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ReConnect Bathurst:

Jan Sheppard

When you paint your escape in some way. It’s a definite space, everything becomes less important. Sleeping is not important. Food is not important. You want to go on and on and on. It doesn’t matter what you’re painting. I mean, it can be a portrait, it can be anything. The escape is the beautiful part of the process.

I’d go down to the studio — it was lovely. 

My studio now is my son’s bedroom. 

The thing that I miss the most, I think, is the learning. There’s still so much that I’d like to do.

It feels like I need another lifetime.

When I was first married, we were living at Mt David.  His mother first off said to me, “use starch with his overalls and whatnot” And he said to me, “don’t forget, I want starch in my overalls.” 

And with starch then you had to mix it up, and when you’d mixed it up you put it in with the water. When the starch dried, you had to roll it, sprinkle it, roll it up and iron it.  Anyway, he was really adamant that I didn’t put enough starch in his overalls.

I thought “I’m just married and I’m not used to a male telling me what to do.” So I put that much starch in them that when they were going around the clothesline they were practically standing up.  

But, I thought, what can I do? I’m not gonna do this all the time. So I starched his underpants.

I never had to starch again. 

That did it.

My writing is done under a different name, under my pen name. It’s my grandmother’s name.

My grandmother was a musician. She wrote poetry. She wrote stories. She was a wonderful woman. She had two children and then she had a third when she was 50.

She had postnatal depression and in those days it was very different. She lived way out in the bush with her husband. He was away a lot with the cattle and he thought that she didn’t want the baby and that she wasn’t looking after the kids. So he put her in a mental asylum in Sydney. 

She died in the asylum. 

A beautiful, intelligent woman. 

Nowadays, they know what it is. 

Back then they had no idea.

I believe life is for living. 

If anything comes along, you deal with it.

You think about, well, what can I do? 

How can I do something? 

If I’m upset or something I can play the harp. I can write my stories, anything. I’ve got so many things that I can do. And there are so many things that other people can do, things that I can’t do. 

And that’s what you got to do. 

You’ve got to live life. 

You’ve only got one life, life’s for living.

And on the way, you help people.

I have people that ring me up that are upset and they have things happening in their lives

Talk to them, ease them.

Listen to Jan share about her advice for living life:

Jan is an award-winning writer, writing under the pen name AA Anderson. Listen to one of her stories, titled ‘The House’:

You’re a carer now. How has that journey been for you?

I miss going to things. I miss social occasions, my husband has never been a social person. 

I’ve done drama. I used to go to writing in the morning.  Philosophy in the afternoon. I’ve done psychology. I loved psychology.  I’d like to do psychology at uni because to me, that’s life. Psychology. 

It’s about how people think and what they do.

Perhaps I would be a bit too opinionated.

I stopped teaching painting when I got breast cancer. Then later when I got pancreas cancer and esophagus cancer, that really stopped me from doing anything. It takes a lot out of you, but I’m still going.

And what I’ve been doing is learning to play the harp. I always loved the harp, I always had the feeling I could play. But when I started to learn, I realised that it’s not as easy as it looks. 

And I thought I’ll never get a harp because they’re few and far between these days and they’re dear. 

It was Christmas time. And my son said to me, “Mum, I’ve got something for you for Christmas”. And I was in my bedroom and he said I want you to close your eyes and keep them closed. 

When I saw it, I couldn’t believe it. I had my harp and it was so beautiful.

I was in John Calvin Cancer Hospital in Sydney for seven weeks getting treatment. I took my watercolours with me.

There were people there that were really sick and some of them wanted me to see me doing watercolours. So I said, “what’s your favourite thing, something that you miss?” There was a Scottish lady and she said she missed the Scottish thistle, so I painted her a Scottish thistle.

I also took my computer with me. It was only just then that you could have a look at the world and where your house was. I was the only one with a computer. I could show people their houses and I could paint for them.

And look, that pays more than any gold — to see the look on those people’s faces. That’s what life’s about. It’s about making somebody happy.

Listen to ‘The Revolving Door’ another of Jan’s celebrated short stories:

That’s what life’s about. It’s about making somebody happy.

This project is proudly funded through the State Government’s Local Government Social Cohesion Grant Program. ReConnect Bathurst is an And Then project delivered in partnership with Bathurst Regional Art Gallery.

Current: Jan Sheppard

Next: Edgar Coello

Uncle Bill Allen

Bev Cooney

Cheryl O’Brien

June Paton

Gus Gorton

Lonnie Edwards

Yvonne Morgan

Enn Muller

Jan Sheppard

Edgar Coello

Aunty Shirley Scott and Aunty Sandra Peckham

Mike Hardie

Frank Smith

Clive Brabham

Eddy Suttor

RECONNECT BATHURST PARTICIPANTS’ INDIVIDUAL STORYBANKS

PROJECT INFORMATION


WHEN

April – November 2022

 

WHERE

Bathurst, NSW

WHY

We believe that stories matter and that stories like those shared here hold power and significance. 

The vision of the project is to use photo-storytelling and cultural preservation practices to develop social and creative connections and experiences with older people from the Bathurst area. This project celebrates the participants' lived experiences while encouraging dialogue around ageing, isolation and ageism. 

Social-arts projects like this are important as they transform public spaces and help to build a sense of community. It’s been wonderful to reimagine Pedrottas Lane in Bathurst and to create an online representation of the physical exhibition with a project made with the community, for the community.

WHO

We were honoured to be invited by Bathurst Regional Art Gallery to create and facilitate ReConnect Bathurst.

16 older people from the Bathurst area. Many of the participants were nominated by local community organisations while others serendipitously came to be a part of the project. We’d like to thank The Bathurst Aboriginal Land Council, The Wiradjuri and Community Aboriginal Elders, The Neighbourhood Center, Bathurst Business Chamber, The Woodies, Bathurst RSL Sub Branch and the Country Women’s Association.

With special thanks to Dinawan Dyirribang (Uncle Bill Allen), Bev Cooney, Cheryl O’Brien, June Paton, Gus Gorton, Lonnie Edwards, Yvonne Morgan, Enn Muller, Frank Smith, Jan Shepard, Edgar Coello, Aunty Shirley Scott, Aunty Sandra Peckham, Mike Hardie, Clive Brabham and Eddy Suttor.

HOW

Our stories are a wonderful connection point. It’s through sharing them with each other that we make space for conversations that can inspire, that can expand our understanding and in some cases, leave us changed.

During this project, we spent time with each person, we talked, reflected on old photographs, made images together and worked through various ways of co-authoring. Socially-engaged practice empowers participants to participate in the creation of their stories, allowing them to represent themselves in the way that they choose.

We often leave a camera with participants and invite them to engage in their own image-making. There’s something raw and revealing about the images made this way, about seeing the world through the participants' eyes.

AND THEN

Through their stories, we see facets of vast lives lived. We witness the snapshots and threads that when woven together create a rich tapestry. Our hope is that as stories wash over us we’re able to make space to contemplate connection and the beauty of community.

This project is proudly funded through the State Government’s Local Government Social Cohesion Grant Program. ReConnect Bathurst is an And Then project delivered in partnership with Bathurst Regional Art Gallery.

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ReConnect Bathurst: Enn Muller

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ReConnect Bathurst: Edgar Coello