Margaret Elizabeth (Kelly) Walloscheck (1888 - 1985)

Born 10 Dec 1888 in Coombeford Farm, Macaw Creek, South Australia, Australia

Ancestors

Wife of Victor Roland Walloscheck — married 12 Aug 1927 in Chalmers Church Manse, North Tce, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

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Name

Name: Margaret Elizabeth /Kelly/

Name: Margaret Elizabeth /Walloscheck/

Found multiple versions of NAME. Using Margaret Elizabeth /Kelly/ .

Data Changed

Data Changed:

Date: 30 MAR 2008

Prior to import, this record was last changed 30 MAR 2008 .

Event

Event:

Type: Anecdote

Date: 2008

Note: The following article is from 'Kalori', the Royal South Australian Society of Arts Journal.

'Mrs. Margaret Walloscheck

When I mentioned to Vanessa Smith I was going to visit Mrs. Walloscheck and obtain a few details for 'Kalori,' Vanessa gasped and said she'd love to see 'Wally' again, as she hadn't seen her for 22 years.

Vanessa had been a student of the S.A. School of Arts and Crafts where 'Mrs. Wally' had taught her. Although I had been a part-time student there myself, she had only been a name to me then, so I felt it was a good idea to take an old friend of hers so they could both talk over old times. They did!

Mrs. Walloscheck - or Margaret Kelly, as she signs her paintings - was born on December 10, 1889 at McCall Creek, Riverton, where her mother was also born. The family lived in a charming cottage on Keilira Sheep Station, down at the South East, and one of her very early paintings depicts this charming little cottage to which her father added a fresh batch of thatch on the roof every year. The cottage is now no longer there, which is a very great pity.

'Mrs. Wally' wanted to become a painter and to illustrate children's books; so she became a student of the S.A. School of Arts and Crafts where she learnt drawing from Fred Britten. She said he was a magnificent draughtsman and was a great loss to the art school when he eventually became a teacher at another art school which opened up in North Adelaide. 'Mrs. Wally' said Fred Britten not only taught her to draw the outside of people, but the inside as well! She is a great traditionalist and believes very strongly in people learning to draw as well as to paint.

After graduating from the art school, she became a teacher there where she taught for so many years that she became as much an institution as well as an inspiration to her students. After leaving the art school, she taught at Woodlands Girls' School and then for a short time at St. Teresa's School at Brighton. I understand she taught art for 64 years, and says she's still teaching - and during that time many thousands of students must have passed through her capable hands. Many of those students are now famous artists.

Two old students whom she taught in the early days have kept in touch and helped her tremendously, she said, they are teaching her how to paint!

She said she loved teaching and-if she had to live her life over again, it would be to teach. Teaching was her life! She has two brothers who also help her tremendously and one who is now retired, does all her framing. She became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 1917 and has just recently finished her self portrait which is illustrated above in this edition of Kalori.

She adores her garden, and Vanessa and I spent over an hour wandering around and enjoying it with her. We both came away with lots of cuttings. Many of her latest pictures were painted in her garden and her flower studies are charming and beautifully executed and whilst looking at a screen of poinsettias painted on a windy day, you could almost feel the wind blowing about you.

If I had imagined this was going to be a routine interview I can assure you I was in for a great surprise. Her philosophies on life gave me great food for thought and oh, what a great gift to be born with the gift of being 'young at heart!' What a marvellous head-start over other people this gives you - it's what keeps you young and alert at 87! Yes, it was a wonderful afternoon spent with a wonderful old lady and when I left, I felt I'd known her for years.

Please, 'Mrs. Wally,' may I visit you again.

Betty Bowen'.