Tags: Art classes. Kids. Childrens. Artist. Bribie Island Brisbane
WHO’S BEHIND THE WINDOW
Throughout the world, art can be observed to present itself in many guises across an incredible range of mediums and it seems that as artists become more experienced, the more adventurous they become with their art. Within the ever-increasing art community here on Bribie Island, there is one particular artist who uses his skills to create works that are certainly unique in their appearance.
Featured Image(above): Local artist and art teacher Greg Cannon with an example
of his skill with the brush
Having spent his childhood as part of a family in which his father was an accomplished artist and his brother a sketcher, Greg Cannon became interested in art at a very early age and from what he told me when I spoke to him recently, his love of working with the brush has never wavered. ‘When I was young, my grandmother used to make me sit down and draw things. I think that she did it to keep me quiet,’ Greg explained.
‘Art was my favourite subject at school and having realised this, my teacher suggested that I enter the Australia Day Art Award which was a statewide competition and my entry was declared the winner. This certainly gave me the confidence to keep going,’ he said. In a rather ironic twist of fate, when Greg began high school, the rather well regarded educational facility did not offer an art course so for two years, Greg had to attend art classes at an all girl’s school.
‘I was the only boy in the class, and there were some interesting moments,’ said Greg. ‘At the end of my schooling, I was rated as second in the Tasmanian education system for art,’ he added. In the years that followed school Greg found employment in the field of sports administration and when not at this job, continued with his art.
He told me that he did many sketches of old buildings in various areas and when a series of these sketches that had involved hundreds of hours dedicated work was lost, that signalled the end of his sketching. As what was I suppose a natural progression in his development, Greg moved toward abstract for a while before being commissioned to produce a number of works that depicted subjects such as animals, sailing boats, nudes and also faces and this continued for a number of years.
Women Behind Windows is the new series of works by Greg Cannon
A desire for a change of location resulted in a move to the Queensland city of Mackay where Greg met his wife Mary Anne. During his time there, as well as working as a volunteer for the Cancer Council, Greg began to teach the talents of the brush to small classes of children and, since making the move to Bribie Island, he continues to teach from his home.
As I touched on at the beginning of this article, Greg is at present creating a series of rather different forms of hanging art which he has named, “Women Behind Windows” and he told me that whilst nothing has been definitely decided, he will most likely be selling these from somewhere such as the Eumundi Markets.
I would suggest that anyone who would like to find out more about this very unique series that Greg is working or about “Art for Kids” which is Greg’s after school art classes, they should give him a call on 0458 339915
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