g'day viewers, my name is graeme stevenson and i'd like to invite you to come ona journey of creativity and learning and adventure through theseries colour in your life. there's an artist in everyfamily throughout the world, and lots of times there's an artistdeep down inside all of us as well. so grab your kids, your brothers, your sisters, your aunties,uncles and mums and dads, and come and see how some ofthe best artists in australia do what they do.
(music plays) (graeme) well g'day viewers andwelcome back to colour in your life. we're up at proserpine at the moment infar north queensland. a nice muggy day. and we are with a sculptureextraordinaire: mr adrian van der lugt. - a pleasure bud.- (adriaan) pleased to meet you graeme. (adriaan) thank you verymuch for being on this show. as you can see, adriaan is a sculptorand a magnificent sculptor as well. you've got an amazing history.what we're going to be doing today is we're going to be working intimber and this is one of the examples
of working on which is one ofhis rocking horse kangaroos, - and also...- (adriaan) horse? - (graeme) it's a rocking horse?- (adriaan) no. (graeme) it's a rocking horse kangaroo. (adriaan) it's a kangaroo. - (graeme) it's a rocking kangaroo.- (adriaan) yeah that's more like it. (graeme) but we're going to be working on oneof these and then some of his stone work as well. but before we get into that, you're got a very, veryinteresting background as well.
you're from holland,ex-canada, then to australia. obviously you met yourbeautiful wife denise, a very, very talented lady as well, but one of your main influencesis from the inuit people in canada which is when you where there. canyou tell me a little about that? (adriaan) the inuit are the peopleor they used to be called eskimos, they're from the arctic side of canada. what inspired me about them istheir being in touch with nature, their whole animal ethic thatinspired me when i moved to canada
as a 7 year old i loved the aboutthe indians, i loved that about the eskimo people, thatwe discovered later on and yeah there is somethingthere. i'd been to europe, saw the big monuments andah, that wasn't for me, so it was all this environment with animalsand life it really did the inspiration. (graeme) that's magnificent and yourworks been seen all over the world. we've got a couple of shotsthat we'll screen in about just down at the local council chambers,were you've been commissioned by a number of various government organisationsto actually sculpt some of these pieces.
and they really are beautiful,but nature really plays a huge part in your work doesn't it? (adriaan) it's the only oddcommission that comes with the person, that's the commission becausei've been asked to do it. when i'm motivated for myself it's all the animal world, the birds, animal, reef. and my first exhibition in sydney with denise and me, we tookthe barrier reef to sydney - to a major gallery down there.- (graeme) and that was the barry stern gallery in the 80's wasn't it?
(adriaan) yeah it wasthe mid 80's it was great. it was just yeah, ourintroduction to the art world and that set us up. it was reallylovely to go from here to there. (graeme) but today as we said, weare going to put a rocking kangaroo - (adriaan) that's it.- (graeme) ... together (adriaan) i've called it a rock-a-roo. (graeme) and then seehow this piece proceeds and then we're going to do some workon the stone as well. but let's, uh... - (adriaan) shove it all the way in.- (graeme) let's start on the blank
that adriaan already has going, and then i'll ask you some morequestions as we go through anyway. (adriaan) so these guys have goneall around the world over the years. this is number 153, and i'm working on number 154 right now. - so what i'll do i'll set that up.- (graeme) okay. (adriaan) and get some chiselsout and the grinding tools. a boat builder here, a local boat buildersaid to me - this is 30 years ago - that was thirty years ago, he said
you're going to run intotrouble with just chisels, he said use the grinder, that'swhat we use in the boating world. - (graeme) sure.- (adriaan) and then there's no worry about where the grain goes and that was oneof the biggest revelations to me: that tool. - (graeme) sensational.- (adriaan) so sculpt all that in, it's mostly self exploration. talking to other workers you learn a bit more, you share a bit andall of that, so that's how i've progressed. (graeme) there'll be lots of noise,but let's go and have a look anyway.
