5 minute read
bold as bexta
MEET OUR COVER ARTIST BECKY GUGGISBERG, ALSO KNOWN AS ‘BEXTA’ – LOCAL KIAMA CREATIVE BRINGING THE WORLD AROUND HER TO LIFE IN VIBRANT COLOUR
Words Matilda Jesiolowski
Looking through the catalogue of Becky Guggisberg’s works, you can’t help but be drawn to the bright, bold hues. A self-confessed “water baby”, her love of the coast and the natural world is evident throughout her work, with many of her paintings featuring joyful beach scenes and vivid florals.
A natural caretaker with a nursing background, not to mention a mother of four, Becky is also heavily inspired by the human form. In her art, she is slowly transitioning from 'Becky Guggisberg' to being 'bexta', for multiple reasons, she says. “I absolutely love her – her boldness, freedom and her sense of humour. She is who I aspire to be.”
Newcastle-born Becky spent several years of her childhood in Canberra before moving to Kiama with her family at a young age. “I remember house hunting with my dad when he accepted a position at Wollongong Uni. I still vividly remember looking from the escarpment towards Stanwell Park and thinking I had never seen anywhere so beautiful,” Becky recalls. “The smell of the salty sea and the forest, it took my breath away. We moved to Minnamurra, and I thought I had gone to heaven! I haven't moved from Kiama since. It's home.”
Art wasn’t always on the cards, though, with Becky spending a large part of her life as a registered nurse. “I studied nursing at Wollongong Uni, and worked as a registered nurse for 20 years, working mostly in the emergency department,” she says. “The work was real, a service, a privilege and intense – I loved working as a team, helping and nurturing people at a time of crisis.”
Yearning for something more, Becky started studying fine arts atTAFE, in between shifts and change to raising her four children. It was a pivotal moment during her nursing which led her to transition to art full-time. “I was nursing someone who passed away when I had an epiphany that you just get one life,” she says. “I felt like I had been ignoring what I really wanted to spend my time doing. I wanted to show my kids to follow their dreams, to back themselves, to be courageous.”
It was that realisation that triggered Becky to resign from her permanent nursing position in 2015 and change careers. She hasn’t looked back.
Since then, she has experienced a successful venture into the art world, with career highlights including winning several art prizes such as the Gosford Art Prize, as well as being named a finalist in the Paddington Art Prize, among others. She has also seen her art take her abroad, where she was selected in 2018 to be an artist in residence in Varanasi in India for a month. While her creative career has taken her on many adventures, it’s the humble rhythm of her work which brings Becky the most satisfaction. “Realistically, it's the daily practice, the ritual, the exploring, the playing, the muse, the devotion – bringing it all into being, balanced and complete… That is the highlight, the true gold,” she says.
And there is no shortage of people, places, or things she finds influential.“I find inspiration everywhere!” she says. “Both externally and internally. Currently, I have this fascination with music and musicians, and the work is playful and fun.”
A wearer of many hats, Becky is also the president (although she prefers the term ‘caretaker’) of the Kiama Jazz and Blues Festival, which she says is a service to her community and to musicians.“The KJBF is filled with so much musical talent – it is fresh, evolving, wholesome, and generous, and has been built from great love and integrity,” she says. “The musicianship is extraordinary and the vibe is amazing. It is a privilege to be a part of!”
Aside from music, Becky also takes inspiration from the human condition, with the human figure featuring heavily in her work.“The figures have little stories or can at times be deeply spiritual – we can see ourselves, or someone we admire, sometimes it’s a social comment,” she says of the bodies seen often in her art. “I am not predictable, I am changing, evolving and often playful in my approach. I want my work to feel good for the viewer, nice to be around.”
The way Becky creates is intertwined with her coastal surroundings and the garden, themes that are also woven throughout her art. “I have a morning ritual – the process starts first thing and includes a plunge into the ocean. I work in my little garden studio, and I tend to work on multiple pieces at a time. I listen to music, podcasts, and, hey presto, it’s dark and time to cook dinner!” she says.
Most of her paintings take a month or more from start to finish. In high demand, her work is often commissioned, and she has also found herself working on the occasional mural, which she finds to be a fun journey and a unique, different way of working.
Like many others, Becky has felt the impact of the pandemic. “During the early Covid lockdown, I was unable to paint – I felt frozen, stressed, paralysed,” Becky recalls. “I spent my time in the garden, connecting with the soil, nature and growing food. My daughters were studying and on Zoom classes, and I was on the call-back nursing list, should I be required. I obsessed over the news.”
But she soon began to appreciate the slower pace of life that the pandemic provided. “The garden nurtured me and guided me back into the studio and I painted flowers and fruits as a still-life, which was what our life had become – still, slow, beautiful and precious.”
Becky is optimistic about what the future holds, pandemic or not. “I will keep painting and creating… I will keep enjoying this one precious life and being bexta.”
See more of Becky’s work on her website, www.beingbexta.com. Catch her current exhibition at music, art and culture space Fillmore’s Kiama (@findingfillmores), or at upcoming exhibitions at El Horses Gallery, Nowra in late January, or Worklife in early 2022.
