Green Light, acrylic on polyester, 60 x 27 cm


Rainforest-tree-cloud, acrylic on board, 150 x 60 cm<br />

Tree-trunks and hut, watercolour, 50 x 17 cm


ANN CAPE<br />

When I visited <strong>Jamberoo</strong> it<br />

was in autumn, the weather<br />

was mild, but the rain<br />

continuous. We were mostly confined<br />

to painting from Caroline’s house on<br />

the vast veranda surrounding the<br />

structure created by Bert Flugelman.<br />

I was confronted by a wall of verdant<br />

green, looking down the steep slope<br />

to the valley and the base of massive<br />

trees that towered up above us. Mist<br />

clung to the hillsides and wafted past<br />

a hardly discernible distant view of the<br />

ocean and coastal plain below.<br />

This was an unfamiliar landscape for<br />

me, having mostly worked with an<br />

earthy palette of open spaces, or with<br />

the figure. This was up close, dense<br />

and textured with lots of leeches!


<strong>Mountain</strong> in the morning mist, 2018, oil on linen, 76 x 76 cm


From the verandah in the rain 1, 2018, oil on canvas, 76 x 76 cm<br />

Into the rainforest, 2018, oil on canvas, 76 x 76 cm<br />

Guy in his shed, <strong>Jamberoo</strong>, 2018, oil on canvas, 76 x 76 cm<br />

From the verandah in the rain 2, 2018, Oil on Canvas, 76 x 76 cm


MICHELLE CAWTHORN<br />

CAROLINE’S BIRDS<br />

When I was 10, my parents<br />

moved us from Sydney’s<br />

Sutherland Shire to Nowra<br />

on the South Coast of NSW. We<br />

lived in Cambewarra where we were<br />

skirted by the Shoalhaven River to<br />

one side and Cambewarra <strong>Mountain</strong><br />

on the other. I travelled over this<br />

mountain each day to attend high<br />

school, winding up and down through<br />

rainforest undergrowth.<br />

Sometime before we made our way to<br />

our host Caroline Lawrence’s home on<br />

<strong>Jamberoo</strong> <strong>Mountain</strong> for this project, I<br />

began to consider the approach that<br />

I would take when responding to the<br />

landscape, a place I suspected might<br />

seem very familiar to me because of<br />

my childhood experience, and yet not.<br />

My practice is concerned with memory<br />

and how it might be expressed visually,<br />

so my first thought was drawing. I<br />

reminisced on the experience of<br />

being in the bush and rainforest, which<br />

always echoed with bird song, and I<br />

decided that birds should somehow<br />

feature in my response.<br />

As serendipity would have it,<br />

when I was discussing my ideas<br />

with Caroline and enquiring as to<br />

whether she had any information<br />

on the birds in her locale, she<br />

pointed me towards her library<br />

where there were a number of<br />

relevant books. Tucked away on<br />

one of her shelves was a beautiful<br />

set of cloth bound books titled, ‘A<br />

History of British Birds’ by Rev F O<br />

Morris, published sometime in the<br />

1850’s or 1860’s. Caroline was born<br />

and raised in England and settled<br />

in Australia in her late 20’s. When<br />

her father passed she inherited the<br />

entire 8 volumes, each filled with<br />

detailed engravings of the birds<br />

of her homeland. Immediately I<br />

knew I had my project. I decided<br />

to weave Caroline into the history<br />

of the former property of the late<br />

Bert Flugelman, a place she now<br />

considers herself ‘caretaker’ of; and<br />

combine her birds with Australian<br />

birds, both those found in the area<br />

and ones she may have encountered<br />

on her travels around Australia.<br />

I asked Caroline to go through all 8<br />

volumes and to choose 20 images<br />

that she particularly remembered from<br />

her childhood. I combined those with<br />

watercolour images of Australian birds<br />

that I had collected over time. The<br />

result is Caroline’s Birds.