(adriaan) okay. (graeme) alright well as you cansee, adriaan's actually set up this, it's not really a templateis it? what do you call this? (adriaan) oh i've got templatesin the cupboard, but yeah i've made that up, cut it up on thehandsaw and ready to just carve now. i don't need, it's in my head. - (graeme) okay.- (adriaan) i know where it's going. (graeme) what i'm going to do,because it's going to get pretty dusty, and dirty and noisy,
is i'm going to step out of the shot - and i'll ask you some questions from the side.- (adriaan) okay. (graeme) and why don't you talk to theaudience about what you're doing as well. - take it away.- (adriaan) i'm going to grab some chisels and see my tool cupboard, rather simple. organised but i know where every toolis. when i need it i know where it is. so... - (graeme) it's not in there?- (adriaan) no it's not in there today. a little antichiness lives in there.
so there's my tool, so some of these tools are hand me downs from a friend who saidmy mother's not using them anymore. (graeme) yep. oh yeah. - (adriaan) so yes, you make a go of that.- (graeme) beautiful. (adriaan) so there's mycollection of chisels. and i'll just slip that over here. okay i'll just grab thismallet from over there, i made this a few years ago on the benchso i'll just grind it down to around.
it's made out of blue gum;it's nice and solid and heavy. it's heavy work but so is this. i'm actually going to, i'm chopping now to the hand. - (graeme) yeah.- (adriaan) where i want it to be. (graeme) there's chips flying everywhere. so you obviously keepthose very, very sharp. - (adriaan) you can't blame your tools eh.- (graeme) no. (adriaan) just to show you the the process,this is what i do for the whole shaping
the tail, it just you know,that's what you've got to do. okay the next bit i'll grab a grinder... the grinder that i just usedis about 3 grades of grinding. if i'm taking of really rough stuff, i'll use a really course one. that was apretty fine one that's why it was a bit slow. - (graeme) yeah.- (adriaan) i brought a side drill 30 years ago, a makita one that iwent to get it repaired the other day and they couldn't fix it.where did this come from? - (graeme) it was 30 years ago. yeah.- (adriaan) it was an antique.
so i bought a new one this side drill okay. and what's wonderful about thisone is it has varying speeds. the disk is a piece of rubber which is soft so that my diskwill go around the corners. - (graeme) okay.- (adriaan) that's been my invention to make this all work. without this, i wouldn't be doing this. - (graeme) sure.- (adriaan) okay, i use this in hand sanding withthe sandpaper, the fine sandpaper. sometimes i use a block, but mostlyi'll use my fingers and my hands.
so a lot of shoulder work in that. but i'll just show you how this works. (graeme) okay. (adriaan) and it's not as bada tool as the other one was... and again with this, at this stagei should be using medium sandpaper, but this what was what was onthe disk from the other day, so i should put on a pieceof medium which i cut myself i cut some squares, punch a hole in it and put it on there and cutthen it out with the scissors.
when i teach sculpture, there's a great demand for working with hands again, i think people are justto thumb crazy these days and point with their fingers and computer and expect everything to happenwith the push of a button. and this doesn't happen that way. the other thing that i thought about is the original of this should be a drawing that should come out of your headsomehow. how do you get to this stage
and you need fromdrawing skills to do that. and i think you're anartist, i'm an artist. and i draw very well and that'swhat i teach my little kids. when i teach 9 or 12 year olds i teach them to draw what they see. look, before the computer ithas to come out of the head and into the computer.you're in control that way, but when you just pick up the program, somebody else is doing it for you.
i think you got to have yourown control of what you're doing. (graeme) that's a big mainstayof what you and denise do. you have kids around andyou literally show them some of the traditional waysof how this is all put together. (adriaan) yes i teach thesculpture with the kids too. not just drawing abilities. but i just find it terrific whenthe kids come back to me later, 4 years later yep i candraw anything i want. - they're just full of confidence.- (graeme) that's great.
