JOURNEYS
JOHN
CALDWELL
JOURNEYS
JOHN
CALDWELL
On exhibition from 4 April - 24 May 2015 at Blue Mountains Cultural Centre
Cover Image: JOHN CALDWELL Ord Waters 2014, mixed media, 101 x 151 cm
INTR ODUCTION
John Caldwell invites his audience to traverse with him on an intrepid exploration of the Australian landscape as he vividly
details his surroundings with water based colours, ink and charcoal. The exhibition traces Caldwell’s many encounters with
the distant, unknown environment in remote areas of the Blue Mountains, the Granite Country of NSW, the Ipswich
coalfields, the Kimberley region, Lake Eyre and numerous other places. His infatuation with the natural world ensures
Caldwell treks the path less travelled and in so doing records his impressions with sketches, which enables him to
overwhelm his canvas with detail and impression.
Caldwell’s recollection of the various environments he inhabits for a time are obtained from memory and are not an
absolute representation of the subject matter. Caldwell has the extraordinary ability to collect and distil the essence of the
landscape he interprets in his works. We find ourselves immediately captured and transported to the very place - the rugged
mountain cliffs, dense bush country and glare of the desert around Lake Eyre. We adjust our gaze, upon closer inspection of
the canvas and seem to be within reach of the landscape in front of us.
From Caldwell’s extensive body of work, produced over the last 30 years, we have selected 55 works on paper, representing
many of the locations Caldwell has painted and drawn. Upon reflecting on the exhibition one realises the vast areas of
Australia that Caldwell has travelled.
It is with absolute pleasure that the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre presents Journeys, in Caldwell’s home - the
Blue Mountains - the starting point for so many of his journeys.
Sabrina Roesner
Exhibitions Manager, Blue Mountains Cultural Centre
Biography
Born in Sydney in 1942 and following schooling there, Caldwell
spent ten years in the pastoral industry, primarily in the Channel
Country of south western Queensland. He travelled overseas for
three years, working in London and travelling in Ireland and
Europe.
Returning to Sydney in 1972 he studied for four years at the
University of New South Wales, completing an honours degree in
English Literature. Since 1977 he has worked full time as an artist,
with more than forty solo exhibitions, and many joint and group
exhibitions throughout Australia.
The primary focus of his work is the natural landscape where there
is little or no evidence of a human presence. From regular working
trips throughout Australia and overseas, he gathers the reference
material that results in his finished studio work.
His overseas working trips include the UK and Europe in 1979;
Bali, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Tahiti in the 1980s, France and
Cornwall in 1994, China and London 2012, and the USA in 2014.
His paintings, drawings and printmaking have also encompassed
portraiture, figurative and still life subjects and he conducts a
programme of painting and drawing workshops in his Blackheath
studio.
Selected Awards
Wynne Competition, Trustees’ Watercolour Prize 1984, 1987
Tattersalls National Landscape Award 1997, 1999
Mosman Art Prize 1986
Wyong Festival of Arts Open Award 1996, 2000
Mahlab Law Week Art Prize 1987
Sunday Mail Outstanding Landscape Award 2000
Sydney Easter Show: seven first-place awards 1982–1986
Crockett Art Prize, Katoomba 2007, 2008, 2009
Photo: Steve Moline
Collections
Australian National Gallery, Canberra
Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart
Brisbane City Hall, Brisbane
The Robert Holmes a Court Collection, Perth
Regional Galleries
S. H Ervin Gallery, Sydney; Bathurst Regional Gallery;
Gosford Regional Gallery; Newcastle Regional Gallery; New
England Regional Gallery; Moree Plains Regional Gallery;
Mosman Gallery;
Other
UTS; Macquarie University; Charles Sturt
Univesity; James Cook University; Wollongong
University; Antarctic Division Hobart; Davis & Mawson;
and Artbank
A r t i s t S t at e m e n t
The artwork begins with the journeys. The journeys are the working trips to specific places or regions to experience and
record the landscape.
My involvement and interest in the landscape began in earlier years when I was employed in the pastoral industry,
particularly the eight years spent in Queensland’s Channel Country, where a knowledge of the land was critical to one’s
function and survival. This procedure that I now follow had its beginning in 1987. An invitation from the Australian
Antarctic Division to visit Heard Island, and the Antarctic mainland, where working conditions were extremely limited,
meant the finished work could only be produced later in the studio.
