Capturing Moments in Art

There’s a well-known quote about the pram in the hallway being the biggest enemy of creativity but it was no deterrent for South Canterbury-born artist, Rachael Polson.

words: Pattie Pegler

When she enrolled at the Adelaide Central School of Art she had two children under six and a husband who was working as an anaesthetist. With an extensive network and "very supportive friends" she was able to make it work – juggling motherhood and studying for her degree in visual arts.

Already a qualified early childhood teacher and with a degree in psychology, Rachael was no stranger to study. But the 4 year Visual Arts Degree was tough, she says. “Art is a discipline and they taught us the techniques but it really stretches you, you’re encouraged to think about what you have to say and whether you even have anything to say.” Rachael was interested in motherhood, understandably. But there seemed, she says, “not much interest in it in the art world at that time.”

She graduated back in 2009 and along with her husband and two children returned to Timaru in 2010. She has had many exhibitions of her work, but her art went on hold slightly while she worked as a kindergarten teacher and part time lecturer in early childhood.

It was the Covid lockdown that gave her time to revisit the seed of an idea she had held for several years. The result was ‘Play’, a series of oil paintings and digital drawings of children at play – riding on tricycles, playing on the beach, jumping, sliding – all of them derived from her own original photographs taken a few years earlier. The works were exhibited at 77 Art and Living in Fairlie earlier this year. The Play exhibition has seen several of Rachael’s works sell but sales are not the motivator for her art – it’s about giving something to the viewer, she says.

“You don't see young children in art a lot and I wanted to capture these moments that are so precious. I wanted something that would speak to people. We talk about children on iPads and screens all the time but they still play all the time. They’re [her works] are really about the state of childhood,” she says.

It seems like a return to that thread of interest in motherhood and children that she initially had back in art school. “It’s almost gone full circle,” she says.

So if money were no object what art would Rachael like to have in her own home? “I would go on a world tour and find women’s art,” she says. We think for a moment of famous artists and lots of men come up but then it comes to Rachael; “Alice Neel” she says decisively. Look at Neel’s work and you can see why – there’s a strong focus on women and motherhood in her intense portraits.

The next couple of years will see Rachael focusing on more study as she completes her Masters in Educational Psychology. But she will still find time for her art, spending time in her studio in Timaru where she shares space with other artists.

“I’ve got plenty of other things I want to work on,” she says.