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Scott Trevelyan
In 2002, while half way through a visual arts degree in printmaking at Southern Cross University, printmaker and artist Scott Trevelyan was in a life-changing accident.
"I was riding through the hills behind Byron Bay NSW when I crashed my beloved Ducati in a high speed accident that left me with eight broken vertebrae, a couple of broken ribs, a punctured lung, a dislocated femur, a broken shoulder and a traumatic brain injury."
Trevelyan was in a coma for a week.
After spending a year teaching himself to walk again and learning to overcome the severe fatigue resulting from his Acquired Brain Injury (ABI), Trevelyan returned to his degree. Together with university staff and the North Coast Brain Injury Rehabilitation Service, he built a wheelchair accessible studio on his property in Alstonvale, on the NSW North Coast, which he named Willowbank Studios.
While his work has expanded to include three dimensional work, Trevelyan has been a professional printmaker since the mid 1980s. He finds catharsis in the printmaking process, and uses his practice to resolve issues relating to his injury.
"The skills and challenges that are required to make pleasing print images, place me into a very comfortable, meditative-like headspace."
He has been exhibiting his work since 2004, and was recently included in the exhibition BORN TO BE WILD: The Motorcycle in Australia at Penrith Regional Gallery.
Awarded the 2008 inaugural Accessible Arts Bundanon Residency, Trevelyan used this opportunity to immerse himself in his practice and develop it in a way he could not have at Willowbank, where he is unavoidably distracted by the "everyday duties of life at home". This increased focus allowed Trevelyan to achieve what he refers to as "a more informed and resolved quality in my artwork".
As President of the NSW North Coast based organisation Brain Injury Support Service Incorporated (BISSI), Trevelyan is also a vocal advocate for increased public awareness of ABIs. His practice reflects his experiences as a person living with an ABI and, knowing first hand the benefits that the creative process can provide, he has been facilitating fortnightly workshops for members of BISSI for the last three years. Held at Willowbank, the workshops provide a space for self-expression and healing, without charge to the participants.
"I gain immense pleasure in seeing a student's face light up with happiness when they make a successful creative piece or image" Trevelyan says.
Scott Trevelyan, Another Momentary Lapse of Reason 2009,
Artists’ book, 310 x 310 x 200mm
Scott Trevelyan, Sogno di da Vinci 2009, Solarplate etchings,
400 x 540mm