Leonard and Kathleen Shillam: their place in Brisbane as public artists, teachers and mentors
If I were to be asked, ‘Why art?’ I would, at this juncture in my life say, ‘It is a lifelong search for pattern, for discovery of meaning in life, it attempts to celebrate what is but dimly perceived’ and I will ruefully agree with you, tolerant reader, that that is no explanation at all.
Kathleen Shillam(Shillam, L & K, 2003, Drawn with love: Shillam drawing, CopyRight Publishing, Brisbane, p.72.)
Leonard and Kathleen Shillam’s dedication to art was total. They loved its ideas, its endless journey, and the form it took in their sculptural and other artistic excursions. As individuals they lived privately and modestly outside Brisbane in Brighton. Their natural inclination was not to seek power or influence in the artistic milieu, which was small in 1939 when they resettled in Brisbane. However in their dedication to their chosen field they gathered friends and influence throughout their lives, and gravitated naturally to sculptural initiatives. They had worked in isolation, particularly in the early years of their careers, so became enthusiastic initiators and supporters of informal networks and organisations developed to help other budding artists.
Their dedication to and pursuit of sculptural ideas brought similarly passionate people to them. Between 1951 and 1972 their work was a mainstay of the Johnstone Gallery, itself Brisbane’s artistic linchpin. The Johnstone Gallery had three venues over its 22 year history, and as an annex to the Johnstone’s home in Cintra Road regularly changed and developed their spaces. Work by the Shillams was a constant in their outdoor sculpture garden. In many ways it was fitting that their final exhibition (3 to 19 December, 1972), was with work by Len and Kathleen Shillam who had shown with them from the very earliest years. The Shillams are integral to the public memory of the Johnstone Gallery - they had more exhibitions there than any other artists.
While in the early years of their careers the Shillams taught short courses at vacation schools and workshops, it was not until 1975 that Len Shillam took on a full time teaching role at Queensland College of Art (QCA), then located at Seven Hills. He designed the first sculpture course for QCA. His approach won him many loyal students, including Dorothy Hartnett, who wrote a tribute to and biography of the Shillams titled Forms Entwined: The life story of sculptors Leonard & Kathleen Shillam (Pangeza Studio, 1996). Len’s gentle guidance of students is outlined in the book, where he is quoted as saying, “My philosophy of teaching art students rested on a firm conviction that it was no part of an art school’s function to teach fashion in art, but to have faith in the individual’s own creativity and just give them the skills needed to bring it to fruition.” (Hartnett, D 1996, Forms entwined : the life story of sculptors Leonard & Kathleen Shillam, Pangeza Studio, Brisbane, Qld, p. 150)
Len was a dedicated teacher, but finally expressed himself disappointed on its impact on his own artistic practice:
To take an artist from the world of art and turn him into a full-time, paid public servant inevitably severs his connection with the outside creative, competitive artist’s existence. The compensations of security offered may at first seem worth it, but sooner or later he must realize the stultifying effects on his creative, productive life.
Discontent or downright rebellion is the final result of a situation which ought never to have been allowed to rise. For the sake of a few years of enthusiastic service, the system has, at least temporarily, destroyed an active artist.(Hartnett, D 1996, Forms entwined : the life story of sculptors Leonard & Kathleen Shillam, Pangeza Studio, Brisbane, Qld, p. 154)
Len undertook many public commissions between 1949 and into the early 1990s, and must be seen as one of Queensland’s most experienced public artists (many decades before the establishment of the current Queensland Government Art Built-in program which commits 2% of the cost of public buildings to public artworks.) Some of the major commissions in south-east Queensland include Flight, 1972 (at Brisbane Boys Grammar School, Gregory Terrace), Union, 1960 (University of Queensland Student Union Building), Eagle, 1988 (St John’s College, University of Queensland), St. Luke, 1953 (Mater Hospital, South Brisbane), Banking (Commonwealth Bank, King George Square), The Banker (Westpac Bank, Queens Street), Centaur Nurses Memorial (Centaur House), Dr Beet Memorial Fountain (Beaudesert) and Enlightenment, 1959, a site specific work which won the Queensland Centenary Sculpture competition and was installed on the extension to the Public Library building in William Street. Many of these are still in-situ.
As a prominent public artist however, Len received as many brickbats as bouquets, and the clippings files in the Len and Kath Shillam Papers detail the petty and ridiculous debates often conducted through the newspapers in which he was forced to defend his work. In these instances however Len invariably responded with dignity and intelligence. His letter to the Courier Mail, 12 September 1959 in response to publicly-aired criticism is scathing:
One has no criticism against democratic procedures, but we should remember that costing clerks, etc. are not asked to heckle at surgical operations, for instance, and on no specialized subject other than ART is the totally ignorant opinion valued by press or public. There can scarcely be any other profession or skill to which a man may devote his life and yet be accounted an idiot by those who have never given the matter a seconds thought.
(Hartnett, D 1996, Forms entwined : the life story of sculptors Leonard & Kathleen Shillam, Pangeza Studio, Brisbane, Qld, p.97.)
Kath, on the other hand, did fewer commissions, including portrait plaques for the University of Queensland, Queensland Bureau of Experminet Stations and the Can Growers’ Council. Public art tended to interrupt her creative flow, as she expressed eloquently:
A commission comes along and all one’s seething ideas just waiting to be born are put on hold and off you must go on a new tack... I look back on those commissions with mixed feelings, usually seeing how the job could be done differently, no second chance alas!
Any sculptor would welcome the chance to create BIG things which he otherwise couldn’t afford to make, but the chance of his ideas fitting the client’s requirements is minimal.
(Hartnett, D 1996, Forms entwined : the life story of sculptors Leonard & Kathleen Shillam, Pangeza Studio, Brisbane, Qld, p. 169.)
Some of the Shillams’ proposals for public art describe a vision decades ahead of its time. A sculptural play and rest area proposed for the Queen Street Mall in Brisbane included Australian native fauna on land and sea. Concrete seats were proposed in the form of a snake and a goanna. Polished terrazzo wombats, pelicans and turtles were designed for children to play on, while bronze stylized fish, birds, animals, and shells were to be inlaid into paving. Areas for shade trees were also planned. While this proposal was finally ruled out, it is a concept that would sit naturally into the public art ethic of today.
Similarly, when the Redcliffe Art Gallery opened in 2000, it was boosted with a donation of seventy artworks from the Shillams’ private collection. These included works by Kath’s father, Harry O’Neill, and others by her sisters Doreen and Eileen, in addition to many by the Shillams themselves. The Shillams had been involved with Redcliffe’s early moves toward an art collection and gallery.
The generosity of both Len and Kath Shillam toward other aspiring sculptors and artists was combined with fierce intelligence. They dedicated their lives to art – and encouraged others in whom they could see similar commitment to the cause. Describing her own experience of art school, Kath said, its real benefit was "... meeting other sincere enthusiasts. In such a group like minds strike sparks off one another and real learning is rapid.” (Hartnett, D 1996, Forms entwined : the life story of sculptors Leonard & Kathleen Shillam, Pangeza Studio, Brisbane, Qld, p. 18.) It was in the same way that she and Len worked to encourage and assist others.
Browse pictures from the Leonard and Kathleen Shillam Papers.
Last updated: 24th June 2011
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