Today we visited Margaret Olley Art Centre, here in Murwillumbah and they have done an outstanding job to make it feel like you are in her house in Sydney, they moved everything all 21,000 pieces and re placed it all as it was when she died.
Well worth the visit to see it all and the rest of the art on displayed as well, it would be a must do visit for any artists looking to see how she worked and lived out her days
Well worth the visit to see it all and the rest of the art on displayed as well, it would be a must do visit for any artists looking to see how she worked and lived out her days
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Margaret Olley Museum
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The area around the Museum
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Below are photos I took today and you will so much stuff around he rooms you can look for hours and see something new and they told us at her death there were some 52 vases with dead flower in them and they are here when they moved the contents of house
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Margaret Hannah Olley, AC (24 June 1923 – 26 July 2011)
Margaret Hannah Olley was born on 24 June 1923 in Lismore, New South Wales. Margaret was the eldest of three children of Joseph Olley and Grace (nee Temperley). At the time of her birth they were living on a property of selected land at Horseshoe Creek, near Kyogle. The Olley family were pioneers in the Lismore district, and the Temperley family had lived for a time in Ballina, where they owned the local newspaper The Richmond River Times during the 1880s.
Margaret Olley at the Art Gallery of NSW, 15 April 2011 (Photograph: Robyn Sweaney)In 1925 the Olley family moved to Tully, between Cairns and Townsville in far north Queensland, firstly to a property that Grace’s father had bought. He hoped to capitalise on the profitable sugar cane growing rush. Finding the property very isolated and uncleared of natural rainforest the family acquired another parcel of land closer to the town of Tully to establish a sugarcane farm. It was here that Margaret’s sister and brother were born; Elaine in 1925 and Ken in 1927. Margaret boarded at St. Anne’s in Townsville in 1929. In c.1931 the Olley family moved back to northern NSW, purchasing a sugar cane farm at Tygalgah, near Murwillumbah. The farm was on the Tweed River, opposite the Condong Sugar Mill. At the time, Margaret’s uncle Tom Temperley was working for the mill as an Inspector of Cane Fields. To attend the local primary school in Murwillumbah, Margaret and her siblings crossed the river in a row boat to meet the bus which took them into town. The family were self-sufficient, growing their own vegetables, raising chickens, making preserves and cakes. Margaret’s favourite subject at school was art and her independent Aunt Mary, who often visited the family, was a great mentor.
In 1935 the farm was sold to Thomas Edwin Grant and the family moved back to Brisbane for a time before returning to Tully. Margaret remained in Brisbane to attend Somerville House, a Brisbane girl's boarding school. It was during her time at secondary school that her talent for painting and drawing was noticed particularly by her art teacher Caroline Barker. Ms Barker persuaded Margaret’s parents to send their daughter to art school to further her studies. In 1941, Margaret commenced classes at Brisbane Central Technical College. In 1943 Olley moved to Sydney and enrolled in an art Diploma course at East Sydney Technical College, where her boarding school friend and fellow artist Margaret Cilento also attended. Olley graduated in 1945 with A-class honours.
After graduating, Olley quickly became involved in the post-war Sydney art scene, which included artists such as Jean Bellette, William Dobell, Russell Drysdale, Donald Friend, Sidney Nolan, Justin O’Brien and David Strachan. In the late 1940s, she and Friend became some of the first artists to spend time painting in the Hill End area of NSW. In 1948 Olley held her first solo exhibition at the Macquarie Galleries. This was also the year William Dobell painted an Archibald Prize-winning portrait of Olley dressed in a gown fashioned from parachute silk, with a hat adorned with flowers.
Olley departed on her first international trip in 1949. She stayed in France and travelled extensively to parts of Spain, Brittany, Venice, Lisbon and London. When her father died in 1953, Olley returned to Brisbane to live and paint at her mother’s home ‘Farndon’ in Morry St, Hill End, Brisbane. Margaret remained in Brisbane for ten years, painting for exhibitions, designing theatre sets and murals, and opening an antique shop in Stones Corner.
it.
Margaret Hannah Olley was born on 24 June 1923 in Lismore, New South Wales. Margaret was the eldest of three children of Joseph Olley and Grace (nee Temperley). At the time of her birth they were living on a property of selected land at Horseshoe Creek, near Kyogle. The Olley family were pioneers in the Lismore district, and the Temperley family had lived for a time in Ballina, where they owned the local newspaper The Richmond River Times during the 1880s.
Margaret Olley at the Art Gallery of NSW, 15 April 2011 (Photograph: Robyn Sweaney)In 1925 the Olley family moved to Tully, between Cairns and Townsville in far north Queensland, firstly to a property that Grace’s father had bought. He hoped to capitalise on the profitable sugar cane growing rush. Finding the property very isolated and uncleared of natural rainforest the family acquired another parcel of land closer to the town of Tully to establish a sugarcane farm. It was here that Margaret’s sister and brother were born; Elaine in 1925 and Ken in 1927. Margaret boarded at St. Anne’s in Townsville in 1929. In c.1931 the Olley family moved back to northern NSW, purchasing a sugar cane farm at Tygalgah, near Murwillumbah. The farm was on the Tweed River, opposite the Condong Sugar Mill. At the time, Margaret’s uncle Tom Temperley was working for the mill as an Inspector of Cane Fields. To attend the local primary school in Murwillumbah, Margaret and her siblings crossed the river in a row boat to meet the bus which took them into town. The family were self-sufficient, growing their own vegetables, raising chickens, making preserves and cakes. Margaret’s favourite subject at school was art and her independent Aunt Mary, who often visited the family, was a great mentor.
In 1935 the farm was sold to Thomas Edwin Grant and the family moved back to Brisbane for a time before returning to Tully. Margaret remained in Brisbane to attend Somerville House, a Brisbane girl's boarding school. It was during her time at secondary school that her talent for painting and drawing was noticed particularly by her art teacher Caroline Barker. Ms Barker persuaded Margaret’s parents to send their daughter to art school to further her studies. In 1941, Margaret commenced classes at Brisbane Central Technical College. In 1943 Olley moved to Sydney and enrolled in an art Diploma course at East Sydney Technical College, where her boarding school friend and fellow artist Margaret Cilento also attended. Olley graduated in 1945 with A-class honours.
After graduating, Olley quickly became involved in the post-war Sydney art scene, which included artists such as Jean Bellette, William Dobell, Russell Drysdale, Donald Friend, Sidney Nolan, Justin O’Brien and David Strachan. In the late 1940s, she and Friend became some of the first artists to spend time painting in the Hill End area of NSW. In 1948 Olley held her first solo exhibition at the Macquarie Galleries. This was also the year William Dobell painted an Archibald Prize-winning portrait of Olley dressed in a gown fashioned from parachute silk, with a hat adorned with flowers.
Olley departed on her first international trip in 1949. She stayed in France and travelled extensively to parts of Spain, Brittany, Venice, Lisbon and London. When her father died in 1953, Olley returned to Brisbane to live and paint at her mother’s home ‘Farndon’ in Morry St, Hill End, Brisbane. Margaret remained in Brisbane for ten years, painting for exhibitions, designing theatre sets and murals, and opening an antique shop in Stones Corner.
it.