Greetings from Maitland

Artist Trevor Dickinson’s unique and vibrant style is well known in Newcastle, thanks to the many large-scale murals he has painted in and around the city as well as his observational drawings of local iconic buildings and places that frequently get sent around the world as prints, tea towels, magnets and coasters.

After spending so much time drawing Newcastle and later Canberra, it was finally the historic City of Maitland’s turn and on 15th October, 2016 Trevor’s solo exhibition of drawings and digital prints, ‘Greetings from Maitland’, opened at the Maitland Regional Art Gallery.

At the start of every new project, British expat Trevor asks local people for recommendations of key buildings and places to draw, before getting out there and exploring the area himself.

“I don’t always draw what people expect and I don’t really go for the ‘tourist brochure’ ideals. I love to draw odd little buildings with personality and by drawing them exactly as they are on that day, I capture a very distinct moment in that building’s history.”

With a graphic design background working for large retailers in the UK and Australia, Trevor was initially more used to designing graphics for clothes and merchandise than drawing buildings and street scenes.

His experience in this field, coupled with his love of symmetry and patterns, shines through in a lot of the buildings and places he chooses to draw.

Read more in Edition 82 of Hunter & Coastal Lifestyle Magazine.

Story Laura Jackel.