Description

Extended Data

Birth Place

Toowoomba, Qld., Australia

Biography

Verlie Just (née Tainton) was born in Toowoomba on 22 July 1922, the youngest daughter of George Richard Tainton, a respected journalist with The Courier-Mail, and his wife Gladys née Horn. Verlie attended All Hallows’ School in the heart of Brisbane. Although her father steered her towards a career in academia, she was determined to be an artist, deliberately failing exam questions to remain in the school’s arts stream. For several years, she took private painting lessons with William Bustard, and eventually, enrolled at Brisbane’s Central Technical College. Verlie studied full-time from 1938 to 1941, primarily under the tutelage of FJ Martyn Roberts and Cyril Gibbs. While there, she also met her future husband, Arnold William Theodore Just. Initially, Verlie worked in embroidery and fashion design. During World War II, she enlisted as a draughtswoman in the Australian Women’s Army Service at Victoria Barracks, which enabled her to monitor Arnold’s whereabouts while he was deployed overseas. In 1942, Verlie learned that his unit was to pass through Brisbane. On 26 August that year, the couple wed at St John’s Cathedral. Two years later, while Arnold was on his second tour of Papua New Guinea, Verlie gave birth to their first daughter, Jeraldene. Arnold returned home three months after the war ended. In 1950, Verlie resumed her studies, enrolling in Melville Haysom’s classes at the Central Technical College. After giving birth to her second daughter Janene, however, she paused her career to raise her family. In the 1960s, with Jeraldene and Janene nearing the end of their schooling, Verlie resumed her artistic practice. She drifted away from her earlier interests, having fallen in love with jewellery design. Over the years, Verlie had developed an interest in geology. She was fascinated by the potential of gemstones, and viewed jewellery as a means to unlock their beauty. At the time, instruction in jewellery-making was restricted to male trade apprentices, and as a result, Verlie taught herself the techniques involved in lapidary and silversmithing. While her favoured metal was sterling silver, she experimented with a variety of gemstones, many of which she found herself. She would often take the family on expeditions to fossicking areas such as Stanthorpe, the Gold Coast Hinterland, and Lightning Ridge, where they would pan in creeks and dig for stones. In 1960, Verlie was invited to develop her practice at The Spit, the Sydney studio of Danish silversmith Helge Larsen. Larsen and his wife Darani Lewers were pioneers of contemporary jewellery and hollowware in Australia. Their influence was particularly felt in Brisbane through their 1962 and 1964 exhibitions at the Johnstone Gallery. Although Verlie ultimately rejected the minimalist approach employed by Larsen, the two stayed in touch for many years. In 1969, Verlie embarked on a study tour of the United States, spending five months abroad in Honolulu, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, and Bangor. She also visited Philadelphia, where she attended a course in electroforming at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture (based at Temple University) with jewellery artist Stanley Lechtzin. The highlight of her trip, however, was time spent at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Located on the coast of Maine, Haystack was an international hub for craftspeople, artisans, and designers. Verlie had received a six-week scholarship to the school, and while there, learnt from prominent metalsmiths Olaf Skoogfors and Robert Ebendorf. At Haystack, she was also introduced to Perspex, and moved into mobile-jewellery and wall-hangings. While the artist’s foray into plastics was promising, it was short-lived. When she returned home, Verlie resumed her use of natural materials. Back in Brisbane, Verlie became involved with the Craft Association of Australia (CAA). The CAA was a non-profit organisation, affiliated with the World Crafts Council, that sought to promote the work of Australian craftspeople and designers. In 1970, Verlie helped to form the Queensland branch of the CAA at the invitation of Larsen, who had co-founded the New South Wales branch in 1964. She was elected as the first President of the Queensland branch (CAAQ), with EJ Weller and Kit Shannon as Vice Presidents. Under their leadership, the CAAQ established a fellowship, held several member exhibitions, maintained a directory of local craft events, and more. In 1972, Verlie had a ‘falling out’ with the CAAQ. She took issue with its members, many of whom had falsely stated that Brisbane artist Hilda Pavlu, who exhibited under the pseudonym of Frances Wildt, had won the 1968 Benvenuto Cellini Competition in Germany, when in reality she had received a Highly Commended award. The press picked up and circulated this inaccuracy, which frustrated Verlie. She did not want the CAAQ to be seen to spread false claims, especially as it had received financial support from the Queensland Government’s Education and Cultural Activities Department in the form of a Cultural Activities New Ventures Fund. Verlie attempted to correct the situation but found that those involved were unreceptive to her efforts. Pavlu was another female jeweller in direct sales competition with Verlie, thus it is plausible to suggest that Verlie’s