"Afternoon Light, Riley's Ridge", a favourite of many from the "Blue Forest, Green Seas" Exhibition

"Forest Blues", the title painting of my first Melbourne exhibition

Profile of artist Tony Hastings

Email:tonyquoll@yahoo.com

Life goal: "To be as good as I can be at all the things that I do, and to do as much good as I can with the skills that I have got."

Education: Sydney College of the Arts (Industrial Design), University of Technology (Mechanical Engineering), Sydney, Adult Education courses, and Barbara Hastings Art School.

"My aim in painting is to show the beauty and value of nature. I like to portray threatened landscapes, such as forest about to be clearfelled, or endangered species. I aim to capture not only what a scene looks like, but what it feels like to be there. I work from life as much as possible, or from sketches or my own photos. I like to be out-there, doing it."

"I had my first solo exhibition in 1997, when I hung a dozen paintings, several drawings and thirty photos in the foyer of Sydney's Environmental Film Festival. All of the work was of Goolengook forest in East Gippsland, which is an ancient old-growth rainforest, currently being clearfelled. The aim of the exhibition was to raise awareness of what is being lost, and to raise funds for the blockade."

"Blue forest, green seas" was a solo exhibition I staged at the Courthouse Cafe, in Geelong. It was planned for just December, 1999, but at the proprietor's request was extended another month. The exhibition featured paintings of Riley's Ridge in the Otways, a forest being protected by a blockade at the time.

"Forest blues", another solo exhibition, was held during late February at the Arcadia Cafe in Fitzroy. A blues night opened the event, which displayed fresh Otways and Goolengook paintings.

In Easter 2001, a good friend and I went hiking in our favourite forest, at Yandowne Creek, in East Gippsland. While he fished I painted from life, using acrylics on watercolour paper. We'd both pretended not to see the logging truck tracks leading up the road on the way in. Curiosity led us over the ridge to Dingo Creek, where we found shocking destruction. Dingo Creek blockade and following court case.

For my next show, I hired the Olinda public hall, when the Rhododendron Festival was on. I figured that thousands of people would be passing by my front door & might drop in. Unfortunately, the driveway to the festival was 1km long and almost everyone drove straight past. An exception was Janice Trenair, an artist who offered to manage my next show, and did a fantastic job.

"Once Were Forests", an exhibition of art and photos by Tony Hastings and Janice Trenair opened at the DRCCC (Dandenong Ranges Community Cultural Center) on 24th May 2002. Promotion included a front-cover story & photo on the "Leader" newspaper, the opening night included Stax, the Didgman, and it was a near sell-out.

Late 2002, I studied Interactive Multimedia at Swinburne TAFE, and made my first film "STRONG". This 30 minute documentary contrasted the beauty of the forests and the noble passion of protestors, with the wanton destruction of logging and violence of DNRE staff & Police.

Since 2001, I've contributed artworks and performed as Art Auctioneer, for TCHA, GECO, the Greens, and the Croajingolong Center for Communication and the Arts, 3CA.

I have been Treasurer of the Mallacoota Arts Council since November 2006. Over Cup Weekend this year (2007) I coordinated their Flowers, Fiction, Funk and Film Weekend. This created opportunities for all locals to be involved, contribute fiction stories, read stories aloud, perform original music, preset arranged flowers, attend a Funk music workshop, play funk music, dance funky disco, watch a forest slideshow & discuss issues, contribute a short film and watch local short films. The ambitious plan possibly overwhelmed the public, with poor attendance recorded.

These days, I'm loving the instant satisfaction of playing bass. I designed and shaped the body from Sassafras, collected from the waste after logging at Dingo Creek.