Pittwater Life February 2018 Issue

Art Life
Art Life
Quilters are ‘Touching Stars’
The Avalon Quilters are presenting their 2018 Exhibition of
Members Works at Avalon Uniting Church in Bellevue Avenue
on the weekend of March 9-10.
The group will be raffling a special 1930s vintage quilt,
‘Touching Stars’ (pictured) – with all proceeds donated to the
Australian Mitochondrial Disease Foundation.
As well as an extensive display of hand-made quilts, attendees
will have the opportunity to purchase from a vast array of
exquisite hand-crafted goods.
The exhibition is open from 9am-5pm; entry $5. More
info call Anne Perry 0401 335 737.
Cubist influence
really fits the Bill
Palm Beach-based artist Bill
Chamberlain has enjoyed the
artistic journey that has taken
him from absorbing the harsh
dark shapes and character of
the inner city to the fresh local
landscape.
With a background steeped in
art – his father was a finalist in
the Wynne and Archibald Prizes
and his uncle an illustrator in
London – Bill enrolled at the
Julian Ashton Art School where
he studied for five years.
“This school, using classical
teaching methods, provided
an essential grounding in the
fundamentals of drawing and
painting without which any
form of creative expression is
problematical,” Bill said.
Bill’s first influences were
the cubists and the painters of
Sydney’s old inner city suburbs,
including Surry Hills, where he
lived for a time.
“I started exhibiting, mainly
painting inner city scenes,”
he said (example pictured). “I
branched out into figurative
work and take my inspiration
now from the local Pittwater
environment.
“Colour is most important
to me, but it must be used in
a refined and gradated way,”
he explained. “Learning to mix
paint properly and to reproduce
tone are a great legacy of the
Julian Ashton… but like learning
a musical instrument, it takes a
long time to get that touch.”
Bill has had a varied working
life – originally in the legal industry,
he also trained as a chef
and has a diploma in hospitality
management.
“All this time I painted, moving
into different medias like
gouache and ink, alongside my
favourite, oil. Then in 2013, I
was a finalist in the Gallipoli Art
Prize.”
Bill recently decided to
include business acumen into
the mix. “I decided I needed an
image for my art, so I designed
a logo and registered my business
name ‘Savannah Studios’.”
He intends to evolve his art
even more.
“I have found you have to
be curious about other artists,
whether it’s the Australian impressionists,
or the French moderns…
look at every possible art
book and exhibition and maybe
one day something of what you
have seen might come out in
your own work.” – Nigel Wall
40 FEBRUARY 2018
The Local Voice Since 1991