(adriaan) and one of the kids at universitylevel now, came home and said to dad: you know dad, they were teaching me stuffthat i learnt from adriaan 10 years ago. and i think that's the real waste of theuniversity, they haven't got it right, because i think everyone,every kid should be able to draw by the time they're 12 years old. if you can write your name you can draw. 'cause it's just a matter of process,learning how to think about observation, all about that. i thinkthat's were you've got to be. when i was in canada justrecently there was a conference
actually on getting theimage into the computer, from the head to the computer. there was a conference aboutthat. i said yes, so good. (graeme) well as you can see, as part ofputting this beautiful sculpture together, you've got leather ears as well. (adriaan) they are leather. and it's just sitting on a stick which is thatlong and it goes into the head by that much. and i have to round that bitthat's showing so that it doesn't cut the leather, and i just simplyuse a little knife like that,
and then round that off that'sjust to show you how that works. i trim this a little bit, just put a grove in there, just sothe glue has some where to come out. - (graeme) oh right.- (adriaan) and tight so this, this is an ear that i've,from another kangaroo that's too soft, and i'vegone to a thicker leather now and so i'm actually, thepunch, here's the punch, and so there's 5 and there's5 holes. it's easy to do, - you put one on each end.- (graeme) yep.
(adriaan) so then i have toput this leather fold in there. and i still go through all 5 holes pull it through leaving abit so that'll go each side. so then i come up and over the top. (graeme) and just turnit around the other way. (adriaan) so that'll come around. now i have to startpushing it around like that. (graeme) and then roll it over the top. (adriaan) yeah roll itover the top like that
so you can see what's going to happen. and that'll just roll it roundlike that and in to there. so you can see that you'regoing to get leather lacing. - (graeme) all the way through there.- (adriaan) into the holes much like. to come up to this. so i glue that in, iglue the lace in as well. so that's, that's the making of the ear. (graeme) that's fabulous. well as you can see we've gone back to thefirst piece that we had when we started.
and the thing i love aboutyour work, and i think you enjoy is that it's so tactile. youlove people touching what you do. that's beautiful. but in saying that, this is obviously one of the piecesyou do for the pleasure for the people, but you've got these magnificentwhale pieces that you do. one of them we've got up on the screenat the moment is absolutely enormous. so you can see the extent of wereyour career and your sculptural efforts go to in putting thesetogether. that's a massive piece. i mean that's got to weighat least half a tonne.
- (adriaan) it did until i hollowed it out.- (graeme) sure. (adriaan) what i've learn't, idid a big dolphin 3 meters long and i had to hollow it out thedolphin. and from that i learn't that we should hollow out this whale. so laying it on its side i wasthe chainsaw it was pretty tricky. made a special long chisel to hollowit, welded it together to hollow it out. but now 3 people can lift that whale. so it's not the big tonnagethat you're talking about, but it's very tactile. peoplewant to climb sculptures
- i wish they wouldn't do that, that just...- (graeme) yeah. (adriaan) it doesn't happen in europe. but somehow australian kids,maybe it's the new generation? i wish they wouldn'tclimb all over sculptures. - (graeme) sure.- (adriaan) touch them yes, like you're doing now, i mean that's great. (graeme) but you're veryversatile in what you do. it's not just the wood,it's also the metal, it's also rock as well.
and you've got a piece that you'regoing to work with us on today as well. it's of a scrub fowlthat you're working on, - and that's on feldspar.- (adriaan) i picked the rock for the colour that it is. yeah it happens to be softer thanthe marble than i would've, yeah. so yes i've worked on to metal. i did back way back in the early80's i made a bird with legs and with a stainless steel beak and stainless steel legs. but my artists friends said ahthat'll never work, but it did work.
