Arts in Vincent

The Arts in Vincent oral history video project began in 2017 to record and showcase the stories and memories of creative local residents.

In 2018, six more one-hour interviews were conducted with talented local dancers, artists, sculptors, musicians, composers and writers. 

Following are the YouTube clips created from the interview footage. Full transcripts are available in the Local History Centre. 

The interviews were conducted by Helena Cohen-Robertson of Know Your Nation.

Series 2 

SHANE COLQUHOUN

Following a career as a professional dancer overseas and in Australia, Shane Colquhoun’s arts management career has included senior positions within the State Government’s Department of Culture & the Arts and in the arts sector including General Manager with Western Australia’s Deckchair Theatre (1987-89), West Australian Ballet (1992-96) and most recently Black Swan State Theatre Company (2009-14). In 2014, Shane re-established his arts management consultancy business and commenced as a part-time lecturer in Arts Management at the WA Academy of Performing Arts. He is currently Secretary of the WA Chamber of Arts & Culture and Chairperson of the Blue Room Theatre. We spoke to Shane in the comfort of his gorgeous home in North Perth, where we were surrounded by home furnishings reminiscent of Nepal.

GRAHAM SEAL

Graham Seal is a writer, musician and historian. As Professor of Folklore at Curtin University, he has been interested in the relationship of history and folk tradition to Australian cultural identity. He is married, with two children and five grandchildren. We spoke to Graham at the Vincent Local History Centre, amidst some of his published works.

GRAHAM HAY

An incurable clay-aholic from childhood, Graham Hay graduated from Edith Cowan and Curtin universities in the mid-1990s and immediately joined the Wellman Street studio, then co-founded Robertson Park Artists Studio in 2000. From this local base he has gone on to participate in over 130 exhibitions in a dozen countries, including seven biennale. His work is in dozens of art textbooks, as well as is in public collections in seven countries, including our state gallery. Invited to lead conferences and over 300 workshops in a dozen countries, he stays grounded running community classes in the studio in Robertson Park, on Fitzgerald Street, North Perth. We spoke to Graham at his Robertson Park studio and were given a guided tour of both his and his fellow residents’ incredible pieces.

TERRI CHARLESWORTH, SONYA AND BRIANA SHEPHERD 

Terri Charlesworth joined the WA Ballet for its inaugural season in 1953 and remained until 1967 (as first ballerina and artistic director from 1960). She embarked on a professional teaching career, establishing the Terri Charlesworth Ballet School in Perth in 1960. This school is now operating as the Charlesworth Ballet Institute. Terri has taught in companies and schools throughout the world and has produced many notable professional dancers. She introduced classical dance by various means into several high schools and colleges in WA and co-founded WA’s first three-year tertiary dance course. She founded WA’s first professional contemporary dance company, Kinetikos and in 2004 she was the founding artistic director of Youth Ballet WA. Terri was awarded the Order of Australia for her contribution to dance in 1994 and was the 2006 WA Citizen of the Year for Arts and Culture.

Terri’s daughter Sonya Shepherd is the long term director of the Charlesworth Ballet Institute and Youth Ballet WA. Terri’s granddaughter, Briana Shepherd, was the first Australian to be accepted into the New York City Ballet company. She is a guest teacher at the Charlesworth Ballet Institute and a reporter and presenter at the ABC. She still dons her pointe shoes every once in a while to perform outstanding shows in WA. We met Terri, Sonya and Briana at Terri’s beautiful home and spent a fair amount of time comparing old photographs and the techniques of the three dancers.

JAMES LEDGER

James Ledger is a composer with a breadth of work spanning solo, chamber and orchestral music. He has been composer-in-residence with the West Australian, Adelaide and Christchurch (NZ) Symphony Orchestras, the Australian National Academy of Music and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. He has won APRA Art Music Awards for his violin concerto Golden Years and the orchestral work Chronicles. He is currently lecturer in composition at the Conservatorium of Music at the University of Western Australia. We saw James at his Mount Hawthorn home and discussed his music in his music room, where the magic happens.

BRENDON DARBY

Brendon Darby is an artist and musician based in Perth, Western Australia. He has had over 40 solo exhibitions across Australia and around the world. Brendon is an accomplished musician, performing professionally for many years and is also a published composer. In what is arguably his most important collection to date, Brendon combined his two disciplines creating "Listening to Paintings - Australia". 10 years in creation, this multimedia work premiered at New York's Museum of Natural History in January 2007. Brendon has been a finalist in The Archibald Prize, The Doug Moran National Portrait Prize and The Black Swan for Portraiture. He is primarily known for his landscape paintings. Brendon has spent considerable time living, painting and exhibiting in Europe and the USA. Most recently he spent time painting and exhibiting in Italy. We met Brendon at his inside-outside home studio in Mount Hawthorn. A gloriously presented space, we were much inspired. Unfortunately Brendon was pretty cold throughout the session due to the wind and persistent rain!

Series 1

The first series of six one-hour video interviews conducted in 2017 highlighted the breadth of creative talent among Vincent residents.

Click here to watch interviews from Series 1.