Description

Extended Data

Birth Place

Auckland, New Zealand

Biography

painter, sketcher and art teacher, was born on 2 March 1928 in Auckland, New Zealand, daughter of Gertrude and Leonard Goldfinch. The family arrived at Sydney on 9 June 1936. On 16 November 1951 Melba married Allan Wesley Symons. Allan worked as a 'flying dentist’ in the Northern Territory from about 1955 to 1961 and they lived there. They had four children: Suellen (b.1955), a photographic artist, Peter (b.1958), a television director and cameraman, Melanie (b.1961), a writer, and Matthew (b.1961), a printer and sculptor. As a mature age student, Melba Symons graduated from the Canberra School of Art in 1979 with a Diploma of Fine Arts (Visual). She travelled to Europe and Britain for three months in 1981 with her sister, Shirley. The wide range of subjects she employed in subsequent works included super-real portraiture, abstracted motifs and theatrical landscapes in pastel, pencil, acrylic, oil and watercolour. She was interested in the work of Cézanne, Adami and David Hockney as well as in Aboriginal art and culture; she worked with colour and light theory. She taught art, mainly to women, at Canberra Community Centres. She exhibited rarely but was included in a major Canberra Group exhibition at the Albert Hall in 1980. Writers: Symons, Suellen Note: Heritage biography. Date written: 1995 Last updated: 2011

Born

b. 2 March 1928

Summary

Painter, sketcher and art teacher, was interested in the work of Cézanne, Adami and David Hockney as well as in Aboriginal art and culture. She taught art, mainly to women, at Canberra Community Centres and was included in a major Canberra Group exhibition at the Albert Hall in 1980.

Gender

Female

Died

1987

Age at death

59