Meeting the Creek

Well, I have started the residency at Darebin Parklands. quietly and gently is the way I will begin.

I was there for four hours, an hour of that was just setting in and being shown around by the Rangers.

For the rest of the time, I wandered down to the creek towards the stepping stones at the southern end of the park and took my camera and watercolours. I had decided to ease my way in with some watercolour painting of a few of my favorite spots during these beautiful sunny days.

Perhaps I was a bit overexcited to be doing this for real, or just a bit overwhelmed or ungrounded. I sat at this magic place, that I hold so clearly in my mind and I found I struggled to capture it, to see it all, to understand and take it in. I felt like one of my students, struggling to draw a still life for the first time, with so much information before me. I took my own advice and dived in, at first in pencil, then in watercolour I spent a long time on a piece which is still on complete, which annoyed me as much as I enjoyed it. I took a break and took my camera across the stepping stones (a treacherous business, if only in the mind) and took some good photos of the amazing layered rock formations.

Katie Roberts - work in progress - watercolour and creek water.

Perhaps that was the most satisfying part of the art-making, connecting with the rock itself, I am sure that these geological formations will be at the centre of some important work. Though there was also something resonant in the collecting of water, from the creek itself for my watercolour painting. 

I feel I could make work with the water and those rocks that will be far more profound then my dabblings today. After nearly two hours I resolved to revisit the watercolour again on Thursday upon my next visit, as I think the light will strong all week. Towards the end though I had the urge to do a quick ink work, focusing on the gesture and energy of the river itself.

The words 'Meeting the Creek' kept coming back to me, which is what I was struggling to do.

Katie Roberts 'Meeting the Creek' Ink and watercolour

In the end I feel I did manage to meet the creek a little in this fresher work and way of working.

But really this is the truth of the endeavor, to meet the creek, the land, listen to its stories and find my way through it by listening. This residency is about feeling the deep connection I have to this place, really tuning in to this relationship and letting the land and the creek speak through me, if it will.

A bit more background.

It seems that it has all happened so quickly from proposing to starting the residency, but in fact this idea has been brewing away inside me for years. It solidified last year when I held a one off outdoor art class there. I had planned this class to introduce my students to en plein air painting (outdoors) for November, thinking we would have fine weather. It turned out to be ten degrees with a hail storm, rain and wild wind. So I approached the wonderful Rangers of Darebin Parklands, who's work I had admired for so long and they generously allowed us to use the fabulous large portable as a classroom.

Then the idea about the residency really took shape and I started to write it up. It wasn't until March that I actually presented it, but the stars must have been aligned or some such, as they accepted it on the spot. Anyway, more on all that another day.

The journey begins.

Tomorrow I start my Artist Residency at Darebin Parklands near my home in Melbourne.

During the next nine months of this residency I will use this blog as a means to plan, document and share this body of work as it develops and the artistic journey I will undertake throughout this year.

A major focus of my artwork is our relationship to the environment, I often make large map-like artworks which explore this theme. During this residency I hope to create a body of works on paper that revel the layers of history in the environment around Darebin Creek and Parklands. This creek is a tributary of the Yarra River, which is at the centre of much of my work and the river around which Melbourne was built.

I have already begun this body of artwork with this piece above "Beneath Darebin Parklands" an indication of the work I hope to produce.

I am really delighted to embark on this project and feel very privileged to form this partnership with the Darebin Creek Management Committee and have access to their knowledge, resources and facilities.

Background

I am a professional artist living in Fairfield since aged nine. Darebin Creek has been an important feature of my artwork and life for many years, appearing in one of my first oil paintings. I feel a deep connection to this place and have visited the parklands for over thirty years, enjoying its transformation over this time.

The Yarra Series

In 2006 I started a long-term project to redocument the Yarra River, its history and environment. Over the next six years I created work following the whole length of the river and exhibited it as it progressed at various venues along the Yarra. In 2010 I held a major exhibition of this work at Montsalvat Barn Gallery in Eltham. I see this new body of work about Darebin Creek as an extension or chapter of this project.