practical living
There was one occasion when I was
sitting in a plane at Sydney Airport on my
way to Mumbai for three or four days,
and I had this incredible desire to get off
the plane. I just felt that I really wanted
to pursue my own personal creativity,
as opposed to the role of managing and
directing teams of others. It’s an incredible
responsibility to have design teams around
the world that are looking up to you to give
them guidance and give them your input
and inspire them.
But there’s this other side of me
that was really trying to find my own
personal creativity again, my own
individual mark-making and desire to
express myself.
What was the transition like from
management to working by yourself?
Everybody asks me, “How’s retirement?”
And I have to correct them and say,
“Look, I feel I’m pursuing a new career.
I don’t feel I’ve retired.”
But the transition I feel everyone must
be impacted by is that, one minute you’ve
got teams of people around you, you’ve
got this network of people – and so many
men’s identities are defined by their work
status or what they do at work – then
suddenly you walk away from it, and in my
case it was to a studio where I had my own
agenda, my own ideas. But I also had to
find my own motivation, my own stimulus,
to turn up and do this stuff every day. That’s
a huge challenge for anyone.
ACI: Tell us about your career before
you decided to become a full-time
artist.
MS: I worked for one of the world’s
largest designer branding groups. I sold
my design firm to them in 2004 and
stayed with the company to become
an international creative director, which
had me travelling to Hong Kong, Tokyo,
Mumbai and Singapore on a regular basis.
It was a fast paced, frenetic role. Don’t get
me wrong, I absolutely adored it and got
a huge amount out of it. But there came
a point where I thought that maybe I’d
had enough.
When did you realise it was no longer
for you?
I’ve had a long desire to get back to
painting. I painted much earlier in life.
But three or four years ago, I started
writing also. The combination of writing
and painting just took hold.
You recently opened your first solo
exhibition at age 65. What are some of
the challenges and benefits to doing
this as an older person?
My show, Contours, opened at the
Me Artspace, which is a gallery and
a studio where I paint in St Leonards.
It’s part of the TWT creative precinct.
TWT, the property developers, have
turned what was a fairly quiet and rather
dull part of St Leonards into a vibrant
hub. I think there are 70 creative people
now working in the streets around us.
It’s quite fantastic.
But I think one of the real challenges
was that I’d been out of the corporate
world for nearly 20 months, and this was
my first show. As the days got closer, it
was a mixture of exhilaration and nerve-
racking self-doubt. I think somebody once
said having a solo exhibition is like walking
into a room naked. I must admit, it felt a bit
like that.
Some older adults might be deterred by
embarking on a career change.
I fully understand that. Since leaving
work, I’ve painted with a number of art
residencies and workshops. They’re made
up of, 95 per cent of the time, women
painters. I’ve been doing a little research
into why men aren’t among the group.
Why aren’t there more men painting
and relaxing? Even seeing it as a hobby,
and dabbling with the whole idea of it,
because art therapy is a fantastic form of
brain energy and leisure power. It’s a very
active way to use your mind.
I think it’s easy to feel you’re not
good enough. It’s easy to feel you won’t
succeed, that you can’t do it. My belief is
that you’re never too old to learn, you’re
never too old to try, and you’re certainly
never too old to achieve, particularly in
the art world.
I’m fascinated that the writer,
Mary Wesley, became a best-selling
author at 70. So I reckon I’m like
10 years away from my peak in painting,
and I seriously believe that. I would
encourage anyone to think about it.
What advice do you have for older
people out there?
Be prepared to try. Guy Warren, who’s
a famous Australian painter, walked
into our studio the other day. It was an
absolute pleasure to see him. Guy is
98 or 99 and still painting. He gave me
some great advice: you’re never too
old to experiment, and you have to stay
curious. I think that’s absolutely right.
As a painter, you have to be curious
about the way your painting and
You’re never too old to
learn ... and you’re certainly
never too old to achieve.
drawing is going and how you try and
see the world. But I can imagine that’s a
massive mental block for many people.
My advice would be, find your way
into an environment, a group, where
it’s non-judgemental and where you
can try something that you might
get hooked on and take up. It’s an
incredibly rewarding thing to do. Don’t
shut yourself down, open your mind
up. Even if it’s for an hour or two a
week, it makes a massive difference. ■
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