By Anthony Barich
DEPICTING the history of salvation throughout the rebuilt St Patrick’s Cathedral in Bunbury is the highlight of internationally-renowned West Australian artist Robert Juniper’s career.
Mr Juniper has depicted stories from the Bible for 14 seven-metre high window walls, two rose windows and a five-metre wide tapestry for the new St Patrick’s Cathedral.
Mr Juniper – whose art has been presented in group shows of Australian contemporary art in London, USA, New Zealand, Europe, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia and New Caledonia – became a member of the Order of Australia this year. But he said one of his greatest honours was when Cathedral architect Marcus Collins approached him to design the windows, where his trademark depictions of recognisable Australian flora and fauna are ever-present.
“I was very excited. I thought it was going to be a highlight of my artistic career, because of the hugeness of the scale and being on the ground floor of a new Cathedral. Not many artists get that opportunity. I was very honoured and excited to be asked to do the job,” he told The Record.
Bishop Gerard Holohan was sceptical about the economy of recruiting such a high-profile artist, but a visit to Mr Juniper’s Darlington home studio confirmed to the prelate that “the decision was fairly clear he’d be able to do what we were looking for”.
“The original plan was simply to have colour glass patterns in the windows as we thought we wouldn’t be able to afford an artist. I was going to leave that to future Bishops,” Bishop Holohan told The Record.
“Then Marcus Collins indicated Bob (Juniper) would be interested in the project and, while initially I was sceptical because he’s an artist so great and I didn’t know he could do religious art; but part of my conversion was going to his home looking at his art;” then the decision was clear, he said.
“I have no idea what the windows would be worth – they’re certainly a very generous contribution to the Cathedral,” he said.
Mr Juniper’s brief was simple: to create images that were understandable to a child and colourful. They must also have a catechetical value.
The Bible is not unfamiliar to Mr Juniper, who was baptised Catholic in order to marry his first wife, champion high jumper Robin Ann Brennan, in a Catholic Nuptial Mass – though he is not practising the faith today.
“I’m very well acquainted with the Bible; I have quite a few copies of it and read it from time to time, particularly after I was commissioned to do these windows,” he said.
Consulting his old work and memory of the Murchison landscape, the Pilbara and a bit of the south of Bunbury, Mr Juniper approached the project with a simple modus operandi: “I just treated it like I treat any of my artwork – figures in a landscape, in a biblical context. I had a few meetings with the Bishop and he outlined what he wanted me to do, which suited me fine as he likes my work and my idea was to put biblical events in Australian landscape with Australian flora and fauna, which is a theme of my work,” he told The Record.
One such image has Noah barbequing a piece of meat as a sacrifice with a dingo looking for an opportunity to seize a piece.
Bishop Holohan is happy with the final product, calling it “beautiful”.
Though 82, Mr Juniper still works every day, with another exhibition having opened at Greenhill Galleries in Claremont on 20 March.