Betty Churcher, who died
earlier this week at 84, was an educator. For all of her life she taught art -
first at secondary schools, and then at art schools, and then she taught the
people of Australia
- and she saw no higher calling than that.
As the first and so far only
woman director of the National Galley of Australia, Churcher unapologetically
regarded the marquee-title exhibitions that earned her the part derisive, part
affectionate moniker "Betty Blockbuster" as mass classes in art
education. Growing up in Brisbane
in the 30s and 40s, she once told me, there was "just nothing", and
in the excitement of the large-scale exhibition that came to town with all the
thrill of the circus she saw an opportunity to provide for the public a portal
into another world that was denied her as a young woman.
The fact that these
blockbusters earned money was a bonus; that they have became an adopted feature
on the calendar of every art institution around the country - and remain so -
only shows her enduring fearlessness as an administrator. (Virginia Trioli).
Her two main publications Notebooks published in 2011
and Australian Notebooks published in
2014, were a major source of information to art loving Australians. In these books she shared her love of art and
her incredible knowledge, she also had a talent that was showcased in the
explanative drawings she did in these to books to show how an artist had
achieved certain aspects of their painting.
We’ve lost another one………Vale
Betty Churcher.
