Pat Cox, the former Patricia
Williams, was born in Geelong, 21 years and a certain number of months
ago: a true blue, fair dinkum daughter of Australia.
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The 2001 census tells us that a fifth of
our country's population was born overseas. More than half of
us who were born here, have parents who were not.
The sad fact is that we are a bunch of Johnny-Come-Latelys,
desperately coaxing the transplanted family twig to grow into
a decent-sized tree.
Amid this forest of new stock and saplings, towers the majestic
Williams family oak, its roots five generations deep in Victorian
soil.
You can't get truer blue or fairer dinkum than that!
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Artistic talent runs in the family and Pat was encouraged from an early
age to develop her interest in art. She remembers fondly how her
grandfather, who dabbled in painting himself, taught her about perspective
when she was a little girl. When she applied her new-found knowledge
in the art class, the teacher was so impressed that Pat had to give an
impromptu lesson to her classmates, explaining how things further away had
to be smaller than the ones in the foreground.
| Pat's father, Louis Williams, held an administrative position in
the Civil Service and painting was only a hobby for him. He had no formal
art training but produced some very good work in oils, his chosen medium.
Her mother's artistic bent finds expression in crafts and she creates
exquisite crocheted and knitted items in subtle colours and patterns of
her own devising.
Pat's sister,
Gay Strickland, is also a luminary of the Waverley
Arts Society and produces some outstanding work in true family tradition.
Modesty seems to run in the family and the sisters are
unassuming about their talent. |
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Pat took art as a major subject in high school, but did not continue to
study art - she went on to train as a teacher, and started her
teaching career
at a primary school in Melbourne. Art remained one of her great
interests, however, and she enjoyed the art periods with her class,
despite the difficult circumstances under which she had to teach. She had
over fifty pupils in a cramped classroom, no special art room or
facilities.
Nevertheless the art work produced in her class was of such high
standard that she was offered a position in the Art Department, an unusual
appointment for a newly fledged teacher. Sadly she was unable to accept
the position which would have entailed a lot of travelling.
A selection of Pat's silk scarves
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Soon enough Pat's career was put on hold when Neville Cox, who is
clearly a man of taste and discernment, met her and snapped her up. For
the next few years she devoted her energy and talents to her family and
only went back to teaching when her three children were themselves at
school .
She became a teacher / librarian, which presented opportunities for her
artistic flair to flourish in the exhibitions and displays she put on in
the school library. Her students were fortunate in being able to benefit
from her love of literature and wide knowledge of the world of books. Pat
is still an avid reader and a frequent patron of her local library.
In 1996 Pat joined the Waverley Arts Society - she
enjoys working with the Life Drawing Group and in the congenial atmosphere of
the Open Studio. She has sold several works at WAS exhibitions and in
September 2003 she was the Cover Girl on WASP, the Society's monthly
magazine. (Eat your heart out, Nicole Kidman!)
She served two years on the committee of the
Waverley Arts Society and has continued to serve as Excursion
Co-ordinator. In addition, Pat is always on hand when extra help is needed
with any Society events.
Pat is active in the community - since 1990 she has
worked as a volunteer at
Strathdon Community,
a centre for aged care. After her retirement from teaching in 1992, she
was able to devote more time to her voluntary work and she put her
experience in libraries to good use, revitalising the in-house library at
Strathdon.
Over the years she has become a highly valued member of
the volunteer staff at the centre, not only for her sterling efforts in
the library but for her positive contribution to the therapy programme:
she has inspired some of the residents, despite their wheelchairs and
walking frames, to join enthusiastically in group painting sessions.
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After one such session of silk painting, Pat donated her
demonstration piece, a coral garden in autumnal golds and greens,
to Strathdon. It was so much admired where it hangs in the main building,
that the administration commissioned her to do a second silk painting to
hang in the foyer of the Day Care Centre. This one is a landscape in
shimmering blues and deep reds that echo the warm shade of the
wall behind it.
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Pat's
parents and her two sisters, with their families, all live in Melbourne.
She has three children
and four grandchildren.
Two of her children live in the USA and this gives her and
Neville an incentive to travel. They have visited many interesting museums and
art galleries in England and the States.
Click
HERE if you would like to send
Pat an e-mail Click
HERE to read about Pat's visit
to the San Franscisco Museum of Modern Art
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