In Conversation with Kyle Walmsley

Kyle Walmsley is our new Artist In Residence at Tracks. We caught up with him recently to pick his brain to find out a little bit more about how he feels about: Tracks, Darwin, mentors and power tools..!

Thanks for joining me. You applied for a Creative Fellowship and Arts Residency under the NT Arts and Culture grant program with Tracks. What is it about Tracks that inspired you for this residency?

I've only had few interactions with Tracks through some programs, like Dead Singers Dance Society, Choreolab, or Space Time Residency. Even though in the scheme of Tracks, they're tiny pebbles in the ocean, they've been really significant experiences for me on my art practice. My background is theatre and I guess my identity as a practitioner is theatre. So it's actually quite surprising how significant an impact Tracks has had. As I thought about applying for the residency through the Arts NT program, I was keen to try and step into some beginning journey of being an arts leader in Darwin or learning more from the art leaders of Darwin.

With a theatre background and you've been involved with companies like Browns Mart and Corrugated Iron here in Darwin, as a local artist myself, I'm curious, how has Darwin influenced your creative practice?

It really has! In a non naff way it has shaped me as an artist, because of so many reasons. Networking (whatever that means) is something that makes me feel ill and I don't want to do [it] and I feel like, you don't have to do it in Darwin because just living in Darwin is networking. It's just such a weird, great, interesting, bizarre melting pot of all levels of industry together.

So I think, how it shaped me is it's kept me humble, and hasn't allowed me to be too precious about art practice and feeling like I'm on some pedestal or better than anyone else. And I feel like it's just the kind of collaborations and opportunities that have been given here, I would never have been given or maybe if I had, if I was down south, I may have had access to them, but it would take maybe three times as long to be exposed to the same interesting, amazing kind of diverse array of artists and platforms. The communities are smaller, but a little bit more blended and less isolated, than maybe elsewhere.

Yeah. I imagine for me, at least it keeps you a lot more grounded as well. Which leads into my next question. I believe elders and mentors are really important, to keep you grounded for professional and personal development. What are your thoughts on mentoring? And have you had any mentors and how they impacted your life?

I would say, Sean Pardy, former Artistic Director of Browns Mart has definitely been a mentor to me, [he is] someone who is a champion of giving people a chance and allowing them to flourish, or fail as well as needed, but to ultimately learn and grow. I'm forever grateful to him for he's unequivocal kind of ‘have a go’.

The other person that comes to mind for me is Kate Weibel, who's a local theatre-maker, writer, director, performer, and is someone who I've been a part of processes that Kate has produced and have also been lucky enough to yet perform alongside Kate and have a really lovely moment was being able to direct her in something in 2020, at Browns Mart.

Lastly, curveball question. If you had to be a power tool, which one would you be and why? So for example, I would be a whipper snipper because it's whippy, it's snappy, and it keeps things neat.

And do you feel like you are a whipper snipper or you aim to be a whipper snipper?

I think there's just qualities about a whipper snipper that I relate to.

Okay. Okay. Okay. So I think an electric sander. It's because sometimes I think I don't have any ideas. I've never thought of an original idea in my life and I have nothing to offer. But what I sometimes think I'm good at is just a little helping smooth some things around the edges. I reckon I might not know how to like jackhammer something in, but I think I'm helpful in working with other power tools.

Buffing out the rough.