Something in the water

For Newcastle artist James Drinkwater the ocean has always been a place of clarity and creativity. After living overseas, the coast called him home and a new family chapter began.

There’s something special about 32°S/151° E. Punch in the coordinates, head north over the Sydney Harbour Bridge for a couple of hours and you’ll arrive at James Drinkwater’s church: the Newcastle Art Gallery.

Drinkwater, who came back to the east coast via Europe, had saved the gallery as ‘home’ in his GPS. “It’s been my church, and my place of sanctuary and the way I accessed culture as a young boy,” says Drinkwater.

He grew up in Newcastle, studying art there before attending the National Art School in Sydney, then moving to Melbourne and later Berlin to explore the idea of being a full-time working artist.

It’s a move that paid off. Drinkwater has been awarded the Brett Whiteley Travelling Scholarship, the John Olsen National Art School Life Drawing Prize, and has been a finalist in the Wynne and Sulman Prize, among many others.

He has also undertaken residencies in Kenya, Paris and Tahiti, and in a full-circle moment, the Newcastle Art Gallery presented a survey exhibition of his works in 2019, titled JAMES DRINKWATER: the sea calls me by name, which he describes as “an absolute honour and dream.”

Drinkwater’s wife Lottie Consalvo is also an artist. Originally from Melbourne, she had spent summers visiting family in Newcastle, so the desire to return was very much shared. “We wanted to have babies. And we wanted to do that by the sea,” says Drinkwater. “Back then, Newcastle was still a town with a lot of empty space, with factories and warehouses in the city. And you could still strike up deals like swapping a painting for a studio for a year. I knew we could hustle here.”

“I’m really proud of what the town’s doing, and that it’s growing up, but I didn’t really mind either way because for me, it really is about space and the sea and family. Those three key aspects are still primary in the way I approach each day in my studio.”

Read the full story in our Summer Edition of Hunter & Coastal Lifestyle Magazine or subscribe here.

Story by Rosie Double