Painter Edith McNally introduces Kieran Tapsell, one of the artists opening their studios this weekend for the inaugural Northern Illawarra Art Trail
Kieran started teaching himself pottery after moving to Stanwell Park in 1972 as the perfect counter foil to his work as a lawyer. The influence of Spain’s Antoni Gaudi and the Gothic Cathedrals inspired him to rip out his downpipes and replace them with vomiting gargoyles, and to create Gaudi towers, fountains and garden sprinklers as well as unique homewares with satires of classical Greek, Roman and Renaissance statues.
His crazy letterboxes, designed to cheer up the postman followed and soon spread around the village until he received a formal letter from Australia Post complaining that “the postman did not appreciate having to shove letters up some angry animal’s clacker”. (This is a Kieran quote and I suspect not totally true to the Australia Post letter.)
Restoring local bush land led to the now-famous “Art in the Park” adventure. Kieran used waste from the removal of noxious weeds to create giant nests to which, as a joke, he added porcelain eggs painted by many locals, of all ages, as a community art project paying tribute to great painters, as well as local artists. His outdoor galleries are in public spaces around Stanwell Avenue and include galleries for World Artists, Dinosaurs, Contemporary Australian Artists and in future one profiling Indigenous artists. Kieran believes that art should never be taken too seriously and should make people smile. While Kieran largely gives his art away he has recently begun selling some solar lights made from translucent porcelain to raise money for orphans in Zimbabwe.
Kieran can be contacted on kierant@ozemail.com.au
