Renmark horticulturist Kevin Schubert has conquered personal adversity to reinvent himself as an artist whose work is spreading wings across South Australia and beyond.

Words Ben Kelly | Photographs Italo Vardaro

There is a mathematical theory that binds all nature’s infinite forms and shapes into a common rule of design: the golden ratio. From the distinctive profile of a wedge-tailed eagle to the geometry of a tree, the bud of a flower and the arc of a breaking ocean wave, the mathematic ratio universally applies to everything created in nature.

Having grown millions of plants and seedlings during his career as a nurseryman, Renmark horticulturist Kevin Schubert has been observing “nature’s golden ratio” up close for most of his life. It’s meant that, without realising it, he’s developed an eye for nature’s many perfect shapes and dimensions.

Knowing from an early age that he wanted to work with plants, Kevin was 17 when he established his first garden centre at Renmark. During a boom for the industry in the 1970s, Kevin’s retail store was so busy that to keep up with demand, he started growing plants on his family’s property.

“My parents had a seven-acre block,” says Kevin. “I’d pull out two rows of grapevines and put up a shade house to grow plants, then pull out another two rows of vines. Finally, Dad said, ‘just take them all out!’

“The business grew from just Mum and I, to employing several staff, then supervisors and office staff and truck drivers, and it just became bigger and bigger,” he says. At its peak, Kevin’s wholesale business employed 16 people and sold about half-a-million plants each year to hardware chains and garden centres – all the while supported by his wife of 40 years, Roz Schubert.

However, in 2004, after decades of working in greenhouses, Kevin’s health deteriorated. Crippling fatigue, chronic pain and other mysterious symptoms forced him to dramatically reduce his workload. He could no longer drive to meet with his wholesale customers around the state. At first, he assumed age had simply caught up with him.

“I had carpal tunnel, bad knees, chronic neck pain, digestive issues and fluid in my joints,” he recalls. “The fatigue was debilitating, and I had so much pain. I believe I would have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia if I had got to the point of being diagnosed. I was taking heavy pain killers every four hours on a working day.

“I now believe that I was poisoned from all the industrial and agricultural chemicals that can cause all sorts of things in your body. Because I was working in greenhouses, there is a concentration of the chemicals that you use on farms.”

In 2007, another challenge came in the form of a freak summer storm with 200km/h winds that catastrophically damaged Kevin’s wholesale nursery. Two hectares full of shade houses and greenhouses were crushed.

“One of the big greenhouses was covered in a 50-metre strip of plastic and we saw it disappear into the sky like a paper bag. Because it was 47 degrees the following day, the plants perished,” says Kevin. “We lost 30 years of work in two and a half minutes.”

Meanwhile, Kevin had been on a journey of healing. Fittingly, it was through the power of antioxidants and phytonutrients from plants that he attributes his recovery. Kevin had also dramatically reduced the amount of chemicals he was using on his plants, opting for natural alternatives.

As his health turned around, an American health and supplement company became interested in his story and sponsored him to attend numerous conferences and meetings around the world, telling his story to groups of up to 1500 people.

“I got better and spent six years from 2006 travelling and talking to people about my story of health. It took me on a journey I never could have dreamt of. I went on 17 overseas trips to conferences and meetings. I was able to give my perspective on the toxins used in the agricultural industry. I spoke about the power of feeding the body what it needs to heal itself,” says Kevin.

“I sat with the head doctors of The Royal Society of Medicine in London. And I sat with doctors from Singapore, Germany and Holland. The whole reason I got into plants and wholesale was that I didn’t want to speak to people. But when I was asked to share my story, I turned into a speaker, and I was able to talk to everybody.”

It was the words of a motivational speaker that spurred Kevin’s next move in life. “These words stuck out like a neon light,” recalls Kevin. “The words were: ‘You cannot realise the fullness of your future with unfinished business of the past’.”

Kevin’s “unfinished business” took the form of three large sheds full of infrastructure, pots and steel salvaged from his destroyed nursery. To get rid of it, Kevin held a large garage sale in Renmark’s main street and, what started as a pop-up sale, evolved into a new garden centre.

In 2012, Kevin opened Lotsa Pots, also the home of Kev’s Quirky Creations – garden ornaments and sculptures hand-made from repurposed materials, often salvaged from farm machinery such as disc ploughs.

“The garden centre has turned into my art gallery,” says Kevin, who has more than 400 pieces on display.

“It all began because we started buying garden ornaments that were manufactured overseas. We had people complain that the gazebo legs would rust away. Wall art would lose its paint and rust. I thought I could do better than that, so I started making artwork.”

Kevin dug out his 40-year-old welder, which he had bought when he was 17 years old, to start experimenting. It was one of his daughters, Jacinta, who helped elevate his efforts from backyard amateur to a professional.

“It’s been a steep learning curve. Jacinta looked at what I was making and would tell me when it wasn’t good enough – she became my quality controller. She has an incredible ability to see things in balance. Even the customers noticed once I started getting her help,” says Kevin.

At first, the sculptures didn’t quite look right. Through Jacinta’s help, Kevin began to learn about nature’s golden ratio, and that things must be in proportion – as best as possible – to look pleasing to the eye. A minor adjustment can turn a problematic piece into perfection.

Subject matter evolved from flowers, leaves and bird baths to more complex shapes of pelicans, emus and eagles. “Birds aren’t the easiest … it took three attempts to get the eagle right. We often get comments that we’ve nailed that one. To get that feedback is great.”

Kevin scours garage sales to pick up steel components and has a network of foragers who bring him all sorts of odds and ends from around the state. His artwork is scattered far and wide, from Victor Harbor to Adelaide and interstate.

A few small pieces have even made their way to England and Europe, purchased by travellers wanting to take home a small souvenir. “If people like it enough to buy it, that to me is reward enough in itself,” Kevin says.

Now that he’s dealt with his “unfinished business”, the sculptor has come into an unexpected chapter of his life that happens to be his most satisfying to date.

“I’ve reinvented myself many times, but being an artist and nurseryman is the best season of my life yet. I’m 67, and people keep asking me when I’ll retire. I just tell them to ask me again in 10 years.”

 

 

This article first appeared in the May 2024 issue of SALIFE magazine.