Last night we enjoyed our first Artists’ Conversation evening. To be honest, we had only a loose plan for the evening: Adele Anderson would lead our three guinea pigs artists through some guided questioning, Adam would play a couple of tunes, and people would purchase drinks and platters of finger-food from our excellent Marmalades hosts. We had no real idea of how many people might attend; in the end we received at least as many regretful non-attendance RSVPs as actual attendees. In retrospect I’m a little glad that it was a select group for our first Conversations evening – we really needed to see how the first one worked with a smaller audience before we get more ambitious with the numbers.

Well, I’m here to tell you that if you weren’t there, you missed out on a truly interesting evening.

It started as planned, with our three panellists – Gary Male, Margo Oliver and Andrew Maclean – sitting behind the big table. Adele sat off to one side with her list of questions (some of which, she noted, came from Google; apparently there’s lists of questions to ask artists) and gently guided the conversation. It wasn’t just a Q&A session; Adele framed a theme with her questions, our panellists thought about the implications and discussed them. As we had hoped, the ‘audience’ was very involved in the conversation. After 75 minutes we really had to call time on the open discussion; there were other elements to the evening and we wanted people to get home before midnight! As the conversation came to a close there was a real sense of excitement in the room, with people bringing their own experiences and questions into the mix. Overall the discussion focused on artistic development – what led to our panellists becoming practising artists, what had hindered or encouraged them on that journey, how they responded to criticism, whether they thought of themselves as artists. It was all tremendously interesting and often unexpected.

We had advertised that drinks and nibbles would be available for sale on the evening; the café was closed, after all! Somehow we overlooked that people were going to arrive at 7:30 with empty stomachs. Ingrid and Lindsay were very generous with their time (again!) and plate after plate of garlic prawns arrived on the tables as the discussion progressed. I had already eaten, but the aroma was mouthwatering. Next time we’ll factor meals into the evening from the start.

After a short hiatus for coffee ordering and the hiss of milk being heated, Adam Dennis took to the hotseat and talked about being an artist in the songwriting and performing context. He played two songs, one of which he wrote only ten days ago. He spoke of trying to bring some of the spark of creation to each performance of his songs so that the audience sees something new rather than just a rendition.

Finally, we asked our panellists to talk us through some of their works. This was an opportunity to move from the conceptual to the concrete, from the narrative of being an artist (or not, if you don’t use that label) to the process of actually creating a piece. All three panellists provided a fascinating insight into their process. Gary noted that his satisfaction comes from meeting the challenge of creating each piece of furniture, of working with curves and grain and finishes. Margo showed how her favourite paintings capture the feel of light through trees on a flat horizon, as her face lit up with enthusiasm for the subject matter. Finally, Andrew showed his photographs and talked about the tension between capturing truth and allowing the viewer to bring their own interpretations to the finished work. It was also interesting to hear Andrew speak of his process; the deliberate blurring of focus in the camera, followed by enhancement on the computer and even the contribution of the printer to the final product.

It was a thoroughly entertaining and stimulating evening, immensely enjoyed by all. We’ll all be back for the next session on 26 June … and hopefully those regretful non-attendees will come along and participate in the discussion as well!