This story really begins when I was at school. A sixteen year old that thought that life was easy and anything could be achieved effortlessly. I thought that I could easily follow the advice of those older and wiser and become say an accountant or something. So naive. This is about the time when my Mum gave me a magazine article which she had removed from a magazine in a doctors waiting room. It was about an old man, 96 I think, who had spent his life creating an amazing place which is now called the William Ricketts Sanctuary. He was a potter, sculptor, artist, philosopher and visionary. His garden is divinely beautiful. And his story – inspirational. I really liked these pages and so I kept them with my important documents like birth certificate and resume. The strange thing was every time I went for an interview, I would rediscover the pages and give them another read. I would dream of one day creating something beautiful myself. The magazine showed me an example of a life worth living. Something about it I just couldn’t ignore. Ironically I did study accounting but the more I went for jobs, each time reading the article, the more I realized I wanted to be something else. It felt like almost the opposite, and inevitably my life changed direction. I threw myself into art with the ambition of one day creating something beautiful.
I studied and practiced art for quite some time and then set out on a journey, to live, paint and travel. No real plan just seeing where fate would take me. I was a bit eratic. One day painting old desert ruins out near Broken Hill. Then, making a detour that found me on the south coast of NSW heading to the East Gippsland area in Victoria. Here I met two guys. A father and son. They were having a break, doing a bit of travelling, fishing but mainly chatting with anyone they could about anything that randomly came up. They got on together really well and their enthusiasm was contagious. They seemed harmless enough. It turned out they owned a service station at Olinda that they were in the process of selling. They were very curious about me and what I was doing and offered to give my van a service if I found myself near their service station. These guys were really talkative and were excited that I was interested. One thing that caught my attention was that they said they collected old Daimlers. ‘Yeah, yeah!’, the son said, ‘We even have Harold Holt’s Daimler.’ They also said they were friends with Arthur Streeton’s grand-daughter who still lived in his house and had many of his paintings. I never did meet her in the end or see Sir Arthurs paintings. But I did do a plein air painting of Harold Holt’s Daimler. And that is truly a story for another day. Let me just say I have never been this freaked out in my whole life. I’ll cover this in a future post.
So I arrived in Olinda late one afternoon, I found their servo and whilst these guys were excited to see me, they booked me in for a service sometime in the week after. I needed to either go away and come back next week or find a place to camp and park the van. I looked on my trusty map and found A fairly large car park that I didn’t see from the road on the way up the hill to Olinda. I went to check that out. I drove past the exit and I noticed it had no gate only to find the entrance which did have a gate and it was locked. The car park itself was not visible from the road. Damn I thought. Closed. But then I thought ‘yes’ this could be a really good place to stay. It’s safe at night because the entrance is locked and I would not be seen from the road.
So I drove down the exit ramp and found I had the most beautiful camping place ever. Surrounded by tree ferns and mountain ash. And I had it all to myself. I was just a little concerned that a ranger may not agree. But at this stage it was a risk worth taking. As it turned out, the ranger came and opened the gate in the morning and didn’t seem to have an issue with me being there. I guess so long as I wasn’t making a mess or making it obvious that I was camping he was Ok with me being there. Awesome I thought. So after a morning walk around this incredible car park. I checked the map to see where I was. And… I was camping in the car park of the William Ricketts Sancuary. I was stunned and amazed.
Needless to say I walked across the road and saw the place that I’d read about. I wasn’t disappointed. The place is spectacular and I would recommend anyone to see it. I noticed a rock near the entry which had inscribed ‘Encourage Creativity’. This rock and words of wisdom from William Ricketts became my personal motto and gave me much strength in pursuing my career as an artist. Permission. It became important in the light of what happened next.
For me, the sanctuary had a special significance and I would even say its intention was to be spiritual. A connection with our earth and the people who were here before us.
Naturally as a young artist making paintings, I asked the rangers at the kiosk if they would mind if I brought some painting gear in to do a painting of the sculpture garden. My initial intention was to do a painting for my mum as a gift for her.
The answer was a firm no! That wasn’t the answer I was expecting at all. I asked why and the response was a spiel about copyright and people doing the wrong thing, something about Nazi’s using William Ricketts art for there own agenda. There were three or four staff members all chiming in with ad hoc excuses for why painting was not allowed in the sanctuary. I looked back at that rock. It was pushing me. ‘Speak up’ it said. So I asked if they had seen the rock and they said yes, and then I asked what the phrase ‘Encourage Creativity’ meant and who put it there. I suggested that William Ricketts thought it so important to his philosophy that he placed it at the entrance for everyone entering his garden to embrace.
I also explained that it was a tradition for young painters to do paintings of sculptures as practice and this in no way was this seen as a violation of the sculptors copyright. The painting was a work of art in its own right. But I kept referring back to the rock. To me the artists’ intent was the highest authority. And I argued that not only should they allow me to paint there but they should be encouraging me to. I then said that i will be bringing my painting gear in and doing some painting. And if it is still a problem I would like to talk to their boss.
So I started painting. At the end of that day a ranger came and said that a supervisor would come and talk to me tomorrow. So I returned the next day and did another few paintings. The sanctuary was open to the public and bus loads of people were arriving and wondering through the garden. No one seemed surprised that I was there working and many stopped to watch and said I was doing great. Most people thought that I was part of the attraction. These are three of the small sketches I did.
A supervisor did come and she explained that the manager of William Ricketts Sanctuary was on holidays. She said that he was an artist and that because this was his park she was reluctant to give me permission to make paintings behind his back. I responded the same way again. The rock says I can paint and if I could talk to your higher up, that would be great.
The next day I was painting another painting and a ranger came and said that I had a phone call for me in their office. This was the holidaying ranger. He wasn’t happy and spoke with a an air of ownership over the place. I could see why none of the other rangers and supervisors were keen to allow me to just do a painting. I look back and realise that some of the most dangerous people to an artist are those who are insecure and frustrated by their own art. He carried on about artists changing the message of the Sanctuary by putting too much of themselves into the paintings. I told him I just wanted to do a painting for my Mum. I just said that I’ll keep coming until I could speak to someone with authority. Someone who could give permission.
The next day I got a message from a ranger. The head guy of Victoria Parks and Gardens had invited me to come and talk to him. His office was at the Rhododendron Garden not too far away. I went of course and took the 12 paintings that I had done so far. He liked them and expressed an interest in purchasing them. How excited I was. But…He had to run it passed the manager of the Sanctuary as he didn’t want to upset him. He made a date for the following week when we could meet with the Manager. I knew then that they weren’t going to buy the paintings. I was the only person brave/or silly enough to oppose this little guy and now he had the power. Anyway, I came to the meeting. And the Artist/manager had the opportunity to firstly critique my work and ultimately indicate that he wouldn’t recommend buying them. His main criticism was that as an artist I didn’t put much of myself into the works. The opposite to the reason why he wouldn’t allow people to paint there. So funny, but also so mean too. Apparently I simply painted what I could see. The Head man apologized and we said our goodbyes. He seemed as disappointed as me.
My take away from the experience was how important it is to ‘Encourage Creativity’. Be very wary of frustrated, insecure artists as they’ll try to discourage you and intimidate those around them. I felt that William Ricketts had my back and I know that a little bit of encouragement goes a long way. I hope to be a generous spirit like him…Encourage creativity…and to one day make something truly beautiful. Thanks for your inspiration William. Keep whispering supportive messages into the ears of those young artists mate. I am eternally grateful.
But the best thing is, Mum loves her paintings from William Ricketts Sanctuary even 30 years later and I have continued painting, learning and encouraging creativity.