Caroline’s Birds (1), 2018, watercolour and collage on Hahnemühle paper, 34 x 34 cm


Caroline’s Birds (2), 2018, watercolour and collage<br />

on Hahnemühle paper, 30 x 25.5 cm<br />

Caroline’s Birds (4), 2018, Watercolour and collage on Hahnemühle paper, 21 x 15 cm<br />

Caroline’s Birds (5), 2018, watercolour, collage and acrylic<br />

on Hahnemühle paper, 36 x 35.5 cm


STEVE LOPES<br />

<strong>Jamberoo</strong> is such a unique place<br />

for an artist. At first glance it can<br />

seem visually inhibiting with such<br />

an envelopment of trees. On closer<br />

inspection and investigation, I came<br />

away with a real excitement about the<br />

area and a better understanding of<br />

the rainforest and its hidden beauty.<br />

On my first painting trip there, 5<br />

days of pouring rain wasn’t enough<br />

to dampen our creative energies, in<br />

fact we were all hemmed in painting<br />

together and had to really search<br />

hard to make good pictures. This<br />

allowed us to analyse the depth of<br />

colours and points of interest in the<br />

surrounding rainforest at a slow pace.<br />

On my second trip it was completely<br />

different with days of sunshine<br />

and the chance to really explore<br />

outdoors and paint the prehistoric<br />

plant life, and unfamiliar precious<br />

landscape that one can easily take<br />

for granted. It felt special to be in that<br />

undergrowth, painting with friends,<br />

especially amongst the hospitality of<br />

its caretakers Caroline Lawrence and<br />

Guy Warren.


Creek Bed Study, 2018, oil on canvas, 90 x 90cm


Undergrowth Study, 2018, oil on board, 50 x 90cm<br />

Coast View and Rainforest, oil on board, 45 x 45cm<br />

Rainforest Study - afternoon south view, 2017, oil on board 50 x 50 cm


EUAN MACLEOD<br />

Landscape artists seem to be<br />

attracted to a certain type of<br />

landscape. Possibly it reflects<br />

something of their inner world,<br />

or maybe they love the visual<br />

possibilities. When I think of Guy’s<br />

work I think of rainforest and his<br />

mastery of an environment I would<br />

find the hardest to try and paint. I<br />

love the bare hills that expose their<br />

structure. I find vegetation hides what<br />

it is that I love to paint.<br />

Guy has talked about his shack in the<br />

<strong>Jamberoo</strong> bush for ages and about<br />

getting people up to the place that<br />

has meant so much to him for so long.<br />

I see this sharing of your ‘special<br />

place’ as an incredibly generous act<br />

and the camaraderie is what attracted<br />

me to be one of the artists involved,<br />

rather than the actual landscape.<br />

It’s always fascinating to see how<br />

different people respond to the same<br />

place - what they bring, and what they<br />

take away.<br />

Thank you Guy and also thank you to<br />

Caroline who put us all up and was<br />

so hospitable when we were there.


<strong>Jamberoo</strong> <strong>Mountain</strong> <strong>Road</strong> Study, 2018,<br />

oil on polyester, 38 x 51 cm<br />

<strong>Jamberoo</strong> Bush (with rock), 2018, oil on<br />

polyester, 53 x 66 cm<br />

Steve Painting, <strong>Jamberoo</strong> (with red hat),<br />

2018, oil on polyester, 53 x 66 cm


<strong>Jamberoo</strong> <strong>Mountain</strong> <strong>Road</strong>, 2018, oil on polyester, 53 x 66 cm


ROBERT MALHERBE<br />

“ Mind the leeches.” This was<br />

one of the first things said<br />

to me by Master printer Tom<br />

Goulder as we drove into Caroline<br />

Lawrence’s property built within a<br />

beautiful rain forest in <strong>Jamberoo</strong>.<br />

I was to stay there for four days to<br />

paint in the open air with fellow artists<br />

Guy Warren, Steve Lopes, Gina Bruce,<br />

Anne Cape, Ann Thompson and Paul<br />

Ryan to name a few. Unfortunately<br />

it rained most of the four days and I<br />

had to do my best with painting still<br />

lives and when the clouds eventually<br />

broke the magnificent view from<br />

the veranda. I became somewhat<br />

obsessed with the view from the<br />

veranda and feel I could still paint it<br />

over and over again.<br />

I have fond memories of Caroline’s<br />

elegance and generous hospitality,<br />

her wonderful dinners and delicious<br />

coffees. Not to mention Guy Warren’s<br />

dinner table wit and art world banter<br />

that kept us all entertained.