unwillingness to let the matter go was spurred by professional rivalry. In the end, stubbornly refusing to move on from the situation, Verlie not only resigned from the CAAQ, but also quit creating jewellery in protest. After resigning as an artist, Verlie set her sights on a new goal: establishing her own gallery. In April 1973, she founded The Town Gallery. In the surrounding years, Brisbane had witnessed the closure of its major commercial galleries, including the Moreton Galleries in 1970, the Johnstone Gallery in 1972, and the Reid Gallery in 1975. Verlie sought to alleviate this loss with The Town Gallery, although she rejected the term ‘commercial gallery’ – she believed that the quality of an artist’s work was more important than its marketability. The opening of The Town Gallery also marked the success of Verlie’s notable campaign to exempt art galleries from the Government’s trading hour restrictions. Prior to this, galleries were unable to display arts and crafts for sale outside regular trading hours, as stipulated in the Factories and Shops Act 1960. This affected artists who relied on sales from exhibition openings, among other gallery events, which often occurred after hours. Verlie lobbied for seven years until finally, the legislation was amended. Throughout its lifetime, The Town Gallery occupied several spaces in Brisbane: Queens Arcade Building (1973–85), Dunstan House (1986–90), MacArthur Chambers (1990–97), and Charlotte House (1997–2000). Although Verlie claimed to exhibit Australian artists of all styles, she held a particular interest in those inspired by European Modernism. Within her stable of artists, several presented explorations into abstraction, with the majority excelling in Modern landscape, genre, and portrait painting. Most notably, Verlie represented interstate artists Gary and Alan Baker, Judy Cassab, Graeme Inson, and Owen Piggott, and Brisbane artists Irene Amos, Henry Bartlett, and John Rigby. She also provided many emerging Queensland artists with exhibition profiles, including Veda Arrowsmith, Bev Budgen, Brian Hatch, Max Hurley, Shirley Miller, Mervyn Moriarty, and Phyllis Schneider. Additionally, Verlie played an important role in bringing Brisbane’s Modernist painter of the 1940s, Vincent Brown, back to critical attention. Apart from pottery by Carl McConnell however, Verlie rarely exhibited crafts media. It is likely her upset with the CAAQ contributed to this decision. In 1979, Verlie expanded The Town Gallery to include the Japan Room, the first space in Australia to both exclusively and permanently exhibit ukiyo-e (Japanese woodblock prints). Verlie sought to bring the masters of the tradition – Hokusai, Hiroshige, Utamaro, Kuniyoshi, Yoshitoshi, Kunisada, and more – to the citizens of Brisbane. While she maintained several contacts in Japan, the majority of her prints came through South Australian dealers David Button and Geraldine Halls. For years, Verlie pushed for Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) to expand its collection of Japanese art. She wrote countless letters to the institution outlining her acquisition recommendations, and while her advice was not always taken, she made a definite impact. Between 1979 and 2000, approximately a third of the Japanese woodblock prints acquired by QAG were made available by Verlie. She also collaborated with the institution to curate two dedicated exhibitions of ukiyo-e: ‘Looking Eastwards: The Intricate Art of Japanese Prints’ (1989) and ‘Four Centuries of Ukiyo-e Prints’ (1997). While directing The Town Gallery, which was renamed The Verlie Just Town Gallery in 1976, and eventually The Verlie Just Town Gallery and Japan Room in 1979, Verlie undertook many trips to Japan, the United States, and Europe to stay up to date with global art trends and forge relationships with international galleries, dealers, and collectors. During this time, she continued her involvement in the Brisbane arts community. In 1991, Verlie became a founding member of Brisbane’s Public and Private Gallery Directors Group, co-chaired by Philip Bacon and Marilyn Domenech. Although she exited the group after three meetings, she supported them in their bid to remedy the inadequate level of newspaper coverage of the visual arts in Queensland, in particular their mission to develop a Thursday arts page in The Courier-Mail, a matter she had been pursuing since the 1980s. For her contributions to the arts, Verlie was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia on 8 June 1992. She had been nominated by her stable of artists and Sir Charles Gray Wanstall, the former Chief Justice of Queensland. On 10 January 2000, Verlie passed away. Arnold kept the gallery open for a limited time, so people could see the last show she had installed. Soon after, The Verlie Just Town Gallery and Japan Room closed its doors. Adapted from: Elena Dias-Jayasinha, “The Verlie Just Town Gallery and Japan Room Archive,” Queensland History Journal 24, no. 11 (November 2021): 1045-56. Writers: Elena Dias-Jayasinha Date written: 2021 Last updated: 2022

Born

b. 22 July 1922

Summary

Just, described as Queensland's first contemporary jeweller, established 'The Verlie Just Town Gallery and Japan Room' in 1973 in Brisbane, Queensland. She was one of the founders of the Queensland Craft Association. Her jewellery was exhibited widely.

Gender

Female

Died

10-Jan-00

Age at death

78