but it did work and itencouraged me to keep going and i've made a number ofbird sculptures with legs. when you're in canada all of thebirds have big thick fur coats on. - (graeme) yeah.- (adriaan) and they have big legs and they got everything the bulk is great forwhen you start carving, when you start carving withstone you've got to keep it bulky. then the bulkiness wheni came to queensland, the birds here, they're wearing bikinis. - (graeme) yeah cause it's hot.- (adriaan) so what do i do, you know,
i can't just make them thick and bulky, - so i got the idea of using the legs.- (graeme) yeah. (adriaan) i can't do it withstones so i started thinking of robs and there's a foundryjust 2 hours north of here that i was using, and i'vegot samples of legs over there, they're all of the wooden ones i've made, that then became bronze. and so i hang the bird and i fit thewooden legs until everything is balanced. i've got a base happening,they get bolted into the base
and so the whole thinghas to be engineered. i'm not an engineer but iintuitively know how to do that. - (graeme) yeah.- (adriaan) yeah so it's interesting engineering the rocking kangaroohad a knee doctor, a foot doctor whatever he's called and said: how did you know when that rock was right? because i do feet for peopleto rock with and he says: i went to school to learn allof that. i said: i just did it. so you know that intuitiveness i guessi don't know where that comes from.
(graeme) and you've gotanother major piece as well, it's the pelicans in marble. which was a lifetimes work wasn't it? it was a 6 tonne blockof marble that you had, and then from there you had varioustechniques that you had to use to try and cut it down and carve it. (adriaan) the block came fromchilligo originally. i got it was 1998 and it took me until2008 to finish carving it. mostly because i didn't knowwhat i was doing at first.
and i started with achisel and i got too sore and it wasn't until sylvia aponiafrom adelaide came into my life and we did a sculpturesymposium, did the rock wallaby. and he clued me in on newtools to be using, so i was thrilled thanks to him,i've moved on a great deal. - i know what i was doing then.- (graeme) well after talking about rock and marble, and feldspar, let's go and do somecarving on that feldspar over there. - (adriaan) if you're ready for a bit of dust.- (graeme) sounds good to me. let's go and have a look. - (adriaan) okay.- (graeme) okay.
okay well this next session's goingto get a little dusty you tell me. feldspar and then to thehardest rock which is basalt. - (adriaan) yes.- (graeme) and in between there are obviously other hardness of rocksthat you guys work on. what's the one you guysprefer to use most of all? (adriaan) i like, i like marble. mostly the marbles come from chilligoand there's various grades of marble and various colours,lots of colours up there. i was probably one of the first3 guys carving from chilligo
and he really had his so it was pretty excitingi think everyone in australia's using it now. but you talk about thehardness of the stuff. we talked about the inuitinfluence in my early carving, well i was carving soap stonewhich is what they were carving up there from the north. and i got a piece in theart gallery, at the art shop and i used a knife and idid most of it was scraping, so everyone starts off with soap stone. but it comes in various grades as well.
so after that you can moveonto the electric tools which i didn't have in those days. think of what michaelangelo couldhave done if he had electricity. - so this is a...- (graeme) this is what he did do. that he didn't demonstrate. (adriaan) so this is agrinder, it's an angle grinder and it's a 5 inch wheel or a 125. that's a diamond and the diamondis on the outside as you can see. - it's not on the inside.- (graeme) yeah. (adriaan) but diamond wheelsare not just diamond wheels.
they um, this is meant for stone cutting. - (graeme) yeah.- (adriaan) some of them you can buy really cheap ones, and they won't do the jobfor you so it will work, but different styles willrequire different expertise, and i've found this diamond wheelto be working for me very well. so i'll just cut someslices, knock them off - to show you how it works.- (graeme) and you just sort of break it down and then start to smooth itback with other mediums as well? - (adriaan) i will yep, yep, yep.- (graeme) okay.
