Carole Mikita reporting
In just five years, Colin Wightman has become an internationally recognized artist. Born and raised in Australia's 'outback,' he's now paints and shows his works in Park City.
Colin Wightman is a quiet man whose artwork comes from his feelings about his homeland. Named Australia's artist of the year in 2004, he hopes to keep this aspect of his ancient culture alive.
Wightman creates a work of art using a centuries-old technique. The handprint represents a person's signature; he then feels his way through colors, creatures and symbols to paint a personality. He says, "Sometimes you don't know you're doing it. Sometimes I look at it later and say, ‘I don't remember doin' that.' Yeah, and it still looks good."
It was just five years ago when Colin Wightman walked into a gallery on the east coast of Australia and dropped off some paintings. They sold immediately. But the gallery owner then said, "Now what do we do?"
Michael Micallef, with the Australian Outback Gallery, had a problem. He didn't know how to contact Wightman. He said, "I don't know, he didn't leave a number, nothing. Oh, typical aboriginal fellow, isn't he? We laughed about it and then a couple of days later, he walked in."
And Wightman became the artist in residence. His work has propelled him throughout the world. One piece brought him to Park City. Traci Wooley, owner of "Dreaming Down Under," said, "We've had it in the shop for the last couple of years, and many people have wanted to buy it, liked it, so we brought in some others, and now we finally got Colin and Michael over here."
Colin Wightman also plays the diggery-do, but it's his passion for nature and use of colors that draw people from around the world to his art. New Jersey resident Sylvia Golbin said, "I came by yesterday and I saw this wonderful, indigenous artwork from Australia, and I was very interested and so, I walked in this morning and lo and behold, here I am."
Colin Wightman says, "Just the feeling, somebody's taken something I did and it makes you feel good as well."
Colin Wightman and his artwork will be at the "Dreaming Down Under" store on Main Street in Park City through January 14.
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