Name

Anita Aarons

Other names

Chambers, Anita (2nd married name)

Culture

Australian | Canadian

Gender

Female

Birth date

6 November 1912

Birth place

Kings Cross, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia View on map Close map

Death date

3 January 2000

Death Place

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia View on map Close map

Movements

New Zealand from ?? to early 1930's; Canada 1964-82.

Occupations

Art curator | Art teacher | Jeweller | Printmaker | Sculptor

Summary

Worked: Australia (NSW, VIC, QLD), Canada. Etchings

NGA IRN

51561

Context

Australia

Biography

Anita Aarons.

As a teenager in Aotearoa New Zealand, Anita Aarons took art lessons with Julia Lynch. Following her move to Australia around 1930 she studied sculpture (modelling) at East Sydney Technical College under Rayner Hoff and Lyndon Dadswell graduating in 1939. In 1951 she became a founding member of the Society of Sculptors and Associates. Throughout the 1950s and early 60s she taught sculpture at East Sydney then art at various places in Victoria including the Kindergarten Training College and Caulfield Technical College.

In 1964 she moved to Ontario in Canada where she was introduced to etching. After a short period as guest lecturer and artist in the print studio of Columbia University in New York she returned to Ontario where she taught sculpture and design at the Central Technical School in Toronto. Her work in Canada and America consisted of sculpture, jewellery, painting, stained glass, printmaking and a design for a large tapestry mural, she also worked in the areas of arts administration and lecturing.

In 1985 she returned to Australia where she settled and was instrumental in the establishment of the Noosa Regional Gallery in Queensland as well as continuing her art practices.

An aside to Anita’s story is that her husband, Merton Chambers, brought out several Canadian artists to attend printmaking workshops at Noosa in the mid to late 1980s. These included Harold Klunder who produced several very large woodcuts and the Japanese artist Masao Okabe who did a “rubbing” print onto fabric 130m x 3m titled “Hastings Street”.

Gregory Heath and Roger Butler, Australian Artist-Printmakers 1870-1970. Canberra, 29 August 2024.

Last Updated

05 Nov 2024