Mathew Simms The Storyteller
It’s a studio visit like no other. I pull over on a dirt road just outside Westbury in Northern Tasmania and do a U-turn before re-reading the instructions: ‘After the willow trees, then across the creek.’ On my second attempt to find Simms’ camp – his home and studio – I spot the artist waving from the side of the road. He’s tall and lanky with long grey hair, and his beard is decoratively tied in a knot. His clothes are handmade, as are his chunky wooden clogs.
Simms’ camp occupies a sliver of land divided by an old railway line in the bucolic Meander Valley. This rich environment
