Bundanon: 5. The full moon rising and more ...

We found ourselves out with the rising of the full moon over the Bundanon landscape, Doug Helsop was plein air thinking … and drawing too, I was in my rhythm of appreciating a wombat, this time following the moon.  Doug’s fully responding to and questioning this place on Wodi Wodi land, with its layered histories and linkages to the work of Arthur Boyd and Sidney Nolan too. He's sharing some honest and critical thought. You can check out some of Doug’s work through this link …
http://dougheslop.com/
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With some of the artists here, I have also headed to Arthur Boyd’s studio and into the Homestead, an incredible gift. Brushes still out you get a sense of its use just yesterday. Although I suspect it would have been a tad messier. To respond to Arthur Boyd’s vision and grow its legacy, Bundanon Trust have plans to build a new gallery and collection store, along with expanding the education facilities at Riversdale, the adjoining property.  We were treated to the Architects event, a conversation between the Architect, Kerstin Thompson and Carolyn Baum. I was won over by the plans and their connection to landscape, flood and fire and the existing Murutt Art Centre on site – a complimentary difference.

We too were treated to an immersion into the Bundanon Trust Collection by Collections Manager Jennifer Thompson. Gold, were her wealth of stories of and tangents from the artists and their works ... from Joy Hester to Arthur Boyd’s collaboration with Indra Deigan on the West Java legend of Sangkuriang. Sangkuiang clutched my interested, not only because of Jennifer’s retelling of Indra Deigan take and the Arthur Boyd’s depictions of its gripping narrative but also for my imaginations of there. I have just accepted a Professional Practicum in Indonesia for 2020 – more on that later. And generously Jennifer brought out some other Artists in Residence works who have responded to wombats in this place.  The poem by Chris Wallace-Crabbe of the Aesthetic Wombat, on the typed paper from when he was here in residence in 2002 was a decent find, just one of the archival treasures of this store.

Pictured here, we are in the Collection spying: Sidney Nolan, Head, 1983, spray paint on canvas. Bundanon Trust Collection.