Untitled 3, 2017, mixed<br />

media on card, 28 x 21.5 cm<br />

Untitled 4, 2017, mixed media<br />

on card, 28 x 21.5 cm<br />

<strong>Jamberoo</strong> Landscape 2, 2017, oil on board, 50 x 40 cm


<strong>Jamberoo</strong> Landscape 4, 2017, oil on linen, 61 x 51 cm<br />

<strong>Jamberoo</strong> Landscape 3, 2017, oil on board, 50 x 40 cm


MAX MILLER<br />

themselves - even rocks, trees and<br />

all things.<br />

I was told in an art lecture, long ago,<br />

that glass is a liquid and moves slowly<br />

as do all things, even earth and rocks<br />

are always changing.<br />

Nothing is more moving than to camp<br />

under the stars and watch trees<br />

moving. Hear the activity of night<br />

noises and observe the Milky Way and<br />

see shooting stars etc.<br />

One has to have a respect for all life<br />

forms.<br />

Max Miller 2009<br />

I<br />

love the detail of the microcosm<br />

and its intrinsic relationship with the<br />

universe and life’s spirituality therein.<br />

Also its relationship to human kind,<br />

which I consider is no more important<br />

than life forms around it.<br />

The aboriginal people understand<br />

everything as having life and spirit,<br />

in as far as seeing themselves<br />

related as totems and dreamings of<br />

While Max Miller attended the 2017<br />

residency, the works included in <strong>Jamberoo</strong><br />

<strong>Mountain</strong> <strong>Road</strong> were produced between<br />

1993 and 2013. Miller has lived in the<br />

Southern Highlands and had a close<br />

relationship with the surrounding rainforest<br />

for a number of years. He has always been<br />

drawn to more intimate subjects, and while<br />

in the highlands tended to shy away from<br />

vistas and views and gravitate to the local<br />

rainforest, where he would often sit all day<br />

painting under the trees.


Native Figtree and Vines, 1993, watercolour on handmade paper, 51 x 66 cm<br />

Kangaroo Valley Escarpment, 1987, egg tempera on linen, 51 x 36.5 cm


Rainforest - Untitled, 1987, egg tempera on linen, 46.5 x 36 cm<br />

Landscape of special Environment of Significance - Southern Highlands, 2013, Diptych - watercolour on handmade paper, 61 x 103 cm


LUKE SCIBERRAS<br />

There are some studios in<br />

Australia that are unique in<br />

their genius loci - the spirit of<br />

place. The eyries perched on the<br />

escarpments of <strong>Jamberoo</strong> are two of<br />

them. Two studios constructed within<br />

a stones throw of each other, tended<br />

by kindred spirits and devotees of<br />

nature have held a magnetism for<br />

decades. An environment in which<br />

countless artworks, quiet thoughts<br />

and raucous dinners have floated<br />

through the trunks and vines.<br />

Perched between the footsteps of the<br />

southern highlands and the hinterland<br />

of the NSW south coast, <strong>Jamberoo</strong> is<br />

a floating, twisting, growing, decaying<br />

rainforest teaming with life. It seems<br />

to grow and crumble before ones<br />

very eyes, all the while the massive<br />

old growth tree trunks frame views<br />

glimpsed to the sparkling ocean in<br />

the hazy distance. It is no wonder that<br />

Guy Warren has been drawn to dream<br />

this place up in his own songlines for<br />

so many decades.<br />

The camaraderie among friends there<br />

now spans generations and crafts,<br />

and is bound by a shared love of the<br />

natural environment and a tremendous<br />

respect for each other’s work.


