Colourful exuberance

3 July 2008
It's not easy for Gerald Smith to talk about his art but the satisfaction he finds in painting is apparent in the colourful exuberance of his work at Invercargill's CS Art workshop. It's also there in his smile for the camera and opening sentence in this interview. "I'm very thrilled about my art."

He continues: “I enjoy it very much. I like to do all those colourful kinds of things. I enjoyed going down to the workshop. Not a good idea staying at home. I want to get out to do things. They’ve got lovely people and I can be very friendly with them.

“We had colours and other kinds of stuff. The movements on the white and yellow and black make snowflakes and the red is the warmth from the air, making flames and all sparkly. I like mixing rainbow colours to go with it.

“Sometimes I do the trees with the movements with the leaves gold and silver. I can see people’s gardens and plants and natures with the fantail birds and all kinds of colours.

“I was thrilled going to Horsham to the Awakenings Festival with my art. People liked looking at my paintings and I was thrilled about that.”

Sensitivity to colour

Gerald has always enjoyed painting, and years of Steiner art therapy nurtured a sensitivity to colour. However, his work was very repetitive, locked into a limited set of stylised icons, arranged on his paper in horizontal lines.

CS Art encouraged Gerald to expand his repertoire and explore his own creativity. At first this consisted just of laying down familiar lineal backgrounds but applying the paint in unfamiliar ways, such as with rollers or sponges, or in blocks rather than parallel lines. He then applied his accustomed patterns. Gradually, he tried new ways of applying surface decoration, demonstrating a deliciously extravagant enthusiasm for thick applications of acrylic paint.

Painting removes Gerald from the challenges of trying to understand – and make himself understood – in an often confusing world with its verbal snares and unreachable performance standards. Painting sessions are marked by calm concentration.

In October 2007, Gerald and CS Art co-founder and facilitator Michelle Dawson attended the Awakenings Festival in Horsham, Victoria. This is Australia’s largest regional arts festival for people with disabilities.