The work selected for this exhibition comes from some of the working trips in Australia since then.
On location my primary focus is to absorb the unique qualities of the place: its topography, geology and vegetation, as well
as the personal feelings generated by that environment, rather than seeking particular painting compositions. The primary
visual information in my sketchbooks is taken back to the studio for working the painted and drawn images. Photography
supports this recorded information, particularly where various circumstances restrict any sketching.
Sketching by its very nature, begins the selective process of detail and emphasis. The resolved studio images, are
impressionistic interpretations that hopefully have a family resemblance to the region, rather than portraits of particular
places. From the sample sketchbooks in the exhibition, these beginnings can be seen. I usually work in ink, and this
minimal equipment allows me to explore the countryside more freely, covering more territory in the day.
During the trips represented in this show I have travelled with my wife Jan, a fellow artist and camping enthusiast.
Typically we tent camp in the national parks, exploring on day trips from a base camp. The parks have often been
established in areas of little commercial value, rough wilderness country, just the sort of landscape that appeals to me.
The map of Australia shows the destinations of the journeys represented in this show, and in many cases these numbered
locations have been visited frequently. For the landscape painter the journey to and from the destination is also rich with
subject matter.
This exhibition can also be seen as the journey of the development of imagery from the ideas on-site, through sketching and
studio resolution, to a place in a gallery. Given the time span of the work, perhaps it also represents a journey through the
evolution of my work, and my passion for the natural landscape of Australia.
John Caldwell
Blackheath, April 2015
1) Blue Mountains, NSW
2) Central West, NSW
3) Channel Country, QLD
4) Granite Country, NSW
5) Ipswich Coalfields, QLD
6) Lake Eyre, SA
7) Kimberley, WA
8) Coastal Fringe, NSW
9) Riverina, NSW
10) South Australian Coast
11) Tasmania
Location 1
Blue Mountains, NSW
Paintings
Cleft Falls
High on the Ridge
Horizon Mist
Mountain Cascade
North Hartley Timber
Ravine in Shadow
Spring Torrent
Drawings
From Pulpit Rock
Location 2
Central West, NSW
Paintings
Abercrombie She Oaks
Dunns Swamp Nightfall
Fence Line, Sallys Flat
Forest and Foothills
Hillside Catchment
Homestead in the Foothills
Irishtown Timber
Oberon Autumn
Roadside Devils Pinch
Sodwalls Timber
Tarana Dusk
West of Tarana
Location 3
Channel Country, QLD
Paintings
Beyond the Bulloo
Gumbla Paddock
In the McGregor Range
Mulga Waterhole
Location 4
Granite Country, NSW
Paintings
Above Carrolls Creek
Across the Creek Flat
Granite Hills
Higher Reaches
River Bend Reflections
Tableland Tops
Drawings
Tor
Upper Namoi
Location 5
Paintings
Ipswich Coal Fields, QLD
Location 6
Paintings
Lake Eyre, SA
Bench and Backfill
Strata and Backfilling
Aerial Series - Channel Web
Aerial Series - Sandy Creek
Location 7
Kimberley, WA
Paintings
Kimberley Scrub
Ord Waters
Location 8
Coastal Fringe, NSW
Paintings
Bellbirds 1
Bellbirds 2
Bellbirds 3
Bellbirds 4
Bellbirds 5
Bellbirds 6
Bellbirds 7
Shoreline Rocks
Drawings
Harbour Elements
Wiseman’s Cliffs
Location 9
Riverina, NSW
Paintings
Gunbower Island
Murrumbidgee River Bend
Riverina Horizon
Drawings
Barmah Lake
On the Yurong Trail
Location 10
Paintings
