Don Hill is an Australian Environmental artist and activist who grew up in Ipswich and now resides in South East Queensland and Thailand. 

Early influence in his art works came from Arthur Evan Read, Mervyn Moriarty and Frank De Silva with whom he undertook casual studies and field trips. 

 In this book Don examines the use of raw and freely available materials for making compositions and artworks

and how the art works came about. 

This is especially relevant in his use out of recycled wood, canvas and in particular of bamboo which he grows 

on his digs in Australia and Thailand.

Don takes time to explain how this process happens when he feels inclined to start a new piece and the stories 

that the works tell. 

He uses materials and a palette derived from his first hand environmental experiences and previous 

living conditions.

The majority of pieces were made in the early 2000's and depict the memories of a wandering homeless person. 

This is an essential theme in his Art.

The works are described as an organic manifestation and extension of himself with an underlying undercurrent of 

visual beauty. with the use of gold leaf and colour serving to remind the viewer that there is still beauty in the world regardless of the times we live in.

He states that his practice of using bamboo was an accident in waiting and he cannot explain why it came about but it did. Its still relevant today and has not dated or faded in his mind, with the only draw back being collection, collation and the making of the compositions which take time and thought to put together. 

In the past Don would collect boards and wood from Nudgee Beach in Brisbane’s East but now this material is difficult

to find as many people are collecting it and there may be legal logistics to collecting material from the beach 

as opposed to 30 plus years ago.  

His interest in using bamboo to make art still excites him still and he is still in pursuit of this ideal.

As of now Don Hill is entering his seventieth year and being undaunted by the prospect of old age he continues to produce works of art, photography and books about his art practice with this document becoming a Survey of his earlier and possible future work.    

“Of Shore of Sand’  Don Hill 

I have always had an interest in the environment and it's make up, or if you like what's happening to it as time progresses. The road that led me to this place Nudgee Beach was totally accidental and unexpected as well as never planned.

Originally an unwelcome journey it became the ending of one and the beginning of another that eventually led to a fresher start in life but at that time doubt had set in. This led me to discover a wealth of man made Flotsam that makes this place home on occasions so I made a conscious note of its location for future reference and moved on. 

The beach at Nudgee is quite different to what people expect to see of a beach especially in Australia as it provides a sanctuary for wildlife, mangroves and indigenous flowering plants.            

Even though at that time it was awash with detritus it didn’t appear to make a huge impact on the population of wild inhabitants.

Seagrass grows everywhere and provides beautiful cover for the timid aquatic species and a hunting ground for the Ibis and Egrets. 

There is an abundance of soldier crab burrows and barnacle colonies as well as lovely oysters. 

The thing that was lacking at Nudgee Beach was surf. 

Don't bring a board here as you will be disappointed. 

Later on I became interested in using items that were available from renewable and free resources such as I had seen  there. A compulsion. 

Discovering Bamboo 

I had an interest with and including natural occurring materials that could be recycled as well as the rejected and also living and growing things that had to be cut back from time to time.  This is how my interest in Bamboo began and still continues today at which time I would ask friends if they new of locations where they had seen clumps of culms in the Brisbane area being trimmed or collected by Council Workers. Prior to this I would drive to locations where I knew there were clumps growing and wait for the council harvest to happen. Eventually I got to know some of the arborists and they would contact me when a cut was about to happen. 

At that time bamboo was a scarce commodity. 

The cuttings produced a hard substrate on which to apply acrylic paint and gold leaf, becoming the main medium and evident in most of the later works that were never seen by the general public in Australia and now only surviving as a photo record here as most pieces were purchased and shipped to Europe.

All of the works from this time rely on a spontaneity and lack of thought about composition.

This is how they had come about.

Without thought. Without regulation. 

Rely on what is inside you not a visual perception.  

I would collect cut and dry the substrate so this was possibly the only part that required active planning. 

"A Survival Story’ (Yuliana Kusumastuti 2022)

"The road that led me to Nudgee Beach was totally accidental and unexpected as well as never planned. This was an

unwelcome journey that became the ending of one and the beginning of new one that eventually led to fresher things

but at that time doubt and uneasiness had set in" - Don Hill

I parked my car early one morning by Nudgee beach, walking barefoot I could feel the grass and then the grey sand, chirping

birds followed me all the way.

This was my first time in the area, but it didn't take long for me to notice the peaceful and serene qualities of the place.

Nudgee beach is a place that has great meaning for him, as from this place more than two decades ago, he found himself

loving art, creating art and to this day continues to explore ideas and his craft.

Nudgee beach therefore becomes the starting point for my own explorations to understand the ideas of Don’s artworks.

