Paintings
Above: Blue Wrens
Opposite page:
Swift ParrotPROFILE
I
had the good fortune to be born to an artistic
mother who had been one of Australia’s early
women potters, running a studio in Clarence
Street, Sydney, where she employed 10 people.
That came to an end with WW2 when she was
obliged to contribute to the war efort.
I was born towards the end of the war and
we lived in what was quite an artist’s colony in
Northwood, Sydney. Neighbours included John
and Marie Santry, Roland Wakelin, Lloyd Rees,
George Lawrence, William Pidgeon, and Lorraine
Haines. My mother, Marguerite Moloney, joined
these artists in a group known as the ‘Northwood
Group” that Marie Santry had initiated. Marie
also ran art workshops for local children and I
remember painting at these and also running
through various artists’ studios, dodging easels
and wet paint.We regularly had people painting at our home
on Woodford Bay and I would hang around waiting
for people to inish so I could beg the remaining
paint and do my own painting. Children didn’t
have lots of art materials of their own just after
the war as things were still rationed. However the
exposure to all these artists had a profound efect
on a young person and I grew up thinking that it
was a natural thing to paint. How fortunate I was!
When I left school I spent a year with Phyllis
Shillito at her design school in George Street,
Sydney. I thoroughly enjoyed Phyllis as my mother
had also been her student 30 years earlier
when Phyllis taught at the East Sydney Technical
College. Phyllis was a really good friend.
A year spent studying architecture at Sydney
University gave me an opportunity to study Art
with Lloyd Rees, John Santry and Roland WakelinA Life of Art
An idyllic
childhood
surrounded
by artists was
the perfect
springboard
for this artist
to develop her
talents.