Ann newmarch biography

Ann Foster Newmarch (9 June 1945 – 13 January 2022) OAM, known as "Annie", was a.
On January 13, artist, educator, and activist Ann Newmarch died at the age of 76.
Ann Foster Newmarch OAM, known as "Annie", was a South Australian painter, printmaker, sculptor and academic, with an international reputation, known for her community service to art, social activism and feminism.

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Ann Newmarch (born 1945) is an esteemed South Australian artist and educator. She trained in both fields during the 1960s leading to a long-held lecturing post at the South Australian School of Art, and an expansive and internationally celebrated career as a painter, printmaker and sculptor. Raised in a strict Methodist household where art was deemed ‘corruptive’¹, Newmarch defied her parents in following this path and developed a politically charged practice in both teaching and making.

As well as feminism and feminist issues which were key concerns in her earliest prints and paintings, Newmarch used the print medium to great effect throughout the 1970s and 1980s to rail against the Vietnam War, American imperialism, uranium mining and the inequitable treatment of Aboriginal people in white Australia. During this period, she co-founded the Progressive Art Movement (PAM) and Women’s Art Movement (WAM) fostering the collective production of political prints and posters, and she famously refused to exhibit in commercial galleries, turning away from the ‘male dominate

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Ann Newmarch was a significant and influential figure in the arts in South Australia for over fifty years and, while best known for her screenprints, her practice also encompassed paintings, drawings, photographs, sculpture, union banners, murals and community art projects. Her artistic practice was underpinned by a strength of conviction and rebellious streak, which saw her challenge conventions and break down many barriers in the art world. Recognised as a trailblazing feminist artist, she created works of art that tackled important political and social issues from the perspective of a woman and a mother.

During the 1970s Newmarch rose to prominence in Adelaide as a founding and influential member of several collectives in Adelaide, including the Progressive Art Movement (1974–77), the Women’s Art Movement (1976–84) and the Prospect Mural Group (1978 – 84). Her works addressed issues such as the Vietnam War, the struggle of workers, uranium mining, and Australian independence from American influence. By the late 1970s her involvement in the women’s movement

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Remembering Ann Newmarch – vital contributor to an independent Australian culture

by Wallace McKitrick *

Ann Newmarch, accomplished artist, teacher and activist died on 13 January 2022, aged 76. This tribute offers brief biographical notes and recollections of Ann’s powerful role in the movement for an independent and peaceful Australia, especially during the late 1960s to 1980s in South Australia.

Born in 1945, Ann was trained from 1964 to be an artist and educator. Her talent was acknowledged early, and in 1969 she became a lecturer at the South Australian School of Art. Thus began ‘an expansive and internationally celebrated career as a painter, printmaker and sculptor.’ [i]

By the late 1960s, Ann was convinced that Australia’s participation in the US invasion of Vietnam was morally wrong, destructive to the people and land of Vietnam, and damaging to Australian society. She became active in street protests and started to turn her artistic skills to the design and production of anti-war posters. At the same time, she was developing an incisive feminist critique o