sculptor, environmental artist, was born at Montmorency, a bush suburb on the outskirts of Melbourne. His boyhood at the creative community of Eltham taught him about metalwork and mud-brick construction, which encouraged him to think of a career in art. He was awarded a scholarship to the National Gallery School and at the end of his degree qualified as a high school art teacher. H worked first at the Diamond Creek Technical school before teaching at the altnernative Diamond Creek Community School.
His talents as an artist were noticed early in his career as he was awarded the Eltham Art Prize in 1970 and in 1971 was included in a group exhibition at the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery. The same year he held his first solo exhibition at Pinacotheca and was invited to participate in Harald Szeemann’s selection of Australian art for John Kaldor. In 1973 he was included in both the Mildura Sculpturescape and the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ exhibition, Recent Australian Art.
After the end of his first marriage to Sue Halprin he moved to north-eastern Victoria with his second wife, Rosemary Buchanan, and here he became as well known for his farming as for his art. In his later years he suffered from a crippling auto-immune disease. An obituary in the Sydney Morning Herald said “to him what mattered was expressing himself, turning a creative idea into reality.”
- Writers:
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- Date written:
- 2013
- Last updated:
- 2013