Along the jungle floor, <strong>Jamberoo</strong>, 2018, oil on board, 120 x 160 cm


Jungle boulder, <strong>Jamberoo</strong>, 2018, oil on board, 120 x 160 cm<br />

The competition for sunlight , <strong>Jamberoo</strong>, 2018, oil on board, 120 x 160 cm


PAUL RYAN<br />

In 1987 I commenced the Bachelor<br />

of Creative Arts at Wollongong<br />

University. My painting teacher was<br />

Bert Flugelman and meeting him was<br />

my first encounter with a professional<br />

practicing artist.<br />

Burt employed me and another<br />

student to work on his property in the<br />

rainforest on <strong>Jamberoo</strong> <strong>Mountain</strong>. He<br />

was in the process of building his new<br />

house and studio on site. We cut logs,<br />

dug holes and built a no dig veggie<br />

garden. I felt like a pioneer. A settler.<br />

Going back to the site more than<br />

thirty years later brought back<br />

vivid memories. This time I had the<br />

pleasure of meeting the new owner<br />

of the property and all the artists who<br />

had come to make works there.<br />

In the first week an east coast low<br />

descended on the coast. When I<br />

arrived in the morning there was<br />

brilliant sunshine and a few clouds<br />

building from the south. Within a few<br />

hours the rain was pelting down and<br />

did so for days.<br />

I managed to do a couple of small<br />

paint sketches. Months later I made<br />

the big painting in my studio. I painted<br />

it from memory. It is large dark and<br />

green with a muddy bush road<br />

winding out of the forest. It is painted<br />

with big brushes in crude raw brush<br />

strokes, more a painting of a memory<br />

of the place than an actual section of<br />

road.


The <strong>Road</strong> to Berts, 2018, oil on linen, 280 x 220 cm


<strong>Jamberoo</strong> <strong>Mountain</strong> Study, 2017, oil on linen, 81 x 71 cm


PETER SHARP<br />

I<br />

was lucky enough to have been<br />

taught by Guy Warren in 1987 at City<br />

Art Institute which is now the Faculty<br />

of Art and Design at UNSW, where I<br />

now teach.<br />

Guy was wonderful in that he didn’t<br />

tell me what to do but talked about<br />

life as an artist and what a wonderful<br />

example he still is.<br />

I was thrilled to be invited to the<br />

‘<strong>Jamberoo</strong>’ property that he shared<br />

with Bert Flugelman and spend time<br />

with him immersed in that rainforest<br />

escarpment.<br />

I just drew everything without any<br />

preconceptions and then made<br />

paintings from the fern drawings as if<br />

they were open ended plans.<br />

The paintings often end up abstracted<br />

but they come from real observation<br />

and recognition that is central to my<br />

practice.<br />

The drawings are never wasted as<br />

they end up as a visual catalogue of<br />

where I have been and the details that<br />

I have seen and this I believe gives<br />

a poetic summation of that specific<br />

rainforest area.


Fern Painting 3, oil and acrylic on<br />

linen board, 46 x 35 cm<br />

Fern Painting 2, oil and acrylic on<br />

linen board, 46 x 35 cm<br />

Fern Painting 1, oil and acrylic on linen board, 46 x 35 cm


Installation view of 48 rainforest drawings, charcoal on A4 and A5 paper


ANN THOMSON<br />

Filled with his drawings and works<br />

on paper, Guy Warren’s hut in the<br />

<strong>Jamberoo</strong> Rainforest is a living,<br />

moving thing, just as the vines fungi<br />

and leeches of the forest are moving<br />

around it.<br />

What a privilege for we artists to be<br />

invited there to paint and pay homage<br />

to Guy and his landscape.<br />

When I was there it rained and<br />

it rained. I loved working with<br />

water based paints in that watery<br />

atmosphere.


