Simple Wonders: Exhibition of the Paintings from the Collection of Andrew Johns Part Seven: Gwen Clarke and Gwen Mason

Today - we explore a little about two relatively unknown yet extraordinary artists who Andrew has included in the Simple Wonders exhibition.

Gwen Clarke was born in 1938 at Orbost, Victoria where she spent her childhood on a dairy farm. Interested in drawing and painting at primary school age, and even more keen at secondary, she chose nursing and midwifery as a career, and trained and worked at major Melbourne hospitals for 15 years.¹

Her style ranges from naive to semi abstract with influences from Paul Klee and Picasso. She describes her style as eclectic with an interest in colour and colour relationships.¹

These features are very evident in the painting of The Black Horned Bull created in the European Naive Style.

Gwen tutored adult students at Bairnsdale Adult Education for 4 years from 1993. A core of 10 women ... formed the group "Bairnsdale Contemporary Art Naive" and held an exhibition annually for the [next] 17 years. Some [became] artists in their own right.¹

Since 1985 Gwen has had 10 solo exhibitions in Melbourne and Sydney and locally at Deniliquin and Swan Hill. In 1988 her painting was selected as a finalist in the Blake Prize. In 1991 the overall winner of the Herald/Sun Moomba Art Show was Joseph & his multi colour dream coat - an oil which was also purchased as the first work to start a corporate collection of the Herald/Sun. The same picture was used as their corporate Xmas Card.¹

Gwen's work has been collected by the Nursing Archives of Australia who have several nursing and hospital subjects and shown on a film by the organisation.¹

[Her] paintings were [also] included in a selected mixed exhibition at the Barry Stern Galleries in Paddington and published in a book launched at the same time, Australian Naive Art by Sandra Warner in 1994.¹

[Six of her works were sold] at two charity events - 1998 at the Charity Auction by Sotheby's "Heartwork" held at Centerpoint Tower Sydney in aid of Sydney City Missions and 2002 Melbourne for Save the Children - "Art by the Stars".¹

You can see a few more of Gwen Clarke's delightful paintings by clicking here.

There is very little information available on the net about Gwen Mason born in 1922 in Melbourne, Victoria and was still active in the 1970s working as both a painter and an illustrator of children's books.

Andrew owns Lakeside Seaside by Gwen Mason which in style does contain naive art features especially the simple idyllic composition of a rural scene and the repetitive use of patterns and colours.

Gwen Mason captured the essence of Australia's natural beauty.

Lakeside Seaside exemplifies her mastery in blending the serene tranquility of lakes with the dynamic energy of seaside vistas-a very interesting juxtaposition of two bodies of water. Her use of vibrant colors and a brushstyle similar to pointallism brings to life the interplay of light and water, inviting viewers to experience the harmony and contrast of these aquatic environments.

Over the past few days we have been showcasing paintings from the Simple Wonders exhibition being held at the Singleton Arts and Cultural Centre from 23 August to 3 November 2024. If you missed the first posts please use the search tool at the top of the post with the key words Simple Wonders to locate the previous posts.

Tomorrow we will look at the paintings of Daniel Pata, Desmond Tjupurrula, Mary Morton and you see vastly different visual representations of the Australian landscape.

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1.canterburyart.com/artist/Gwen_Clarke/2008/}