Northern Illawarra Art Trail chair Edith McNally shares her story
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I was born Edith van der Bent in the Netherlands in 1949. This instantly morphed into Edith Vanderbent when the family migrated to Australia in 1952. I grew up in rural NSW where country life offered many unique opportunities for growth and fun. I loved my horse, family, friends, dogs and swimming. I learned to sew creatively, garden sustainably and cook for life. Country life built the courage to “have a go”, improvise, “make do” and develop the resilience that would serve me well throughout life.
My parents saw education as the best route to a fulfilled and satisfying life and it was this thinking that enabled my journey to university in an era when few young countrywomen considered this option. I studied to be a teacher, completing a Bachelor of Arts / Diploma of Education at UNSW in the early 1970s, followed by a Masters of Education at Sydney University.
After completing my studies I taught in the Social Sciences Faculty in several schools and was instrumental in bringing Legal Studies and legal perspectives into the high school curriculum.
Education was my vocation, requiring all of my passion, commitment and energy. The rewards were enormous and made my 40-year career in public education a joy. The introduction of “Merit Based Selection” in staffing schools led to my appointment as a leading teacher at Corrimal High, principal at Cranebrook High, and finally as principal of Menai High School, where I enjoyed 18 fulfilling and wonderful years. I still mentor trainee teachers with UNSW as a way of paying back to a very important profession that has afforded me the best professional life imaginable.
I was married in 1971, and now have three adult children. My love of nature was nurtured through long-distance walking, gardening and bushwalking.
In partnership with my husband Ron, I have completed about 40 long walks around the world and in Australia. Of these, the Bibbulmun Track from Perth to Albany (1000km, full-pack trek taking 10 weeks), completed during the wildflower season, stands head and shoulders above anything else. This is an international best that every Aussie should consider doing some, or all, of.
Our family moved to Stanwell Park in 2001 drawn by the beach, the bush, the views, the general rustic nature of this gorgeous little village, as well as the hope of finding a community where people are known and valued. We were also looking for a vibrant church family that exercised, nurtured and encouraged the basic tenets of our faith and fortuitously we found this at Helensburgh Anglican Church.
In a flash, the time for the retirement planning required to ensure that the third stage of my life would be truly fabulous and fulfilling arrived. Indeed, the plan I developed two years prior to my retirement is still working well a decade later.
As per my plan, I did two half-day, private lessons in watercolour travel sketching in order to move from “never sketching/drawing” to “comfortable to start sketching”. A week after retiring, I began four years of caravanning and sketching my way around Australia. My 13 volumes of “Travel Sketching Journals” are my most prized artefacts of this adventure and document the development of my skills as they transitioned into full-blown watercolour painting.
We have now settled back into our home in Stanwell Park where the painting has flourished as has the joy it brings.
We love living here in the Northern Illawarra and, even though it is near to perfect, I am always on the lookout for opportunities to enrich life.
A weekend wander around Bundeena’s Art Trail was a lightbulb moment for me as I saw that, with the beaches, escarpment, bush and cafe society everyone already enjoys, the Northern Illawarra would be the perfect backdrop for an Art Trail. And so NIAT was born via a marriage bringing a Wollongong City Council Cultural Grant, together with the interest and support of some 24 artists responding to a Flame magazine proposal to establish a community of artists that would open their studios to the public two weekends a year.
The first NIAT Open Studio weekend happened in November 2022 and it was an amazing success. More than 30 artists participated and enjoyed an average of 100-120 visitors over the weekend. Artists can become solitary in their work, but this community has presented great opportunities for sharing, caring and supporting each other.
NIAT has opened doors of opportunity for artists and art lovers. “Sue and Jim’s Miniature World” at Stanwell Tops was part of the inaugural Northern Illawarra Art Trail and this led to the Clifton School of Arts commissioning Jim Roach to construct a 1:24 scale model of its extensions. The model will be used to help to fundraise for the venture, which will provide accessible facilities,
a multifunctional gallery and other spaces. Sue and Jim Roach have also been invited to display their miniatures at the CSA in 2024.
I am delighted to announce that NIAT studios will open again from 10am-3pm on April 22-23. A map and summaries of what is on offer at each studio can be found at our website. Artists will show a wonderful range of arts, from abstract to realism, in oils, acrylics and watercolours, prints, photography and ceramics. Enjoy the excellent wares provided by numerous cafes, restaurants and hotels, as you wander between studios.
Visit www.niarttrail.com
