An exhibition at Café Mediterrano starts this Friday with a 5pm launch where Jim will talk about his obsession with this brand new medium and detail how it came to be.

The works will remain on show for the following month, giving locals and visitors a chance to enjoy this unique artform.

It was only by pure chance that Jim, an inventor, naturalist and world-renowned cinematographer (who has an Oscar, an Emmy, an honourary doctorate and has filmed for David Attenborough), was to discover the crystals, which formed by a chemical reaction.

Following an accident in ABC special effects about 30 years ago, where a person blew off a finger, the production was halted and the producer approached Jim, who was working in filmmaking and special effects, for help.

“He was making a trilogy of films about the big bang theory.

“In the 1970s there was no computers so if you needed an explosion, you had an explosion.”

But, he said, it was possible to mix various chemicals together and use a microscope to get the same effect.

“When I ran the idea past him he thought it was a great idea.”

So Jim went about creating explosions, implosions and binary explosions.

“You name it, I got them, and the production went ahead”.

In the end he had mixed hundreds of chemical combinations, but it was what he found in the clean-up that led to his discovery of a new artform - the growth of crystal structures.

“I held up one to the light and saw this little pair of eyes.When they form their branch out and create a pair of eyes,” he explained.

“I took a photo of it and when I got the film back I was hooked.”

He backtracked until he worked out what he had mixed up to get that reaction.

“I eventually found it and after playing around I found I could manipulate it and steer it. I could work hand in hand with it and create landscapes.

“It’s quite amazing stuff.”

The crystals themselves are silver and, using glass plates, he found a way to colour them by using his experience with lighting and filters and lighting technique.

Next came the discovery that he could grow larger crystals and he went on to create “all sorts of amazing things.

“It just evolved...I was so obsessed.”

He began working on it from morning to night

“I became so passionate about the artform and I couldn’t let it go.

“By working together with the artform I can create some really amazing stuff.”

The artform, which he regards as another branch of wildlife as they are natural crystals, has continued to evolve and Jim admits he still hasn’t figured it all out.

His work has taken the world by storm is in the private collections of Oprah Winfrey, Hillary Clinton, Sylvester Stallone, Goldie Hawn and Colleen McCullogh.

The works have featured in several very successful exhibitions, including at the Manning Regional Art Gallery earlier this year.

The exhibition at Cafe Mediterrano runs for a month, and people are invited to buy a print if something takes their fancy.

Organised through Rotary, Jim originally gave copies of prints to be sold as a fundraiser for the community organisation.

Signed prints are stored at Eyecare Plus, across the road from cafe Mediterrano in Victoria Street, Taree, which is where you can get yourself a copy.

If you would like a more personalised copy of a print, that can also be arranged.

Also on the agenda for Jim this week is a meeting with the Manning Regional Art Gallery staff tomorrow (Thursday).

He said he would like to present an inspiring talk to local artists to help them overcome the difficulty they have selling themselves.

“We’ve got some damn fine artists here.

“Everyone has to start somewhere, get outside the box and push themselves”.