South Australia Coast
Towards Encounter Bay
Location 11
Tasmania
Paintings
Bruny Revisited
Bl u e M o u n ta in s , N S W
Cleft Falls 2009, mixed media, 75 x 56 cm
Bl u e M o u n ta in s , N S W
High on the Ridge 2009, mixed media, 7 x 11 cm
Bl u e M o u n ta in s , N S W
Horizon Mist 2009, mixed media, 45 x 64 cm
Bl u e M o u n ta in s , N S W
Mountain Cascade 2012, mixed media, 36 x 26 cm
Bl u e M o u n ta in s , N S W
North Hartley Timber 2012, mixed media, 36 x 27 cm
Bl u e M o u n ta in s , N S W
Ravine in Shadow 1990, mixed media, 75 x 96 cm
Bl u e M o u n ta in s , N S W
Spring Torrent 2013, mixed media, 36 x 26 cm
Bl u e M o u n ta in s , N S W
From Pulpit Rock 1998, mixed media, 100 x 150 cm
C e n t r a l W e s t, N S W
Abercrombie She Oaks 2009, mixed media, 55 x 74 cm
C e n t r a l W e s t, N S W
Dunns Swamp Nightfall 2014, mixed media, 8 x 11 cm
C e n t r a l W e s t, N S W
Fence Line, Sallys Flat 2007, mixed media, 55 x 74 cm
C e n t r a l W e s t, N S W
Forest and Foothills 1996, mixed media, 77 x 111 cm
C e n t r a l W e s t, N S W
Hillside Catchment 2014, mixed media, 150 x 100 cm
C e n t r a l W e s t, N S W
Homestead in the Foothills 2008, mixed media, 51 x 33 cm
C e n t r a l W e s t, N S W
Irish Town Timber 2008, mixed media, 55 x 75 cm
C e n t r a l W e s t, N S W
Oberon Autumn 2005, mixed media, 55 x 74 cm
C e n t r a l W e s t, N S W
Roadside Devils Pinch 2007, mixed media, 100 x 150 cm
C e n t r a l W e s t, N S W
Sodwalls Timber 2014, mixed media, 10 x 8 cm
C e n t r a l W e s t, N S W
Tarana Dusk 2014, mixed media, 7 x 11 cm
C e n t r a l W e s t, N S W
West of Tarana 2014, mixed media, 7 x 13 cm
C h a n n e l C o u n t r y, Q L D
Beyond the Bulloo 2005, mixed media, 27 x 52 cm
C h a n n e l C o u n t r y, Q L D
Gumbla Paddock 2014, mixed media, 7 x 11 cm
C h a n n e l C o u n t r y, Q L D
In the McGregor Range, 1999 mixed media, 100 x 150 cm
C h a n n e l C o u n t r y, Q L D
Mulga Waterhole 1999, mixed media, 95 x 145 cm
G r a n i t e C o u n t r y, N S W
Above Carrols Creek 1997, mixed media, 100 x 150 cm
G r a n i t e C o u n t r y, N S W
Across the Creek Flat 2004, mixed media, 102 x 152 cm
G r a n i t e C o u n t r y, N S W
Granite Hills 1992, mixed media, 100 x 150 cm
G r a n i t e C o u n t r y, N S W
Higher Reaches 2014, mixed media, 74 x 50 cm
G r a n i t e C o u n t r y, N S W
Riverbend Reflections 1997, mixed media, 109 x 75 cm
G r a n i t e C o u n t r y, N S W
Tableland Tops 1998, mixed media, 75 x 110 cm
G r a n i t e C o u n t r y, N S W
Tor 1997, compressed charcoal on paper, 150 x 100 cm
G r a n i t e C o u n t r y, N S W
Upper Namoi 1997, compressed charcoal on paper, 100 x 150cm
Ipswich Coalfields, QLD
Bench and Backfill 1991, mixed media, 100 x 151 cm
Ipswich Coalfields, QLD
Strata and Backfilling 1991, mixed media, 100 x 150 cm
Lake Eyre, SA
Aerial Series - Channel Web 1990, mixed media, 76 x 102 cm
Lake Eyre, SA
Aerial Series - Sandy Creek 1990, mixed media, 75 x 102
K i m b e r l e y, WA
Kimberley Scrub 2013, mixed media, 13 x 10cm
K i m b e r l e y, WA
Ord Waters 2014, mixed media, 101 x 151cm
Coa s ta l F r ing e , N S W
‘Bellbirds’ by Henry Kendall
By channels of coolness the echoes are calling,
And down the dim gorges I hear the creek falling:
It lives in the mountain where moss and the sedges
Touch with their beauty the banks and the ledges.
Through breaks of the cedar and sycamore bowers
Struggles the light that is love to the flowers;
And, softer than slumber, and sweeter than singing,
The notes of the bell-birds are running and ringing.
