NSW South Coast: Follow an art trail by the sea

The road to art takes a detour through the stomach. At Berry's South on Albany, paint-speckled dinnerware matches the entree of yellowfin tuna, charred pink grapefruit and tissue-thin shavings of radish and fennel. A miniature watercolour depicting the restaurant's owners, chef John Evans and sommelier Sonia Greig, illustrates the menu; it's the work of regular diner and local artist Robyn Wakefield.

Her whimsical ink drawings further elucidate the makings of this weekly set menu: a produce lorry navigating the squiggly roads that lead here from Sydney, two hours' drive north; cows grazing tree-flecked pastures; oysters plucked from nearby shores; and the restaurant's affable waiter, Kin Chen, whose eyes dance (in both life and art) behind large-rimmed spectacles.

"That drawing is my claim to fame," says Chen, who worked at Sydney's Billy Kwong for 15 years before settling here five years ago. He lives up on Woodhill Mountain Road, and suggests I visit his neighbour, potter David Collins. Next morning, I climb the mountain as directed. Berry shrinks into the valley and the Shoalhaven yawns around me; the road falls this way into the Kangaroo Valley, that way towards river flats and villages. Collins isn't expecting me, but I'm welcomed into his studio with its potters' wheels (visitors can take lessons), works-in-progress and mesmerising ocean view. The vista is a novelty for the long-time Shoalhaven resident; until 2019, he and his wife lived across the road, overlooking a different scene.

"We used to come and stand at the fencepost on a Sunday morning and have our coffee. You can't see it now, but the mist cascades over that valley."

When the property came on the market they snapped it up and built a hillside studio. The altered perspective has impelled Collins to turn his attention from his technique-centred, Muromachi-inspired style to the window-framed landscape beyond.

"I'm now thinking of the escarpment and the ocean as two themes," he says, picking up an unfinished work twisted with scores and contours. "I composed this as the waves of Gerroa Beach. It's not representational, it's more symbolic."

Beyond the ridge, those waves pound the long coastline demarcating the Shoalhaven. In hamlets strung out along the shoreline and into the hinterland, artists dream up other ways of decoding the landscape; galleries and museums exhibit the fruit of their imaginations. Back in Berry, the Co.Lab cooperative overflows with such ware: jewellery, ceramics, candles and clothing handmade by locals. Amid the multimedia exhibits at the Flying Pig Gallery, a framed galah peers down from the wall; lifelong Shellharbour resident and artist Kerry Brown has etched the bird's pale crown into a sea of pink feathers.

"I think artists are drawn to nature," she says of the region's growing arts community. "A lot have moved into the area."

Brown's painted birds come to life here, too. They flood the air with song at my cottage, Wirrawul (Dharawal for "Milky Way"), a short drive from the town centre. Late at night, an owl's lament drifts from the eucalypts overhanging the garden's gypsy caravan. By day, a black cockatoo manifests in the splashy mural painted by Ryan 'ARCY' Christenson along Egan Lane in nearby Nowra. Part of the city's street art trail, the work honours the city's name, which means "black cockatoo" in the Dharawal language.

The trail leads me to the Shoalhaven Regional Art Gallery, where a courtyard frieze painted by members of the Aboriginal Medical Service Women's Group evokes the fauna and marine life found in the region. Inside, touring exhibitions are featured alongside the work of regional artists who are able to draw from a deep and replenishing well in their creative practice.

"The Shoalhaven is a place of endless inspiration - why wouldn't you want to live here?" says gallery director Bronwyn Coulston. "You've got the space and the opportunity to create and be inspired by what's happening around us locally - by the landscapes, by the environment, by the community. But you've also got fairly easy access to Wollongong, Sydney and Canberra, to get your art fix."

Read more on Explore:

This environmental stimulus is exemplified at Meroogal, a gothic revival house shaded by a century-old jacaranda tree. Four generations of women from the Thorburn and McGregor families lived on this former five-acre allotment in Nowra. The oddments of their lives - handmade lampshades, delicately woven lace collars, idle piano keys - tell a story of creative ingenuity. Artists interpret these antiquities - and the inhabitants' indomitability - during the biennial Meroogal Women's Art Prize run by the Museums of History NSW.

"The sisters called washing day 'the water picnic'," says guide Nicole Blay as she lifts a washboard from the scullery sink.

"Kate did the gardening and lace-making, Belle was a horsewoman. She would ride side-saddle from here to Seven Mile Beach."

At Wirrawul that night, the Milky Way is masked by a stormy impasto; I dream of Belle riding side-saddle to a beach awash with Collins' clay-wrought waves. The skies are dull next morning as I contemplate my order of zucchini fritters at The Hungry Monkey in Berry. Colour blooms like a painting in the speckled platter - from avocado green to ruby pomegranate. The road home can wait; art must first detour through my stomach.

Old and new collide during the inaugural OpenField Arts Festival Program (June 22-25, 2023) when the historic town of Berry becomes a canvas for some of the Shoalhaven's top contemporary artists. Heritage buildings, utilitarian venues and open spaces will fill with works exploring the intersections between antiquity and modernity in an evolving country town. Visitors can also enjoy live music, talks and pop-up cinema. Don't miss the collaborative installation by digital and textile artist Tina Fox and the Berry Spinners and Weavers group, which probes the connection between traditional crafts and modern technology; take an evening stroll through the Princess Street Reserve, where trees will be festooned with Aboriginal cultural art curator Warwick Keen's neon poles; and head to the Showground Pavilion for a projection of photo media artist Tamara Dean's video creation, Dysrhythmia. openfield.org.au

Catherine Marshall was a guest of Shoalhaven City Council.