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The Sun
Wednesday October 18, 2017
Exhibition honours a lifetime of art By Bill McElhinney Marlborough artist Lorna Clarke, 93, began her artistic career as a child, drawing mostly with school crayon on brown paper bags and cardboard. Last Friday, friends and fellow artists gathered at the Yealands Estate Gallery in High Street for the opening of an exhibition featuring 60 years of Lorna’s work.
“In 1969 I was elected to be an Artist Member of the NZ Academy of Fine Arts in Wellington.” Included in the exhibition are some paintings from Lorna’s personal collection by renowned Marlborough artist the late John Parker and works by Blenheim artist Keith Reid, who at one stage was Lorna’s tutor. Lorna’s family lived in Rai Valley, where her father was a builder, and as a youngster she got a lot of encouragement about art from sawmill owner Charlie Bryant, who had been an art student at Canterbury University. “When we lived in Nelson I went to Nelson Central School where we did a lot of pencil drawing,” Lorna says. “I went to Marlborough College in 1936 and John Oakley was our art master. “My first job on leaving college was ticket writer for J R McKenzie. When this job was mechanised, I did the window dressing.
“I then went to Masterton and ended up working in the Wairarapa Steam Laundry office till the end of the Second World War. “Meanwhile I met Bruce, my future husband, in Masterton. “He had just returned from four years as a prisoner of war in Germany. “I was not doing any art at this time but I decided to train as a hairdresser in Wellington. “I moved back to Blenheim in 1944, and my parents set me up in the Vogue Salon in Maxwell Road and Bruce and I got married in 1946, when Bruce was working for Safe Air. “I started going to weekend schools and night classes. “I went to weekly oil painting classes with Robert Chilvers. “In 1961, I was a foundation member of the Marlborough Art Society. “We had meetings in Arthur Street (where McKendry’s are now, opposite Countdown). “I became the tutor of the Tuesday Chinese painting class. “This was the beginning of the regular art society day classes. Peter Jenkins, Doreen Blyth, Judy Woolley, Vai Yealands, Thelma Barrett (who was also a potter), Diana Mickell all went to these classes. “I tutored the class for 40 years,” Lorna says. “In 1969 I was elected to be an Artist Member of the NZ Academy of Fine Arts in Wellington, although I did not take up the opportunity to exhibit there. “The Art Society held its first
Keith Reid and Lorna Clark with two of Lorna’s paintings of the Palace Theatre in Blenheim at night. The top painting was done in 1970 and the bottom one in 1971.
exhibition in the Town Hall in 1970. Exhibiting artists included John Parker and myself. “ John’s entry was a big sensation. People talked about it for years,” Lorna says. “In 1970 I painted a series of oils of views of Blenheim at night. “One of these is the painting of the Palace theatre in Market Street
which Helen Ballinger now owns. “In the late 1970’s, a group of us went to Keith Reed’s art classes at Marlborough Boys College as mature students. “I sold my work casually from home to interested visitors. “Bruce had a long retirement from Safe Air and began a picture framing business in the workshop
at home where he framed my work and the work of other artists, including John Parker. “In the early 2000’s I was an art tutor for classes at Marlborough Boys’ College for three to four years, teaching one day a week.” Lorna was awarded life membership of the Marlborough Art Society in 1993.
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