Water and Air Series Vase 2018, painting on on ceramic vase, 17 x 15 x 15 cm<br />

Water and Air Series Bowl 2018, painting<br />

on on ceramic bowl, 10 x 21.5 x 21.5 cm<br />

Rainforest II, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 56 x 71 cm<br />

Rainforest III, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 76 x 76 cm


GUY WARREN<br />

The paintings of mine in this<br />

exhibition all have their<br />

genesis in my long association<br />

with <strong>Jamberoo</strong> <strong>Mountain</strong> and the<br />

rainforest, and in particular with that<br />

small parcel of land which I own and<br />

on which my late wife and I built a<br />

small shed 40 years ago. On the<br />

eastern side of all the ridges and<br />

gullies of the escarpment which<br />

runs down the Illawarra coast, the<br />

clouds which roll in from the ocean<br />

are captured by the escarpment,<br />

drop as rain and form a perfect<br />

environment for rainforest. I happen<br />

to love rainforest -- I fell in love with<br />

it many years ago in Queensland<br />

and in New Guinea during the war.<br />

<strong>Mountain</strong>s and rainforest have<br />

fascinated me ever since. I also have<br />

childhood memories of uncles who<br />

lived in Gerringong and Austinmer<br />

and of surfing with my brother at<br />

Austinmer and of a crazy journey by<br />

canoe down the Shoalhaven River<br />

from near Goulburn to the coast at<br />

Nowra almost eighty years ago. And<br />

of course fond memories of working<br />

for several years with the University<br />

of Wollongong. So it does seem that<br />

the Illawarra Coast satisfies all my<br />

fantasies. These works of mine are<br />

about the shed (the so-called hut on<br />

the hill) and the memories and the<br />

fantasies and the good times.


Through the Mist to the Hut on the Hill, mixed media on canvas, 90 x 122 cm


Along the Track in the Mist, 2018, oil on acrylic on canvas, 90 x 120 cm


Hut on the Hill, with Memories, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 91 x 122 cm


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS<br />

<strong>Jamberoo</strong> <strong>Mountain</strong> <strong>Road</strong> was exhibited at Shoalhaven Regional Gallery Nowra from June 9 – August 4 2018.<br />

SRGN would like to thank the artists’<br />

representing galleries<br />

Art Atrium – Max Miller<br />

Defiance Gallery – Ann Thomson<br />

King Street Gallery on William –<br />

Guy Warren, Luke Sciberras<br />

Liverpool Street Gallery – Peter Sharp<br />

Michael Reid Gallery –<br />

Robert Malherbe<br />

.M Contemporary – Michelle Cawthorn<br />

Nanda\Hobbs – Paul Ryan<br />

Robin Gibson Gallery – Gina Bruce<br />

Stella Downer Fine Art – Steve Lopes<br />

Watters Gallery – Euan Macleod<br />

All images c. the artists<br />

Artwork Photography by<br />

Michel Brouet<br />

Sophie Cape<br />

Colin Husband<br />

Dana Rayson<br />

Peter Solness<br />

Tony Lopes<br />

Portrait Photography by<br />

Riste Andrevski<br />

Peter Sharp<br />

Michelle Cawthorn<br />

Design<br />

Kim Gregory<br />

Printing<br />

Hero Print<br />

Cover image Max Miller, Native Figtree<br />

and Vines, 1993, watercolour on<br />

handmade paper, 51 x 66 cm<br />

Shoalhaven Regional Gallery Nowra<br />

12 Berry Street, Nowra<br />

02 4429 5443<br />

www.shoalhavenregionalgallery.com.au<br />

ISBN 978-0-6483014-1-7


Featuring<br />

RISTE ANDRIEVSKI<br />

GINA BRUCE<br />

ANN CAPE<br />

MICHELLE CAWTHORN<br />

STEVE LOPES<br />

EUAN MACLEOD<br />

ROBERT MALHERBE<br />

MAX MILLER<br />

PAUL RYAN<br />

LUKE SCIBERRAS<br />

PETER SHARP<br />

ANN THOMSON<br />

GUY WARREN<br />

ISBN 978-0-6483014-1-7

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