Nature Festival x Coorong Life “Paint the View” artist interview:

When you first entered the Nature Festival x Coorong Life collaboration for the Artist in Residency, what were you expecting — and what did you enjoy most about hosting the class?

I had just come off the back of a couple of weeks of painting a large mural in Naracoorte, so had returned to Adelaide, quickly packed, and drove back out to Coorong Life for the artist in residency. It was a whirlwind few days so I hadn’t had much time to form concrete expectations- only that I had admired the landscape through the content Kate was sharing on her account and was excited to immerse myself and see what that would bring about.

I remember stepping out onto the deck for the first time and just gasping at the view. The light and the colours hitting the water as the afternoon settled into dusk. Running a workshop with such a view was a pleasure; the light on the landscape was constantly evolving. Luckily the participants were just enamoured with the light show that the Coorong was giving as I was. People seemed to immediately sink in to a flow state and whilst we were all studying the same landscape, seemed to take their own unique perspectives of the view when painting their canvases.

After the workshop, what did a typical day look like for you during your residency at Coorong.Life?

I would say it was quite intuitive.. I wasn’t overtly strict with my routine as I was appreciating some downtime after a few weeks of intense mural painting. But I was really keen to explore the area and make the most of the time and space to create. Art journaling is a really important part of my process and I particularly love making small watercolour studies- especially exploring colours that are distinct to the region. The Coorong is such a unique landscape and I wanted to soak in all of the textures, patterns and colours so I found myself just being present in the space as much as possible.

But my overall day to day was quite relaxed. Most memorably, Kate and I walked out to needle island which is across the water from Coorong Life. There was something oddly satisfying about walking across the water, ankle-deep in mud and then exploring the island which felt largely untamed and wild. We had a shared love of yoga so I was able to incorporate that into my time away.

Now that some time has passed, what advice would you share with future participants stepping into this residency?

I think if I was to do the residency again, I would work on and design a small project to give myself direction for the time spent there. I also regret not taking my camera! The Iphone was okay but I would have loved to capture more of what I was seeing with a better camera.

If you had to choose three words to sum up your residency at Coorong.Life, what would they be?

Calming, grounding and awe-inspiring.

For more details on the Art Residency program at Coorong Life, visit https://coorong.life/pages/artist-residency