Inspiration seeker, landscape painter and local arts advocate — Meet our mate Alison Percy from Albury

Inspiration seeker, landscape painter and local arts advocate — Meet our mate Alison Percy from Albury

A fifth-generation local, Alison Percy grew up on a farm just outside Albury. But it’s not just her family history which makes the region feel like home, it’s clear she feels aligned with the values of the local community to this day.

“I've seen the change [over the years], the people that are drawn to this area are like-minded. They care about community, they love the outdoors, they love getting involved with events that are on.”

After a long creative career including graphic and interior design, Alison is now a full-time artist — “I love to draw with paint”. Her works are about abstracting the landscape, referencing traditional Japanese calligraphy, and exploring the use of vibrant and muted tones as part of her continuous study of colour.

As an artist, she finds inspiration all around the Albury Wodonga landscapes including the Murray River itself, and nearby high country.

“This area is absolutely loaded with inspiration…The Murray region, it's a beautiful place. It's calming. It's serene, it's picturesque. But it also has a lot of natural energy. And I feel the way I paint captures that with the calligraphic flow and mark-making that I do, which gives a more calming feel to the works.”

Alison’s process starts with inspiration captured on location through her visual diary and colour notes or photographs. When it comes time to create, she doesn’t lock herself away in the studio. “I love to paint out in the open air with what's in front of me”.

With a deep love of colour, you might expect hundreds of tubes in varying hues taking over her workspace, but in fact it’s the opposite — she mixes her own from a limited colour palette — “I'll use palette knives to take [paint] from the large containers and then mix them together and push the colour…I love to push the colours, build them.”

Once her favourite brush is loaded with the right colour, she begins.

“I walk straight up to the canvas or the linen and just start painting, I don't sketch it out first…I just go on a journey…I get a starting point and then push and then twist, or, you know, it can be thick or thin, and it's a connection from what I'm seeing, what I'm feeling. And that comes out through onto the surface.”

Art Shaping The Murray's Character

A deep connection to The Murray through her work has built Alison’s belief that artists help shape the character of a region. Through art, they get a chance to show their view of the world and how they capture inspiration.

“It almost opens a window for people to step inside our world and take a closer look and appreciate what's before them, instead of just passing by.”

In The Murray and surrounding regions, she’s proud to be one of many local artists and part of a community that’s home to many spaces for appreciation of art. In fact, she lives just a short walk from several in the centre of Albury.

“There's a lot of art to be viewed in this region. Two blocks that way, Murray Art Museum Albury [is a] very contemporary gallery, a lot of installations. They showcase a lot of artists work and their own collection…across the Murray River is Creators Artspace, a lot of printmakers there, [and] Hyphen, Wodonga's new cultural hub [where] I've recently had a solo exhibition in their Hallway Gallery, fantastic community gallery spaces.”

She talks fondly of the Gateway Gallery where she had her first ever solo exhibition in 2015. “A fabulous community gallery, without that gallery, I don't think I'd be in the position I am now as a full-time artist”, and further afield the Beechworth Contemporary Art Space. “Nina's an artist herself, and gallerist, and she's sourced artists to become part of her stable of artists from the local region…I feel quite proud to be part of that”.

More Than Art: Alison's Love for River and Community

While local galleries are among her favourite places, most of all, she loves being out on the water which is also a short walk away.

“We walk up alongside the Murray River then I hop on a tyre tube, John hops in with our dog, and we float. And we go around the river bends…I love being on the water. I let the current take me where it wants to take me. When I get a bit close to the trees I'll move across. I feel very safe on the water, very comfortable. I know it well, I've swum it forever. So that's my favourite spot to go.”

Alison is also a fan of the local food scene, highlighting a whole list of top picks like Canvas Eatery, The River Deck Café, Clancy's [Food Store], The Proprietor, Ebden & Olive and Frankies. Food, and coffee of course, is intricately linked with a sense of community.

“A hotspot for coffee is Guru's Cafeteria… they love community, and they've built a community around them. We are family. And I'm sure it's like that with a lot of people that visit them… Meraki Kitchen just down the road, that's purpose built for crafting the food in the space and really nutritious food, great coffee, awesome staff. Again, I feel like I'm part of their Meraki family.”

It's this element of community she often comes back to in our conversation, and it allows people to feel they’re part of something bigger while also giving a sense of ownership.

“I feel very proud to live in this region, actually, I can’t imagine living anywhere else…it's just a wonderful community. Even if you haven't lived here [or] you're new to the area, you will fit in fairly quickly because we are very inclusive."

"It's my river, but I'm happy to share it."

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