ABOVE: ‘Child of Llyr’ – Dougie Chowns. Currently in the Timor-Lesté Presidential Suite – Life-size figure. As the boy metamorphosis into a swan, his face and the hand changing into swans feet glow from real gold leaf.

A CREATIVE NON-EVENT AND WHO HAS WHAT?

What does ‘the artwork in the home’ tell us about the person and a possible 1985 Radio series:

“Compliments from Training Captain Hutchinson, Mr Chowns. We are about 150 miles south of Tonga and about to reach our cruising altitude so now is a good time, if you would like to come through to the flight deck, to do your interview……..”

This is another side of ‘creative art’ that I hope will interest you, my readers.

In 1985 while initiating the Whangarei Art School with Community College; presenting a weekly ‘Community College Newsletter’ on Radio Northland; with a one man exhibition and Artist in Residence in Obidos Portugal, followed by another in my home in the 1880’s art colony village of Bushey, Hertfordshire; I had the idea as a budding radio host that while away, I might interview an interesting and unusual range of people to discover what art they had on the walls of their homes and why.

I wanted a wide range of people from very different social backgrounds to make an interesting sound series. Artwork crosses all boundaries, be it ‘high art’, ‘art popular’ or simply kitsch. It all has its place and people have walls to fill. But who buys it is and what they choose is another thing – a different story for each person or household, perhaps. I often hear people who are not artists or known in art, making quite positive comments about art – are their comments valid I wonder?

So, equipped with a small, quality tape recorder, I made contact with an internationally known ex-colleague, an author of dozens of art books, as well as a poet and major London art critic, a Buckinghamshire farmer, a cleaning lady at Sotheby’s art auction house in Bond Street, and Air New Zealand, who agreed I could talk with their Training Captain on the first leg to Honolulu en-route to Los Angeles and London.

I was about to talk with him sitting in the cockpit jump seat as we cruised northeast en-route for Honolulu. I envisaged a possible series for Radio Northland with interviews to follow once I had made this first attempt. My coming shows and Residency were an ideal opportunity to make an interesting magazine mix rather like my remembered childhood BBC Radio ‘Desert Island Discs’ where subjects were asked what six gramophone records, they would like with them should they be stranded on a desert Island. My concept was for a half-hour mix of talk and music about the arts, graphic design and performance.

Air New Zealand Captain Hutchinson, in a relaxed Kiwi accent, told me that “the old lady was a bit slow tonight and heavy”. The buzz of electronics and low light, the instruments a mass of blue and green; all looked comforting. I have enjoyed aircraft since my wartime childhood and always cast a long look at Jean Batten’s Gull hanging in departures at Auckland Airport. In about 1947, two Gulls of the same type were chartered by an uncle to fly us home from a holiday on the Isle of Wight. I would always look at Jean Batten’s stored tail fin in my father’s Pickford’s Depository store as a youngster; she even signed a photo for me. I still wonder if I might have flown in that same airplane – or at least had a one in 16 chance of doing so, as only 34 were manufactured. Fighter pilots were heroes to us wartime kids, influencing me to apply and later serve in RAF Fighter Command– so that night in 1985, passing high over Tonga, was more than rather special.

Settled behind the pilots, I switched on and started my interview. My voiceover led in: “Tonight ‘Art in my Life’ comes from the cockpit of Air New Zealand 01 at 33,000ft etc . . . what art do you have on your bedroom wall, Captain?” The surprise in his voice made for a good start. “Actually, quite a large print of a wartime Wimpy staggering out over The Wash”, he said. “I used to fly them in the War”.

He described the image but did not remember who painted it. Gosh, I thought, that’s a bit unromantic for the bedroom. “Did you or your wife buy it?” I asked. “Oh, I did”, he said. “Actually, the only painting I did buy; other paintings in the house my wife accumulated over the years. Most others were popular prints; no original paintings other than those painted by our grandchildren.”

The captain also had an interesting range of films, shows and classical music he enjoyed which I planned to cut in to our sound tape later to enhance the interview, a bit like ‘Desert Island Discs’, along with a little background on the Wimpy bomber that he’d flown on missions over Germany.

The idea was going well for me, as did my other interviews, all done in much the same style. Paintings or prints in interviewees’ homes featured both classic as well as many popular works of that time which were sold by the thousand like ‘The Red Skirt’, The Last Bales’ and of course the Tretchikoff series, all of which today have become collectors’ items despite being totally kitsch.

Boots Ltd., the cash chemist in every UK town, was a great source for locals to get their first home after the war. In my teens, I always visited to look at the artwork, subject and styles. Not like today, where you can browse the internet or local art shows with wine and cheese. These were new ideas yet to come.

However, I am not sure that those ‘not in art’, as such, are any more informed about art and artists today. Kitsch and art popular from local furniture shops is readily available and is certainly bought, but by whom? Is it by my local councillor who is also making decisions about city art awareness?