As I continued walking on the beach, I began to think about how my experience of a peaceful beach can mean something so

different to his and thought perhaps his series exploring bamboo could provide some insight to his past, the beginning of fresh

starts, ideas and his journey.

I had the opportunity to meet him in person a year ago in 2021 at the exhibition "Tide Line "in Tenerife, Brisbane.

He and environmentalist artist John Dahlsen collaborated in an elegant exhibition which included a book.

John Dahlsen exhibited his recent art and research of waste material from the beach alongside Don displaying a set of

photographic limited prints observing the local environment at Nudgee Beach and Bruce Bay in New Zealand.

A point. A beginning.

For Don the beach and its environmental qualities provided him both the starting point of his conceptual explorations and

oftentimes the medium to bring his ideas to life as he collected and incorporated discarded items found on the shore like

timber, wooden pallets and vinyl to his art.

Hills interest in the relationship between nature and human interaction in his artworks exploring how humans often determine

the life and growth of nature and how the life of organic materials have the opportunity to be recycled and renewed. This is

how his interest in Bamboo started and continues today.

He would drive to locations where he knew there were clumps growing bamboo and wait for the council harvest to eventuate.

council or rather human intervention therefore determining the life cycle of nature under the guise of maintenance to control

the inherent rapid growth of this substance. The bamboo he would collect during these harvests mainly consisted of bamboo

of the decorative yellow and green streaked variety. Rather than allowing council to dispose of the bamboo Don Hill through

his art would recycle and provide it with new life.

I particularly enjoy his works on bamboo, "Night at the Beach', "Sucking Neptune" and "Night Crawl". Those pieces

expressing joyful and bold colours. "Night at the Beach", dominated by bright red, and "Sucking Neptune" and "Night

Crawl", are expressing bold fluorescent and bright yellow colours. Using gold leaf and acrylic paint, the works he has created

between 2005-2006 are powerful. The composition of his works during this time are 'contented', yet at the same time one can

feel the irregular dimensions of bamboo, the roughness of their cut and their arrangement hiding the real story which is

namely the process Don Hill explored in creating the finished composition.

The Bamboo plant is a unique plant, known for its qualities of structural strength while being flexible, a durable plant surviving the

wind and bad weather yet easy to grow. For Hill, it's a challenge to work on a hard substrate on which to apply acrylic paint and gold

leaf, becoming the main medium. All of the works of this time rely on a spontaneity and lack of thought about composition. This is

the way he responds to the strength and durability in Bamboo to 'heal' his negative energy. His intuition keeps his mind free when

making art. His intuitions drive where or how to place pieces or paint to achieve regulated design and acceptance. This randomness is

apparent in most if not all the works. If there is such a formula to his intuitive process it would be a composition formula that follows a

guiding light of the subconscious will.

I asked Don the question of what his decisions or thought process is when incorporating colour into his work.

He states that colour is an individual thing and he used it to hide some of the desperate times that happened on the journey that the

bamboo pieces depict.

Leaving some areas of unpainted bare bamboo to show through as a background.

Furthermore, he explained that he was exposed to and inspired by the impressionists works when he lived in Europe.

When I look at Hill's bamboo art, I often perceive themes of memory, the journey and loneliness, when I asked him if these themes are

present in the pieces his response followed.

"They depict times that were more enjoyable and freer with less fear in the air from the night and dark.

A life change was coming in this story and once again a freedom that had been sort for some time.".

This sense of nostalgia and even melancholy of a time that once was becomes clear in Hill's bamboo assemblages which are

painted over freely with acrylic paint, uninhibited in its layering, with moments of bare bamboo providing relief and other moments

of gold leaf expressing the rare moments of the past. These bamboo assemblages are held together by the palette frames and pieces

of timber that he would recover from the shores of a selected beach, bringing together his past experience and memory of a place

and time which holds great importance to him and how they are able to be recycled and perhaps live on through his art.

Importantly, through times of darkness and adversity, joy and loneliness

Hill endures much like the adaptability and versatility of bamboo, his art stands as a symbol of his journey. A journey he states,

"It was never a journey to a perceived end for gain or any expectation to forfill a quest so to speak except to produce these works

as memories of previous times".

Don Hill's bamboo sculpture has been selected as one of finalist for Churchie Art Prize, and it becomes clear why with such a

simple yet well executed themes of nature and the human experience in his art.

For over twenty years his dedication to the visual art field enriches his life journey and the life of many others.

Yuliana Kusumastuti

Master of Arts, Artist and Writer

Brisbane

02.11.2022