Eastern Suburbs Art Group establishment

Yesterday I met with a man named Simon and we talked about what to do with an art group in our area. Over coffee in Eastgardens we chatted for about 30 minutes mulling over topics as diverse as careers and the subjective and objective approaches to making art. 

Web page photo is a view of the city (Sydney) from Watsons Bay, where I grew up.

The conversation was easy so we decided to go ahead and set up Facebook and Nextdoor pages, which I did when I got home. Our first studio meeting will be in my home on 31 July.

This morning I did some admin work on the web pages in order to choose the right image to go with them and to set up some rules for discussion. I also at the same time updated my LinkedIn page which had been referring to me as a journalist. I’d previously added a “role” as visual artist but the substance of my public profile didn’t reflect my new calling suitably and I remedied the situation.

Simon graduated from the National Art School some years ago and while we discussed his fondness for Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami he didn’t bring along samples of his work so I don’t know much yet. I showed him some images of my paramontage in miniature on my iPhone but didn’t say anything about his choosing – to this point in time – to use a Blackberry. He says he’ll be getting a smartphone soon as his carrier no longer supports his device.

The coffee was strong and hot and the setting for our inaugural meeting was conducive to productive chat and inspired by what I’d heard I got to work as soon as I got home. I’d told Simon that I’d talk to him about options but once I sat down to figure out how to make the group page on Facebook I just went ahead and did it. When I messaged the co-founder of the Eastern Suburbs Art Group he said he’d seen the Nextdoor group page and thought it was good. I took that as an endorsement. The group is open to people in Sydney, not just to those living in the eastern suburbs.