TREVOR DICKINSON
Finding Home
IN NEWCASTLE
WORDS LIANE MORRIS
THE OH YEAH, I FORGOT ABOUT THAT: A DECADE OF CHANGE SEEN THROUGH THE EYES OF MR TREVOR DICKINSON, ARTIST EXHIBITION IS ON SHOW AT THE NEWCASTLE MUSEUM UNTIL 27 FEBRUARY. AND FOR LOVERS OF ALL THINGS NEWY, IT'S ESSENTIAL VIEWING! In celebration of the museum's ten years of operation, the exhibition focuses on the past to draw attention to the present. It features more than 20 works, including two new pieces 16
commissioned for the show. Trevor Dickinson's art has become synonymous with not only the museum but with the city of Newcastle as a whole, through his many quirky murals and his outsider's vision of the inherent beauty and fun to be found in the everyday life of the city and its surrounding suburbs. Trevor hails from England but has lived in New Lambton since 2002, when he moved here with his Australian wife and two daughters. He worked as a designer in fashion and on licenced brands such as Star Wars, The Simpsons and even Thomas the Tank Engine. When he first arrived in Australia, he continued designing from home, but he found it hard, as
an outsider, to tap into the local arts scene. Newcastle at that stage was still in the 'hangover' period from the BHP closure and was in the early stages of transforming into the arts and innovation hub that it now is. He was not happy in Newcastle at first. He felt distant, alienated and couldn't find his community. So in 2009, he made a concerted effort to get himself out of his house and draw what he saw from his outsider's perspective and with an obsession for the underappreciated urban environment. He collected his drawings in self-published zines and then branched out to include tea towels, cards and prints, all sold under the Newcastle Productions brand. It was a tongue
