The power of Kay’s passion

Naracoorte Regional Art Gallery honours long serving art mentor

Being creative is in Kay Hole’s DNA and her efforts to share that passion with others for decades has seen her recognised with a room named in her honour at the Naracoorte Regional Art Gallery.

“I always loved to draw,” Kay said. “My mother was very creative as was her mother so I had a chance to observe how they drew and used colour.”

It kickstarted a lifelong passion for all things artistic from fine arts to music to theatre and making art accessible to all has been her mission ever since, including working hand in hand with Marney Fenton and Angela Goode to secure a permanent home for a Naracoorte gallery.

And it is her work in those early hears and her ongoing support of the town’s art gallery that led to the naming of the room in her honour with the Kay Hole Room unveiled late last year, Art gallery volunteers, board members and members of the Naracoorte Regional Cultural Trust enjoyed afternoon tea at the gallery with Kay presented with a wooden plaque in gold lettering that now graces the door of a room which will house a library of art books.

The Kay Hole Room has previously been a small gallery but when it is painted and renovated the library will be installed, complete with a comfortable chair and table and good lighting for reading. Members of the public will be welcome to use this art library and borrow books from it.

Gallery board member Kaye Beauchamp made the presentation to Kay and said it was in the 1990s that Mrs Hole had become determined to see the acquisition of a permanent home for the art gallery.

“Without her dedication and persistence, along with others of like mind, we wouldn’t be here today in this beautiful building which houses our community’s very special art collection,”

Mrs Beauchamp said. “Many determined people worked hard to establish an Art Gallery in Naracoorte in the 1970s and 80s and built the basis of the collection we enjoy today. Kay and others could see the need for a permanent home for this collection and the importance of art in our community.

“The Cultural Trust was formed at that time to support and oversee the management of the gallery and to liaise with the council. Money was donated by local businesses and supporters to provide permanent funding and Kay became the secretary of the Trust, a role she held before recently retiring from the position after 24 years.

Mrs Beauchamp said Kay had for many years been involved as an Art Gallery Board member, chairperson, volunteer, judge, exhibiting artist, teacher and leader of the Cultural Trust making her an icon in the Naracoorte arts community.

While Kay has not been comfortable with the limelight The power of Kay’s passion she certainly appreciated being recognised for what she has seen all along as a labour of love – her love of art.

“It dates back to childhood that I developed that passion for art and what it does for the soul,” Kay said. “I was taken to exhibitions, always encouraged to play music and go to dramatic performances.”

Born and bred in Murray Bridge, it was as a 16 year old that Kay moved to Adelaide to attend Adelaide Girls High School, affording her the opportunity to immerse herself in all things artistic. Although it is safe to say her tertiary studies were about as far removed from the creative arts as possible – Kay studied economics.

She did also dabble in studying English and in the end it was teaching that brought her to Naracoorte – it was her first job and became her home after meeting her, now husband, John, helping him run the farm.

Even in her teaching career, it didn’t take long for art to be front and centre.

“I combined English and art when I was teaching,” Kay said. “I used to paint the poetry, using the concept of colour and how it comes through the words. I started to develop my own art style and in the end I ended up teaching art as well.”

It was during her teaching tenure that she joined forces with Marney Fenton and Angela Goode to secure a permanent home for the gallery.

“When the gallery had to moved from the main street the three of us decided the best place was the beautiful old corporation building and it just went from there,” Kay said.

Aside from having a permanent home for the gallery’s collection, it was important to Kay that her students had a place to visit and perhaps even hold an exhibition. “I think art is part of your soul, drama and music is part of the soul and a town needs a soul and that was my aim – to give the town a soul.”

And the way the gallery and its gamut of programs have developed over the past few years has thrilled the art aficionado.

“The way the gallery ahs developed has really heartened me,” Kay said. “It has gone from, in the beginning, being elitist to being accessible to all, available to all. From the art classes for children, to art classes for adults, to groups who meet and draw in the gallery and groups that meet and paint in the gallery – people are encouraged to show off their work in the gallery. It is for everyone in the community.”

Kay said so many dedicated people had pushed the gallery forward and it had developed into an effective gallery that has so much going for it.

She has worked for the gallery ever since it opened.

“But that’s my passion – I am simply doing what I love.” She is also grateful husband Joseph has always supported her pursuit of the arts.

“He encouraged me all the time to do what I wanted to do – to take time out to go to the gallery, to work with the people in the gallery and to take classes at the gallery,” Kay said.

Of course, what Kay sees as an unremarkable commitment to promoting arts in the Naracoorte community, the gallery officials have seen as so much more.

“Her knowledge, wisdom and advice had been invaluable,” Mrs Beauchamp said. “So many people had been influenced by her generosity, kindness, friendship, dedication and her love of art.”

A large bunch of roses and fresh flowers from Robyn Schinckel’s garden was also presented to Kay at the room opening.