Description
This biography explores the remarkable life of Jessie Traill – artist, traveller, humanitarian and independent spirit. From the ten-year-old who first met Tom Roberts painting on the shores of Port Phillip Bay, to a student of Frederick McCubbin and etchers John Mather and Frank Brangwyn, Jessie developed her professional skills. She interrupted her career to work as a voluntary nurse in France during World War I, later raising funds for and revisiting war-torn Europe. She also became one of Australia’s most outstanding etchers, working in a field uncommon for women of her time. Through diary extracts, descriptions of her world travels and personal letters we hear her voice and see through her eyes, beauty, humour and the joys of simple living.
Author information
Jo Oliver is a writer and printmaker. She holds a Master of Arts and has worked for many years in oral history and historical research. Four children’s picture books Jo wrote and illustrated have been published. Each of her books uses printmaking as an illustration medium and her love of the printmaking process was her initial connection with the work of Jessie Traill.
Jo received a Creative Fellowship from the State Library Victoria to research and to write about Jessie Traill using her extensive papers held in the collection. Other sources included Tom Roberts collection and the Anderson papers from State Library of NSW. Jo travelled within Australia and to France and the United Kingdom to find out more about Jessie Traill’s life, meet people who knew her and see places she lived and worked. Jo has spoken about her research at the National Gallery of Australia and State Library of NSW and Victoria.
Jo has an ongoing interest in life stories and is currently researching a new biography about another Australian woman artist.
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