The silver-voiced bell birds, the darlings of daytime!
They sing in September their songs of the May-time;
When shadows wax strong, and the thunder bolts hurtle,
They hide with their fear in the leaves of the myrtle;
When rain and the sunbeams shine mingled together,
They start up like fairies that follow fair weather;
And straightway the hues of their feathers unfolden
Are the green and the purple, the blue and the golden.
October, the maiden of bright yellow tresses,
Loiters for love in these cool wildernesses;
Loiters, knee-deep, in the grasses, to listen,
Where dripping rocks gleam and the leafy pools glisten:
Then is the time when the water-moons splendid
Break with their gold, and are scattered or blended
Over the creeks, till the woodlands have warning
Of songs of the bell-bird and wings of the Morning.
Welcome as waters unkissed by the summers
Are the voices of bell-birds to the thirsty far-comers.
When fiery December sets foot in the forest,
And the need of the wayfarer presses the sorest,
Pent in the ridges for ever and ever
The bell-birds direct him to spring and to river,
With ring and with ripple, like runnels whose torrents
Are toned by the pebbles and the leaves in the currents.
Bell Birds 1-7 1982, mixed media, various dimensions
Often I sit, looking back to a childhood,
Mixt with the sights and the sounds of the wildwood,
Longing for power and the sweetness to fashion,
Lyrics with beats like the heart-beats of Passion; Songs interwoven of lights and of laughters.
Coa s ta l F r ing e , N S W
Shoreline Rocks 2002, mixed media, 100 x 150 cm
Coa s ta l F r ing e , N S W
Harbour Elements 2002, compressed charcoal and oil stick on paper, 100 x 150 cm
Coa s ta l F r ing e , N S W
Wiseman’s Cliff 2002, compressed charcoal and oil stick on paper, 150 x 100 cm
Riverina, NSW
Gunbower Island 2005, mixed media, 55 x 74 cm
Riverina, NSW
Murrumbidgee River Bend 2000, mixed media, 150 x 100 cm
Riverina, NSW
Barmah Lake 1995, ink pen on paper, 150 x 100 cm
Riverina, NSW
On the Yurong Trail 1995, compressed charcoal on paper 150 x 100 cm
South Australian Coast
Towards Encounter Bay 2011, mixed media, 100 x 150 cm
TA S M A N I A
Bruny Revisited 2000, mixed media, 150 x 100 cm
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My sincere thanks to Paul Brinkman and his staff at the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre for this opportunity to exhibit such
a range of my work. I am also indebted to Sabrina Roesner for her professionalism in curating this exhibition and the
catalogue production.
My wife Jan, has played a part in every aspect of this project and I am forever grateful for her ongoing support. My thanks
also to Hendrik Kolenberg for agreeing to open the show and for his friendship and encouragement over many years.
John Caldwell, April 2015
‘Bell-birds’ was published by Henry Kendall in 1869. The illustrated edition was first published by Angus & Robertson
Publishers in 1982. reprinted in 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1985. © Illustrations: John Caldwell
Exhibition Development & Production: Blue Mountains Cultural Centre
Public Program: Naomi Baker
Marketing: Rose Stibbard
Catalogue Production & Design: Blue Mountains Cultural Centre
Artwork Photography: Graeme Wienand
Print Production: Contact & Clarendon
This exhibition has been made possible through the Exhibition Program of the Blue Mountains Cultural
Centre and the support of the Blue Mountains City Council.
Back Image: Riverina Horizon, mixed media, 7 x 14 cm
©Blue Mountains Cultural Centre & Waragil Studios 2015
Blue Mountains Cultural Centre
30 Parke Street KATOOMBA NSW 2780
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical
(including photocopying, recording or any information storage and
retrieval system), without permission from the publisher.
Publisher: Blue Mountains Cultural Centre & Waragil Studios
ISBN 978-0-9873100-8-8
BLUE MOUNTAINS CULTURAL CENTRE
02 4780 5410 I 30 Parke St Katoomba NSW 2780
Open 10am – 5pm Mon – Fri, 10am – 4pm Sat & Sun
10am – 2pm public holidays (closed Good Friday & Xmas Day)
www.bluemountainsculturalcentre.com.au
JOURNEYS
JOHN CALDWELL
A Blue Mountains Cultural Centre Exhibition