Robert Juniper’s Garden
Don visited artist Robert Juniper, who lives and works in a protected valley east of Perth.
They chatted about his life and work while strolling around the garden and fishing in a small pond for marron, or yabbies as they’re called in the eastern states. Robert built his house about 30 years ago, but recently he added a new steel extension designed by architect and friend Allan Davies. The extension is made of corrugated Colorbond and consists of kitchen, family and dining rooms, as well as an insect-screened outdoor room. There are several other buildings on the property including a limestone studio, where Robert does most of his painting, and a large forge, where his son Ben creates a variety of beautifully sculptured objects. Robert is also a sculptor, but his sculptures are made from bits and pieces of rusty steel he finds in old deserted gold mining towns and dumps, and then welds together. Many can be seen throughout Robert’s garden.
Robert was born in Merredin, Western Australia, in 1929. He is acknowledged as a major figure in Australian landscape painting, with work represented in many public and private collections. Exhibitions of Robert’s work have been held in England, Japan and America. In 1980 he won the Wynne Prize for landscape painting. He has also been honoured by the Western Australian government as a ‘Living Treasure’. Robert is passionate about the beauty of the Australian landscape. Aerial perspective is important in his paintings, which represent his feelings about the landscape and what is visible to the eye. Robert used to worry that Western Australia was a very isolated place to work, but now realises that it allowed him the breathing space to establish his own style without being influenced by say, the Sydney scene or the Melbourne scene.