Colour radiation energy can likely be damaging mentally; colour may depress or excite, calm or even make one dangerous. At one time I thought I would volunteer to be, like the electricity or building Inspector, the ‘City Art Inspector’. I am keen to know what people who are very vocal about backing a local museum or gallery have on their own walls. It might be a bit of an eye-opener. I would expect at least a few valuable or promising originals – but do they practice what they preach? Or do they just go for something to match the curtains and sofa?

Often very nice people – one meets them with a free wine the artist has supplied – will politely say “I do like that, but we don’t have the space on our wall.” Conversely, visit an art lover or artist’s home and you will likely find the works are stacked up one above the other; it must be a very good original to get its own wall.

Not many, I believe, understand art terms or the difference between a range of media and mass-produced, so-called originals. “Look dear, if you run your fingers over this painting, you can feel the thickness of the paint!” My local newspaper recently featured a photo of printmakers, and their wood cut print, printed from particle board, captioned as a ‘Lithograph’. Didn’t the journalist know ‘litho’ means ‘stone’?

You may remember I loathe the word ‘screen print’ used as an art term. It is a process term. Eating Pig instead of eating Pork? Although I liked charging Guineas not Pounds, you may find me picky and inconsistent, and you are right, but artwork is not something I do just for money. My works are my children, and I like to be accurately reported.

When judging a show in the Far North years ago and instructed to determine the ‘best oil painting’, everybody was very upset because I ignored an acrylic artist who was infinitely more mature. There is a big difference between gouache and watercolour, and the two require drastically different skills. What if Chinese white is used on a gorgeous pure watercolour to flick in the seagulls or ship’s rigging? Believe me, it’s ruined! However, this would be totally acceptable for a commercial artist working on a piece intended for reproduction. Gouache is opaque, not transparent and gives a different colour range – like coffee with cream rather than brandy in a glass. Many spoil a good watercolour by using white – downgrading their skill, in my opinion. For me, a watercolour is only a watercolour if the artist skilfully leaves the light areas dry in a painting.

You might say I am finicky but, again, I appreciate the virtuoso skill of head and hand. Mixed media also has its place and should be recognised as such. Mixes of paint and crayon, charcoal and wash, collage and house paint are all expected. Also, many shortcut products are available today – rubber blocking out fluid, felt pen, oil crayons and gold felt pen, to name a few. Pure Gold leaf however gave my ‘Child of Llyr’ painting, retained in the Presidential Suite in Timor-Lesté, a quality that only gold can give. I didn’t grow up with the many products available today, so please forgive me. I am sure we would have used them in the commercial world. We got up to all kinds of tricks to achieve a special effect for the camera; a 4B pencil can point up a fashion drawing wonderfully.

It says something about an owner when poor artwork graces the wall in a home – especially if they are vocal about art in the community. What do your councillors have on their walls? How many of them annually spend as much on artwork as their annual wine or beer budget? How many highly paid art educationalists have bought the artwork that their homes are often full of – or were they gifts from grateful students hoping to make a living? It’s hard to move a thousand dollar painting every four weeks – and that’s only $12,000 a year before materials and costs. Should the low-income artist also pay for your wine as well, while you ponder?

My cleaning ladies in the art auction rooms were delightfully informed with bucket and squeegee mop in hand. I enjoyed making those interviews, but I scared the pants off my local radio station chief, nearing retirement, on my return. The tape cassette has been heard only by a very few and the programme series never developed – maybe a bit ahead of its time? I still think a similar series would make good listening. I also made many artist videos which, interestingly, are only now valuable since the people featured are dead. One was in Northland with artist Garth Tapper – an hour-long, face-to-face, with Garth ad-libbing his views about art and artists. He didn’t care for some popular writer critics. It’s a treasure, as this was his only video interview.

I enjoy all creative projects immensely. In earlier days, I was a highly paid international creative director and a brief and budget would set my mind’s wheels in motion. I was in my element working under urgency, often pressured to come up with that of which others were incapable. However, in a small rural pool, my life has changed. But it’s still who I am and what I do, isn’t it?

On behalf of all professional artists hoping to achieve a living, it is often forgotten that they are only as good as their next commission. Also, it’s thoughtless to commission foreign artists, as good as they are, when locals desperately need recognition, accolades and income.

As a creative, I am full of concepts covering many issues: traffic flow; written copy; airline in-flight visuals; the possible New Zealand Rabbit Pie industry; my own city’s lack of identity; awareness in the community of colour blindness and deficiency; the value of traffic roundabouts; their savings in pollution and fuel, to name but a few.

“This chap is too much, he thinks he knows it all,” do I hear you say? At 81 and as a trained creative artist and problem-solver, I have been around internationally for a while. I have discovered that unless one attaches a $20,000 fee to a solution that’s supposedly better than a local’s, it’s thought you can’t be any good.

My godfather’s advice on my 21st birthday was “Dougie, don’t play chess with people who don’t know how to play chess.” Sadly, I never learned. I expect those at the top not to be lacking in appreciation of creativity and creatives in general. Hey-ho – many a brilliant creative concept is passed over. Expect it, friends.