For many aspiring senior artists there can be potholes on the road to achieving their ambitions.
Now they have the chance to address these artistic frustrations at a three-hour workshop organised by Upper Yarra U3A.
The workshop, on April 29, will be run by well-known Victorian artist and former local resident, Max Grierson.
People may be familiar with his work, recently on display at YAVA in Healesville, where he has also run workshops.
Max’s approach is shaped by what he calls “Q cards”, which participants fill in identifying where they need help.
Using a group of objects, he encourages the artists to first look at these objects in the wider context rather than the detail, using a technique he calls a “method of seeing” to address the issues raised by the cards.
Max describes his workshops as “malleable”.
“It is entirely their workshop, not mine.”
Many people may remember Max from the 14 years he spent as an art teacher then head of the art department at Upper Yarra Secondary College.
“My mother-in-law, who lived in Warburton, called me and said the school was looking for an art teacher. I visited the school and was hired on the spot.”
The couple moved to Warburton where Max’s wife, Maureen, taught at the local primary school.
She has been a major influence on Max’s work because of what he calls an almost “spiritual” connection with Greece.
After graduating as a primary school teacher she was hired as a nanny by a Greek family, where she taught their young son English.
Those ties with the family remain to this day and the couple now visit Greece every year.
Max took six months off teaching in the 1980s to tour regional towns and communities across Victoria.
Similarly he used his skills in the UK where he and Maureen lived for three years.
His aim is to capture the character of a place including its history.
“Drawings are far more intimate than photographs.”
Max’s last teaching years were spent as head of art at Caulfield Grammar in Melbourne.
The couple, now retired, live in Middle Park.
Never one to resist a challenge, Max also became a fitness instructor at MSAC on Albert Park Lake, retiring during Covid.
The workshop will be held at the Yarra Centre in Yarra Junction and is open to all U3A members.
To join Upper Yarra U3A and enrol for all classes including the workshop, visit the website at: upperyarrau3a.org.au