alright well lets letyou have a go at that. - (adriaan) okay.- i'll step aside, there's going to be a bit of dust. - (adriaan) i'll put some gear on.- (graeme) and some noise. you're like an alien. (adriaan) so, so there's my birdthat i want to do. like that okay. so there's my head happening up there. so where do i go? and the interesting thing isthat i'll look at it from the top, okay you put your head over the top,
and now you can see thati've got a great big chest that i need to get ridof here right. so that's, i make that decision. i'll go there and i'lltake that off, right? go back to that then istill look at it this way, do i need to do this. idon't want to loose the tail or i do need to. i need to come in. now the neck is gonna be a lot finer, but i'm leaving it bulky
until i refine where it's goingto come from out of the body. - (graeme) sure.- (adriaan) then i'll work towards that and i'll leave that aswide, as thick as possible for as long as possible. as i said, stone work is often bulky and that's part of the charm ofthe eskimo work, the inuit work, and that's what i love about stone work and there was a stage were i gota little advice from mike parr and he said you're getting a bit too flash.
go back to the rawnessyou had in the early days. - (graeme) okay.- (adriaan) a wonderful bit of advice. so there you go. yeah so that's how it works,now one more element here... (graeme) yeah. (adriaan) is just, justyou recognise what that is? - (graeme) it's an old grinding stone.- (adriaan) a grinding wheel. and i just hit it with ahammer and it feel into pieces, and then i can actuallygrind these into shape on my grinding wheel and can
actually go into these little crevices and do what these othertool don't do, you see. and this feldspar is soft, soft like that you can see. (graeme) so you can seeit really breaks it down. (adriaan) so then wheni want a flat surface i just use a flat or thatpiece you're using there, there's different gradesof this as well. so i can, so you can see this takesa while, for a sculpture
gallery piece might take 2 or 3 weeks. i guess i've done small ones in a week. big ones when there's legsinvolved it usually can be 6 months. it's a bit of, a bit of hard labour. - (graeme) yeah it's very...- (adriaan) it's life; it's passion. look at the mess, i mean i'm getting dirty - i'm here, noise and all of that.- (graeme) we just arrived. (adriaan) but you know you put up with that just to get the result, and that'swere the thrill is. but you know,
you finish your big projectand you have a breather, and the next bit is themost exciting bit again. - (graeme) sure.- (adriaan) so the people often ask, what's your favourite medium andi say whatever i'm working on. - (graeme) sure.- (adriaan) because it's the journey. it's the process that i'minvolved in that i enjoy so much. - (graeme) absolutely.- (adriaan) yeah i see you put some colour in your life andthere's very little colour with this. - (graeme) yeah.- (adriaan) but i often think of my life
as a whole kaleidoscope of adventure. (graeme) well i think the idea of put somecolour in your life is about creativity. - (adriaan) okay.- (graeme) and it's about delving into that side of your mind. - (adriaan) yeah.- (graeme) that says disregardless as to whether you're doing this - (adriaan) right-o. good.- (graeme) ... or doing something else, - it's about creativity.- (adriaan) yeah, yeah, yeah. okay guys a great day with a very,very talented man. thank you bud. - (adriaan) thank you.- (graeme) it's been amazing. and as you can see we're standingbeside this incredible marble piece,
it's just magnificent. it'slooking for a home isn't it? - (adriaan) sure is.- (graeme) absolutely, so, and even your kangaroo patents as well. (adriaan) i'd love to pass that on to someonewho would be passionate about that yes. (graeme) yeah i thinkthat would be amazing. and your website, so that if anyonewants to come in and see what you do is? (adriaan) vanderlugt.com.au (graeme) on the bottom of the screenright now guys. so you can go and see that. and come and see in facebook.
and you can see some of your work in our facebook page andcolour in your life as well. so its colourinyourlife.com.au and we'll head off, wehead off to townsville now, - to see a lady up there. but it's been a great day.- (adriaan) you guys are so busy. (graeme) your wonderful wife denise, god and she's so talentedas well. it's just an amazing couple that live up here inproserpine. really, really cool stuff. but until we meet again guys, remember,
make sure you put some marble - oh hang on. make sure you put some colour in your life. - we'll see you next time guys.- (adriaan) oh i like the marble. (graeme) bye now. bye.