Angela Newberry, with ArtSpace curators Ursula Theinert and Susan Hall By Catherine Watson
ANGELA Newberry told her children that when they eventually inherited her work they should hang onto the linocuts for at least 20 years because by then no one would be making them.
At her exhibition opening at Wonthaggi ArtSpace last Sunday, she joked that she had lived so long that that time had already arrived. The presses she has used throughout her long artistic career are no longer available, nor are many of the coloured inks that contained arsenic and lead. “Even I could not make these works today.”
ANGELA Newberry told her children that when they eventually inherited her work they should hang onto the linocuts for at least 20 years because by then no one would be making them.
At her exhibition opening at Wonthaggi ArtSpace last Sunday, she joked that she had lived so long that that time had already arrived. The presses she has used throughout her long artistic career are no longer available, nor are many of the coloured inks that contained arsenic and lead. “Even I could not make these works today.”
The internationally acclaimed printmaker who lives in our midst turns 90 at the end of the year. For the past 40 years she has divided her time between England and Australia but the time has come, she said, to settle down. She left three days later for England to settle her affairs, after which she will return to her place in Cape Paterson. “I want to spend more time here.”
She first came to Australia in 1982 to teach script writing at the Film and Television Studio in Sydney in the 1980s. These days she has permanent residency as an artist-printmaker sponsored by the distinguished artist John Wolseley.
In the late `90s she visited friends in Berrys Creek and in 2000 found a plot of land and built a house there. She made friends with other artists in the area, including Susan Hall, who co-curated her ArtSpace show. For seven years they ran Art at the Angling Club exhibitions over the Inverloch Jazz Festival weekend.
Although she feels at home in Gippsland, she doesn’t feel compelled to paint it. “It’s too much like England,” she explains. Instead she’s drawn to the red desert of Australia and the greenery of the tropical north.
She first came to Australia in 1982 to teach script writing at the Film and Television Studio in Sydney in the 1980s. These days she has permanent residency as an artist-printmaker sponsored by the distinguished artist John Wolseley.
In the late `90s she visited friends in Berrys Creek and in 2000 found a plot of land and built a house there. She made friends with other artists in the area, including Susan Hall, who co-curated her ArtSpace show. For seven years they ran Art at the Angling Club exhibitions over the Inverloch Jazz Festival weekend.
Although she feels at home in Gippsland, she doesn’t feel compelled to paint it. “It’s too much like England,” she explains. Instead she’s drawn to the red desert of Australia and the greenery of the tropical north.
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She’s an inveterate traveller and in each new place she visits she does a series of paintings. The works are gorgeous, a riot of tropical colours and densely detailed flora and fauna.
A lot of the work goes to hospitals. She knows that because she gets appreciative letters from doctors and patients. “I find the world a very beautiful place. I try to convey that to other people. I want my work to be happy and peaceful.”
She also wants to record what’s there before it’s too late “… bsecondecause so many of those animals will be extinct.”
Her prints now have a new life as digital prints and calendars. She notes that the royalty payments now exceed the original price of the prints.
A lot of the work goes to hospitals. She knows that because she gets appreciative letters from doctors and patients. “I find the world a very beautiful place. I try to convey that to other people. I want my work to be happy and peaceful.”
She also wants to record what’s there before it’s too late “… bsecondecause so many of those animals will be extinct.”
Her prints now have a new life as digital prints and calendars. She notes that the royalty payments now exceed the original price of the prints.
