JOHN VAN KLAVEREN steps into the hectic yet ordered world of renowned Bellarine Peninsula artist John Druce.
John Druce’s studio is packed.
The Barwon Heads artist uses the seek-and-you-shall-find method of filing, with drawers, cupboards, boxes and shelves holding bits and pieces collected over his 76 years.
Druce can (almost) unerringly go to the correct part of his studio to uncover a note, photo or sketch that hasn’t seen the light of day for years.
Every piece has a story and fits into the journal of his life.
And then there are the paintings, with easels set up in the studio, more stacked in their frames in a side room and still more vertically filed in low-hanging timber racks in the attached garage.
“I don’t know what I will do with all this stuff later on”, Druce says, gesturing widely at files of photos and drawers of drawings
Barwon Heads has always been home for Druce, even during his lengthy sojourns overseas or around Australia.
“I was born in the house next door,” he reveals.
Read more on the remarkable John Druce in the latest GC Magazine – out now.
