The following article with permission from its author Jenni Mitchell originally appeared on the Shire of Nillumbik website and her own website. It was originally titled: Acknowledging artists who have contributed to the development of visual arts in Nillumbik.
The article followed the exhibition titled ‘Capture’ which was shown at the Eltham Library in 2002, which Jenni Mitchell curated. It was a great success.
I feel fortunate to have been born in Eltham and grown up in my mother’s pastry shop where meeting artists, writers and creative people was an everyday occurrence. These people were the customers that came to our shop; and the people I believed predominately, were Eltham. Living in this environment, it seemed natural for me to take up painting and music lessons; they were an integral part of an Eltham childhood.
At times, it is easy to take our district for granted and see it as just another outer suburb of Melbourne. Not until we move away and return with fresh eyes do we realise what captures the imagination for others. There have been many changes and developments in the district in my lifetime, some wonderful and others make me sad. One aspect does not change – the legend of the artists.
The Nillumbik Shire’s leafy environment gives the Shire a pleasant ambience throughout and attracts people to make it their home. The well known historical and artistic reputation of the area is another reason people give for wanting to live here today. However, newcomers sometimes remark that the art is hard to find and perhaps, the ‘artistic heritage,’ is just a myth.
This exhibition hopes to rectify this belief and pay homage to the artists, past and present, who have chosen to make this region their home, or source of inspiration.
It is interesting to reflect on what may have first attracted artists to this region and why they spent time ‘roughing it’ in the bush. Usually, arriving by train from the city, artists were captivated by the smell of the gum trees and eventually settled in the hills where they built mudbrick houses and studios. An obvious enticement was the cost of the land. It was cheap. Being at the time, considered a fair distance from Melbourne, the land was not highly sought for traditional farming because of the generally poor soil and dry terrain. Much of the area is clay. There was farming in the Eltham district, but the better land was north, around Kangaroo Ground. The rough land that farmers abhorred attracted artists who found the subtleties of the dry bush hills visually stimulating. There was also the Yarra River, Diamond creek, summer cicadas, wildlife and spring flowers.
As the Shire’s borders move, so do artists. This exhibition acknowledges artists who settled in the areas of Warrandyte, Kangaroo Ground, Eltham, Research, Lower Plenty, Hurstbridge, Diamond Creek and Greensborough.
All of these areas were at one time or another within the shire’s boundaries – only the name changed – Shire of Eltham, Shire of Diamond Valley or now, Shire of Nillumbik.
Many artists who have lived and worked in the district have gained national and international reputations and their work is keenly sought after. Records of women artists are the minority, more a product of social history than the number of women painting.
Within the limited wall space available I have tried to Capture some of these artists who have contributed to the breadth of Nillumbik’s artistic heritage. The work I have selected to hang is from artists who are today living and working in the district, have lived and worked in the area and since moved away, or have died and left their work as a legacy. Most of the pieces in the exhibition have been borrowed from private collections. Some works are from the Nillumbik Shire Council’s collection.
The paintings in this exhibition have been selected to represent the diversity of styles and movements undertaken during the district’s 100 years of painting history. There is work from the Max Meldrum tonal school in the paintings of Alan Martin, Clarice Beckett and Peter Glass. Jorgensen, a Meldrum student went onto influence his pupils, Lesley Sinclair, Helen, Sonia Skipper, and Matcham Skipper.
Clifton Pugh and Joe Hannan are represented by portraits of each other whilst students at the National Gallery School in the late 1940s, under the tuition of Sir William Dargie.
Neil Douglas’s work is far removed from the Meldrum painters and focuses on the Australian bush in an expressionist manner.
Many galleries have come and gone or evolved over the years. Among them, Stringybark, Wiregrass, Eltham Gallery and Papillion. In Eltham, both Hassalls and Eltham Gallery survive, with an evolution of owners and name changes. Eltham Wiregrass and Eltham emerged to become Eltham Wiregrass Gallery. A number of smaller galleries operate in Hurstbridge and Kinglake.
These galleries gave many local artists their first opportunity to exhibit and many artists went on to gain larger reputations. Artists such as Drew Gregory, Tony Muratore, Joseph Zubrick, Janet Boddy, Paul Cavell, Tony Harkin, Max Dimmack, Peter Wegner, David Moore, Herman Pekel, Mark Page, Alan Satori, Margo Kroyer-Pederson, Adriane Strampp, Tony Trembath, John Wakefield and many, many, more.
In my childhood, during the 1960s, one of the Eltham experiences I enjoyed was the opportunity to visiting artist’s studios during their open days. I remember visiting Margo Knox, Neil Douglas and Alan Martin’s studios. It is perhaps, these experiences that lay the foundation for my life as a professional artist.
Other memories are the strong influences in the arts that came from Eltham High School where art was taken seriously and had a prominent place on the curriculum. Progressive opportunities existed for girls to take metal and woodworking classes, and boys to take cookery classes if they wanted; commonplace today, but rare in the 1960s and 70s. The school encouraged all aspects of the arts and today maintains its support and reputation in the arts, particularly in music.
A new generation of artists in the Shire of Nillumbik upholds the firm artistic tradition. Montsalvat is still a centre for the arts nurturing painters, sculptors and jewellers. Dunmoochin continues to be a place for artists to work and live and maintains an artist-in-residence program. The tradition of artists opening their homes and studios to the public is maintained. Artists go on being inspired to live in Warrandyte and Eltham and across the Shire of Nillumbik.
This exhibition offers a glimpse of the long tradition of Visual Arts across the Nillumbik Shire.
Jenni Mitchell 2002 ©
Image: Mud bricks of Eltham
