Art history
One of my friends recently asked me, ‘is it good or bad growing up in a creative family?’ You see, I come from a long line of artists. My paternal grandmother was a wonderful painter, although she did not take it up professionally. My mother, Anne Everingham, is a jeweller. My brother, Robert Everingham is a successful ornamental blacksmith and my sister, Kate Warby has also just started making jewellery. My maternal grandmother and great-grandmother were immaculately accomplished in the domestic arts of sewing and embroidery, as many of their generation were. Another person in my extended family who has been a significant influence and friend was my mother’s cousin, Gillian Broinowski, a potter. Her obituary proclaimed that ‘life was a work of art’.
When you grow up in an environment like this you know no different. It is the family you have been given. It just ‘is’. As children we absorbed it all as kids do, like sponges – a sort of osmosis. My mother is a natural stylist and has the ability that many artists possess – to be able to make something out of nothing. My paternal grandmother was the same. As a widow and single mother, of very limited means she was always ‘as smart as paint’. I loved her tiny little house in Sydney. The living room had a lush 70s green carpet and was jam packed with her wonderful abstract paintings. We lived a thousand miles away, in the bush (Western Queensland) and she used to bring crayons and books when she came to stay.
I often wonder if our isolated childhood contributed to our creativity. There were no shops, next to no television – reception was so poor it was ABC black and white fuzz if you were lucky and definitely no computers! Our play revolved around making – making mud pies, creating tepees out of sticks and building roads and bridges in the sandpit with my cousin. We had very few toys although I do remember loving my Lego. And of course we were always encouraged to paint and draw. Mum was always doing something. Before she began making jewellery she was potting and sewing all our clothes. For a brief period she took up enameling. I was fascinated by the vivid colours of these creations.
So, I guess it was good! Although we were never actively encouraged to go into the arts. In fact I have been a bit of a late-starter. After school I went to university to to a degree in Communications and had a career in PR and marketing for ten years. So I am busy making up for lost time and what a wonderful challenge it is!
