On Bundanon

Paints and brushes on the pallette table in Boyd’s studio.

Bundanon has been somewhere that has captured my imagination ever since I was a teenager. Seeing an interview /documentary with Arthur Boyd down on the Shoalhaven River when I was young had a profound impact on me, and gave me an understanding of what it could mean to be an artist, to paint outdoors and to try and understand and depict the landscape.

Bundanon (and neighbouring Riversdale) is the property the Boyd’s owned and worked from in the Shoalhaven, south of Sydney, just inland from the NSW coast. I’m told that almost immediately upon purchasing they began to work towards it becoming a gift to the Australian people, in trust. What a wonderful legacy to leave such a gift of place and of art and of learning which is now even more true to that legacy with the new gallery space and accomodation.

The two sites that make up Bundanon and Riversdale have two distinct characters. One a sprawling space set into the hill with gallery, education area, accomodation and original buildings, including contemporary architectural statements by wonderful australian architects and the other an old homestead set amongst farmland and surrounded by trees. You can’t help but think about the arts and landscape when you are there, and the intrinsic connections between people and place, especially as you wind down through the bush, past the river and out on to the peninsula where the studio and homestead sit.

I love the way Boyd thought about the landscape. His connection to place, and his understanding of his own place in it when he said “The people who have been here 40000 years or 60000 probably…they understand it. But I don’t think the Dutch, English or anyone else undersands it…yet. They can love it, but but they don’t understand it, yet.” I would hazard a guess that many non indigenous Australian landscape artists recognise this in themselves, we love it and our work is all about learning to understand it.

I spent a few hours in November at Bundanon and in Boyd’s studio and garden, and soaked up his magnificent works. The new gallery space is phenomenal, a great sanctuary like space with vaulting ceilings, reflected light and a great sense of calm. And the old homestead and studio feel like a place to stay and hide away from the world with brushes and paint. To watch the roos, or head down to the river or up into the scrubby bush. For those of you who haven’t made it to Bundanon, first, here is the video I remember, and then some images to whet your appetite.