Peter Norvill
Albert Einstein is supposed to have said: ‘ Imagination is more important than knowledge’. And according to Peter Norvill’s long- held belief ‘ art is imagination at its greatest’.
Peter Norvill is no stranger to greatness – although he tends to prefer peace and seclusion at his picturesque grazing property in the Upper Hunter region of New South Wales. The Norvill family came to Australia by sailing ship in the mid- 1800s and established a farm near Murrurundi, where Peter still lives and works. Like many talented Australians, he discovered a gift for painting after many years of doing other things … but ‘other things’ for Peter were far from mundane. In his teenage years, he secretly took flying lessons at nearby Tamworth – which led to a passion for long-distance aviation adventures. Peter Norvill received international acclaim in 1988 when he became the first Australian pilot to fly solo around the world. This was accomplished in a single-engine light aircraft which still resides in a hangar on the family property. The aeroplane hangar doubles as an artist’s studio for Peter. He is perhaps the only artist who needs to exercise care, while painting, not to bump his head on the wing of a Cessna. The grandfather of this great man was once the Mayor of Murrurundi – he passed away in 1950 on the same day that Peter was born. Artistic talent was noticed in the young Norvill at the age of two, when he started to draw pictures on the walls of the family home. While some family members were impressed, his mother was not enthusiastic about his early works. Perhaps in an effort to direct the flow of his obvious creativity, Peter’s mother gave him a Box Brownie camera when he was ten. He still has the camera today. “Photography has been a constant in my life.” Peter claims. “Painting, until recent years, has been there as an interest – but in the background – because I did not know what I was doing.” Aside from a few months of ‘art’ as an elective subject at high school, he has had no formal training. After leaving school at age 15, Peter Norvill worked on the family property and later ventured (parttime) into aviation as a ‘commercial
“No longer did I go outside and find a pretty landscape to paint … but rather, I sat inside the house and painted from imagination.”
pilot, instructor, crop duster and record setter’. He wrote a book about his world record flight around the globe, which saw him touching down in Brisbane 60 years (to the day) after the historic flight of Kingsford Smith in 1928.
Over the years, he tried many times to paint landscapes in oils. Most of these pictures failed to please him … so almost all have since been destroyed.
“I made numerous attempts to take up painting, but always gave up in disgust,” says Peter. “I tried one more time to give it a go in 1998. Not so much landscape work this time; more romantic-type scenes. No longer did I go outside and find a pretty landscape to paint … but rather, I sat inside the house and painted from imagination. Suddenly things started to fall into place and I was happy with what I was doing – I completed 144 paintings in three months!”
After his parents died, Peter initiated the Norvill Art Prize (in 2000), in memory of the Norvill family which can be traced back to the First Fleet and the builder of the ‘Endeavour’.
He subsequently experimented with many mediums including oils, pastels, graphite, charcoal and acrylics; even house paint. The works became physically larger as time went on, and Peter’s fondness for his art continued to grow.
When he finally discovered surrealism, he realised what had been wrong during all the earlier years of struggling with landscapes. All that time, unknowingly, he had yearned to be a surrealist.
“I have since found that surrealism is not just a type of art, but much more,” he explains. “It is a mindset – a way of thinking. I have learned to love it.”
In 2003, Peter stopped painting in order to devote time to another project. He established an artist retreat on his property ‘Rock Dhu’ so that other artists could enjoy the spectacular and dramatic scenery surrounding his home. ‘Rock Dhu’ now has its own gallery museum and several cabins have been converted
to provide accommodation for visitors. The property, which is still a working sheep and cattle farm, now also serves as an idyllic escape serious artists.
Early in 2006 ‘due to unforeseen circumstances’ this talented man took up his brushes again. He describes current work with characteristic frankness.
“What you see here now is where I am at … on my own journey, in art and life.”
THE JOURNEY
Much of Peter Norvill’s work has been shaped by what he refers to as ‘The Journey’. Hereunder, in the artist’s own words, is a brief explanation this amazing theme.
