Unfortunately, at This Moment My Ears Were Exposed to a Teacher Standing Beside Us Who

Janet COLE

Sitting cross legged on the bare unpolished floorboards of the temporary assembly hall of my first school, I awaited my turn to announce to the large combined infant classes, what I would be when I grew up. My turn finally came after endless pronouncements of Fireman, ,Air Hostess or Astronaut. I leapt to my feet, thick blonde plaits swinging upwards and declared my intention, “ARTIST” ,with an absolute thrill that I was the only one to so far to deviate from expected norms.

Unfortunately, at this moment my ears were exposed to a teacher standing beside us who called me aside, lifted one plait and confirmed immediately that I was to be sent straight home as I had contracted Measles.

One day later, a large parcel arrived home , sent from staff from my school. It contained a variety of art equipment. Why otherwise should I have received such a present if I wasn’t to be taken seriously. I have never stopped using art supplies since.

My next school encounter was being given the most expensive big Art book as a prize on speech day, as well as a number of smaller ones that had nothing to do with the subjects for which they were presented. I was also offered limitless access to anything I wanted from the Art supplies room. Well resourced with materials, I designed a stamp for a National Design Competition run by ABC TV after school hours programme. When I won this, I was sent a lot of Art supplies! I decided to redesign my own interpretation of the stage setting for Camelot to use some of the increasing resources. My Art teacher helped me with the electrics to wire up the revolving stage and lighting system.

My mother, who would “never let a chance slip by”, whipped me off to the ABC Art Department whilst I was still fresh in the minds of the judges, so that I might see first hand the sort of employment opportunities I may be interested in the future. The staff were very friendly towards me and as I had entered the studio via the Props making room breathing in deeply the strong smell of paint, when they asked my intentions for my future I automatically said I wanted to be a Set Designer.

Much helpful advice was then bestowed upon me. All I had to do when finishing school, was to get a Fine Art Diploma, do a couple of years Architecture, then some years of volunteer work with amateur theatre. Then doors may well start to open! I did a quick mathematical calculation and estimated that I would be pretty old before I would see any financial return for my effort.

I went back to school and told my Art teacher who promptly started organising a scholarship place at East SydneyTechnical College which was the Art School of favour of the day. I felt comfortable with the prospect of studying there full time as I was already well aquainted with this establishment, as I had been attending children’s Saturday afternoon art classes in the round convict built sandstone building since the age of eleven. I loved the smell of the wet sculpture yard as back then it seemed to rain nearly every Saturday in Sydney.

My mother had also painted in that same place with her mild mannered teacher, William Dobell, who although very shy, apparently often talked to her.

Suddenly, due to my fathers change of business fortunes,or rather, lack of, it was decided that upon my completion of school, the whole family including my three younger sisters would be relocated on another planet called Tasmania. When we arrived, for want of finding my feet, I entered a drawing competition held annually by a big established Retail outlet and as you can guess, won a great stack of art equipment.

For some reason I can’t remember, I was interviewed by the head of The Tasmanian College of Fine Arts Jack Carrington –Smith, a previous Archibald Prize winner, at his home in Sandy Bay. A beautiful portrait he had painted of a girl called Janet, hung on the lounge room wall. I had heard it was a good idea to present a copy of a master painting to show you could observe or replicate a painting technique, so I served up a Pissarro which seemed to go down a treat, along with pencil drawings, etc. I was given an informal acceptance of “we’ll see you at Art School on Monday”.

I loved my new sandstone art school home which was a conglomeration of Gothic style buildings perched high over Hobart. My dutiful father would collect me on cold late winter evenings for fear I wouldn’t come home or freeze over night. This would be accompanied by a lecture of how I had better start thinking of becoming a Commercial Artist (olden day translation for Graphic Artist) I should also not entertain thoughts of becoming a Sculptor as this was really pushing the boundaries for potential self sufficiency in the employment stakes.

My younger sister Donna obviously dismissed this advice if it was also given to her, as her sculpture has now been exhibited all over the world between National Gallery in Canberra to Berlin.

J.C. Smith loved to say to me, “I don’t know how you can get those colours (in my painting) out of THAT PALETTE ? He was bemused by my unorthodox arrangement, or rather chaos of colours on the palette, producing an unexpected orderly translation to canvas but also that the colour was the distinguishing different statement of my own.

Eventually, I had to earn my keep according to my parents, who still hadn’t found good fortune and so I found the only suitable job in Tas. as an illustrator for the only Advertising agency in Hobart. My horizons started looking more distant. On my first holiday back to Sydney, I answered a newspaper advertisement for a Fashion Illustrator with no expectation of getting the job. I was successful and plenty of art supplies were given to me, mostly pens, brushes and inks. After this I worked in Brisbane, Melbourne and Edinburough in Britain in various Studios and Advertising jobs .

A dozen stories omitted, I eventually returned to Australia with my future husband and have spent more than twenty years living and painting, bringing up our two girls in inner Sydney, mostly around Newtown, except for a brief interlude with the Insular Peninsular known as the Northern Beaches. We abandoned fresh air for Newtown High School of the Performing Arts when it became evident that you can take the girls out of Newtown but you can’t take the Newtown out of the girl. That went for me as well.

So now it has come to pass that the girls have left to pursue their own artistic careers and I am at last a truly free agent to continue with my painting habit which I never been able to give up. I always keep plenty of art supplies.

JANET COLE Sydney born 1950

Studied Fine Art, Tasmanian College of the Arts and East Sydney Technical College.

1970’s worked as graphic artist and illustrator in Melbourne, Sydney and Edinburough.

First solo exhibition, “Homeworks” Mary Reiby Gallery Enmore 1992.

Group shows including Eaglehawk Gallery, Glebe and regional shows.

Regular exhibitor in Newtown street front annual “Walking the Street” Exhibition.

Latest solo show December 2004 “Pub Crawl” paintings of Newtown Hotels –

New View Gallery Newtown.