Talking With Painters

Few other artists have captured Australia's imagination quite like Ian Fairweather. This is the second part of a double episode on this 20th century artist. In the last episode I interviewed Claire Roberts, co -editor of the book 'Ian Fairweather A Life in Letters' and we talked about the events of Fairweather’s life from his early childhood.  In this episode I talk with Ann Thomson, one of Australia's leading contemporary artists who I have previously interviewed on this podcast. Ann met Fairweather on several occasions with her then husband, photographer Robert Walker. They visited him on Queensland's Bribie Island where he lived for the last 20 years of his life before he died in 1974.  He’s considered one of Australia’s most important artists. Although he was often described as an outsider or a recluse - he lived on Bribie Island in self-made huts apart from the rest of the community - he was actually quite sociable through his letters and welcomed friends who came to visit. He famously saile