SHE is known as much as a teacher as an artist but this month the focus will be well and truly on the art of Holly Marion Simpson as she holds an exhibition at the Butter factory.
A treasured icon at the Noosa Arts and Crafts Centre, Holly has done much for Wallace House and an exceedingly large number of aspiring artists.
Loved by students her classes always had waiting lists as students clambered for her tuition.
A self-taught artist with a natural ability that was enhanced by a lot of practice and trial and error, Holly was generous with her information and her patience with beginners was phenomenal.
“Yes, I would like to say that joining Wallace House was one of the best things that could possibly have happened to me in the last 20 years since I’ve been living back in Australia,” she said.
“At ‘The House’, I learned to paint (and even become a teacher) and made wonderful friends, and enjoyed the concerts, the afternoon teas, the exhibitions, the garden parties, the fancy dress dinners, the meetings and last, but not least, the changes and improvements that have made the wonderful Wallace House what it is today.
“Two things stand out clearly for me, the year the house burned down and the year we moved back into the rebuilt house and continued in the new, spacious, well-lit rooms.
“I started to teach watercolours at Wallace House about 1994 and loved the groups and remember how much humour and fun we all put into our times together.
“The proudest moment was when we – the WOW (Wonder of Watercolour) group put on a huge morning tea in aid of saving the koalas.
“We had a lovely little koala from the RSPCA to visit and we decorated three rooms and set the tables and all the artists brought in delicious homemade cakes for the tea. “Visitors poured in and we made nearly $2000 on that day, including money from raffling a painting of a koala that I had done especially for the day.”
Holly will have a retrospective exhibition as the Pop Up artist at the Butter Factory for September and there will be a morning tea on Saturday 26 September at 11am for a celebration of Holly and her contribution to Wallace House and the local art scene.
All Holly’s friends and students are invited.
