By MICHELLE HERBISON
LOCAL artist Joel Wolter is enjoying his down-time after a year of hard work preparing 26 artworks for a Geelong Gallery exhibition.
Wolter told the Independent he had continued with his beloved print-making while also diversifying into oil painting for Stories from the Shore.
“I’ve exhibited and been more successful with the printmaking side of things but over the last few years I’ve started to develop the painting side of my work,” he said.
“I see it as a challenge and evolution in my practice.”
The immediacy of painting struck Wolter as a comfortable change from the laborious processes involved with etching and printing.
“I end up with a result at the end of my brush right in front of my face,” he said.
Wolter’s Stories from the Shore features 18 oil paintings and eight prints from etchings – 14 still-lifes and 12 landscapes.
“Most works depict the water and have coastal themes to them and all the little still life paintings have got ties to the ocean,” he said.
“With my home being Geelong and the Surf Coast, a lot of the still-life works are things I’ve collected just walking along the beach and taken back to the studio.”
Both intention and serendipity played parts in Wolter’s inspiration for his work, with the artist often exploring the region with sketchbook and camera in hand.
A theme running through most of Wolter’s works explored humans’ impact and presence in the environment, he said.
“It’s fairly understated in the work but in an undertone, there’s concern there. Just how dramatically the coast is changing – it seems a lot more busy and developed.”
Wolter said Geelong skylines and nautical marine structures including Queenscliff Pier played a part in some of his landscapes, while objects such as little shells featured in the still-lifes.
Wolter completed most of his work after hours and at weekends, juggling his personal passions with a job teaching VCE art most of the week.
His Stories from the Shore, part of a Geelong regional artists program, is open at the gallery until 1 December.
Wolter will give a free artist’s floor talk about his artistic practice and some of his works at 3pm on 17 November.
