SCULPTORS QLD

Queensland Sculptors celebrated 40 years in 2009, as well as looking forward. We might be Janus. It takes a lot of effort to become a cultural icon, but Daphne Mayo (pictured) is a sculptor who achieved this status in Queensland.

The Tympanum on the Brisbane City Hall and the Queensland Women’s War Memorial in Anzac Square are just two examples of her skill. For those of us who studied art in the 60s, these were monumental achievements.

Throughout the ages, sculpture has often filled the role of a monument, marking sites of special significance.

Len and Kath Shillam: Pelicans destined for the Queensland Art Gallery

Leonard and Kathleen Shillam also created monuments to place. In the

wonderful Pelicans that endlessly sit and wait at the Queensland Art Gallery.

Phillip Bacon says the Shillams' greatest legacy is the way they placed sculpture

on the art map in Queensland. As young art students they “rented a room

that was part of the old Brisbane Courier (newspaper)… and it was from drawing

there that we found sculpting… We were bridging the gap between Daphne

Mayo and the young generation coming afterwards.” (Len and Kath Shillam

Papers: 6015/27 Clippings folder, Bayside Echo, 7 February 2001, p.3).

Len and Kath Shillam became initiating members of the Society of Sculptors

in 1969. This organisation emerged out of informal meetings of Brisbanebased

sculptors. It was decided to hold an outdoor exhibition of sculpture and

when the Brisbane City Council stipulated that it could only deal with a society

with an official constitution, they created one.

Together Len and Kath wrote the constitution, largely drawn from their experience in the Society of Sculptors and Associates in New South Wales for which they had been foundation members in 1951. The aims of the Society of Sculptors, Queensland included becoming a point of contact for sculptors, and organising workshops and exhibitions.

Dr Rhyl Hinwood

Dr Rhyl Hinwood gave the following tribute to the Shillams and the value of the Sculpture Society: “For years I had been keen to further my study of sculpture but had worked alone … In 1967, I enrolled in the Queensland Arts Council Summer School held at the University of Queensland … The tutors were Leonard and Kathleen Shillam. The Shillams subsequently invited me to attend the meetings of the newly formed Society of Sculptors Queensland.

I always admired their gentle, generous and always fair attitude to everyone. They quietly calmed many a fiery meeting and had good common sense resolutions to the many problems that beset a new association.

In 1986, Leonard Shillam was my referee for the Churchill Fellowship which I subsequently received. Throughout the years, Leonard and Kathleen Shillam have nurtured the SOSQ, and through it, so many of us who have made sculpture our profession. They have my admiration and love.”

(Hartnett, D 1996, Forms entwined : the life story of sculptors Leonard & Kathleen Shillam, Pangeza Studio, Brisbane, Qld, p.148.)

We hope that this is still what we provide for a new generation of sculptors

who maybe wonder why our top award is called the Shillam Prize.

Sculpture by Carly Scoufos, Winner Shillam Sculpture Prize 2009