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by Cinden Lester

It started one hot December day in 1971 when Arthur Boyd first visited Bundanon homestead on the New South Wales south coast, and spent the day painting by the Shoalhaven River. He's since said it was so hot the 'paint was dripping off the canvas'.

Boyd was captured by the raw Australian light, the steamy heat and natural bushland-a sharp contrast to England where he'd spent the past 12 years.

He was so enchanted that in 1973 while back in England, he and his wife Yvonne bought the neighbouring Riversdale property from photos, making it their first home on the Shoalhaven. Then in 1979 they bought Bundanon. It's here that Boyd was, and still is, inspired to paint his distinctive, vibrant Australian landscapes.

Some 14 years later, Arthur and Yvonne Boyd's desire to make an extraordinarily generous gift to the nation was realised with the formation of the Bundanon Trust. The Trust includes adjoining properties Bundanon, Riversdale and Beeweeree, given to the nation by Arthur and Yvonne Boyd, and Eearie Park, given by the Boyds and the Nolan Estate. The Boyds are artists in residence for life, and share their time between Bundanon and England.

General Manager of the Bundanon Trust, David Chalker met Boyd through the late Sir Sidney Nolan, while managing the Nolan Gallery in Canberra. In 1988 he introduced Boyd to then Arts Minister, Clyde Holding who helped make the Trust a reality. It was established in 1993 with one-off Federal funding of $5.4 million dollars and is a Government-owned company within the Commonwealth Arts portfolio.

Chalker describes Bundanon as a place of 'deep spirituality' and explains how the seclusion allows you to believe 'there is nothing else', even though you know Nowra and other coastal towns are nearby.

'The lovely thing about Bundanon is that it's the high country with all the panoramic views and the broken ridges and sandstone caves, really wild country, all the way down to these river flats. It's the way it was for the most part early last century, with this European style homestead in the middle,' he says.

Somehow the homestead and cottage garden sit comfortably with the Australian bush rising behind it and the river gently circling in front. A softly elegant, two storey sandstone home, Bundanon was central to the local farming community in the 1800s, particularly when the river was the only means of transport.

For the past 20 years it's been home to the Boyds. With four generations of artists in the family, it's not surprising paintings and ceramics line the homestead walls and crowd the bookshelves, and sculptures grace the garden. However Chalker says the homestead is not a house museum or art gallery. Rather, 'it's just a medium sized country house and all the artworks and so on around simply reflect the way Arthur and Yvonne live'. He will admit though that the collection, given to the nation as part of the Bundanon gift, is valued at more than $9 million.

There are paintings by Yvonne (an artist in her own right who gave up painting when she married Arthur) as well as works by Boyd's parents, bothers, sisters and children. Of course there are many of Boyd's own works, including his most recent bold and brightly coloured paintings from 1998, which are still in the studio.

The studio was built in 1981 at the end of the garden and has views across the paddocks towards the bush and river. It smells of paint, wood and turps, there are many bottles and tin cans full of brushes and pallet knives, and the large easel is thick with layers of dried paint. Dust dances in the sunlight from a tall, thin window installed in 1984 so that Boyd's massive canvasses could be moved in and out of the studio.

Recently, while the Boyds have been in England, artist Robert Dickerson rented the studio. This is a first for Bundanon, and Chalker says it was a great success.

'Visitors to Bundanon were able to talk to him and watch him work, he needed a studio while his own studio was being built, and the Trust received some valuable rent,' he explains.

Trust Chairman, David Gonski has been instrumental in ensuring the Trust fulfils Boyd's wish that artists should share and draw inspiration from the Bundanon and Shoalhaven landscapes. The Trust's activities are possible through careful investment of the original grant, and a combination of sponsorship and fundraising.

Monthly open days, group and school visits, concerts and special events ensure that many more people can now share the Bundanon experience. As well, items from the collection have been loaned to galleries and toured in exhibitions.

An artists in residence program attracts up to 100 proposals a year, and more than 20 are awarded places-musicians, poets, writers and of course visual artists, have enjoyed the opportunity.

During November/December 1998, Townsville poet Rebecca Edwards was artist in residence. As well as using the quiet time to write, Edwards enjoyed the natural surroundings. A delicate pen and ink drawing of a fox is tacked to the wall, inspired by paw prints in the dust, and she says she's heard a wombat scuffling under the 1920s farm cottage where she's been staying. There are more of her sketches and drawings in the new Artists Centre, created from other refurbished 19th and 20th Century farm buildings.

'It's been exciting to see the actual landscapes that Boyd painted, and to be able to read books from the library. It's very peaceful here and I've been able to just indulge myself in writing,' says Edwards.

The Artists Centre is nearly complete and includes studios and accommodation and a Study Centre to house many of the works in the collection, along with the works that visiting artists leave with the Trust.

'As well as providing the proper environment to store items in the collection, it's fascinating to see how different artists treat the same view. There's a huge variety of mediums here, from prints and paintings to ceramic and sculpture. It's great for the kids that visit to see there's more than one way to interpret the landscape, and that it doesn't have to look like a photo to be a good work or capture the spirit,' says Chalker.

The experience for students and other visitors to Bundanon will be further enhanced when the new Arthur and Yvonne Boyd Education Centre at Riversdale is completed. A $1 million donation from Fred Street kick started the Centre, which is due to open in early 1999.

The distinctive Glenn Murcutt designed concrete and corrugated iron centre has a panoramic view past the Jacaranda trees and green slopes down to the wide Shoalhaven River.

'The centre will provide a stunning focus for our education programs. It can accommodate up to 36 people, with a concert hall and open amphitheatre that will be able to seat hundreds. We already have bookings for three months of 1999. Most will stay several days and it will be an exciting mix of school children, their parents and teachers, older students such as a group from NIDA, and adult workshops,' says Chalker.

Clearly many more people will experience the magic of Bundanon as the Trust continues its successful work into the next century.

Contact
David Chalker, Bundanon Trust 02 44235 999 or email dchalker@ozemail.com.au

• Document ID: 11495 |
• Last modified: 5 February 2008, 6:05pm