They say ‘life journey’. Some also ‘art is I say that art is a journey, within the journey of life.
Caroline Zilinsky entered first Norvill Art Prize in 2000 with a painting she called ‘Paradise Park’. It depicted (apart from some rocks well known to the surrounding hills) winding narrow tarred road and a few tiny houses that left nothing to guess but
it was little town of Murrurundi.
I took one look at this picture and, although I didn’t know it the time, was off on a journey of my own. They said that Caroline was 22 years old. actually met her (for the first time) two years later.
Another painting, entered by a Quirindi artist, depicted rocky gorge and waterfalls, semi-abstract. I bought
“They say ‘life is a journey’. Some also ‘art I say that art is a journey, within the journey of life.”
it and some years later handed it back to the Norvill Art Prize committee as part of our collection. It never entered my head that I should also purchase Caroline’s painting. Even today, were it for sale, still probably would not wish to acquire it. Something much larger was happening here. Almost immediately, I started paint my own interpretation of Caroline’s Murrurundi. used oils and similar colours – basically yellows.
While Caroline’s was an aerial view, mine was from ground level. I had everything down, and only had to paint in the houses. But that was it – I never finished the work. Already I was moving on at a furious pace. Already I knew the next step.
I started another board and the ‘landscape’ artist mind shut down allowing the ‘surrealist’ mind to emerge. OK, it’s a combination of both. This time I used ‘gloss enamel’ oil house paints (not for any special reason but only because I wanted to try them).
I brought in headstones to represent the cemetery; the Roman Catholic church; the railway station and telephone lines. Yes, the houses of the town did get finished this time.
The next leap of the painting saw it rendered on a larger board. This time the main street of town was left out. The focus was the church, headstones, railway and telephone lines. The railway line and road run off into the distance over the Great Dividing Range. Last of all, a woman in a long, dark red dress was added, walking along the road in front of the church; and a man was placed on the railway platform. The man is looking towards the woman. I wasn’t sure what they represented but somehow I knew they were important.
The colours were now much darker than the initial yellows. The picture remained untitled at this point.
No further works of this type were done for a long time. But I knew one day I would return to the theme. I liked it too much to abandon it.
A visiting art critic and teacher looked at this last work, and others, saying, “That is the best thing you have ever painted!”
I was flattered and shocked. I never consider myself an artist … I’m too much an uneducated amateur.
This latest painting was never far from me. I saw it in passing every day. One day the name ‘The Journey’ popped into my head.
Two years passed. Caroline Zilinsky won the second Norvill Art Prize, and she was over the moon!
She even lost the $10,000 cheque on the night of the presentation.
I invited her to visit ‘Rock Dhu’ to paint. The two of us spent a lot of time together in that month. We walked, talked and rode the mountains on my motorbike. We lay on our backs in the grass beneath a brilliant blue sky. We painted side by side at night.
It was time to return to work on ‘The Journey’.
The next rendition was in acrylic – increased in size to six feet by four feet. The headstones became one headstone; the woman was brought back to be appearing to hide behind it. She watched as a funeral procession emerged from the church and proceeded toward her. The man remained on the railway station platform, but he had become less dominating and sinister looking. When before he looked toward the woman, he later looked up the railway line – seemingly not even aware of the woman or the funeral procession being played out just across the track. Maybe now he was the ghost of the deceased? Whatever, he was also going on a journey somewhere.
The final work on this theme (to date) was the same size; but in pastels, charcoal and graphite. The only significant change was the addition of a young girl accompanying the woman behind the headstone.
Hundreds of works have been submitted to the Norvill Art Prize and I have seen thousands of other works over the years … but none have had such a powerful influence on my own direction as Caroline’s. I have often wondered why. I have no doubt it comes from within the depths of our similar-thinking minds, but I can’t start to explain it.
Caroline’s painting has taken me on a fantastic journey of my own, and I’m not sure it is over. Maybe that journey will recommence some day. n