Rona Dyer

The exhibition Transitions – Aotearoa to London, which sits in the corridor space on the Gallery’s first floor, includes work from a group of artists from Aotearoa who spent time studying at art schools in London, from the late-1940s to the mid-1960s. The exhibition includes two linocuts by Rona Dyer, Pussy in the Garden (1957) and Girl Leaning on Fence (1957). Born in Ōtepoti Dunedin in 1923, Dyer began studying at the Dunedin School of Art at King Edward Technical College in 1942, followed by the Dunedin Teachers’ Training College in 1944. She was part of a group of students at the DSA that included Toss Woollaston, Colin McCahon and Doris Lusk.

While Dyer worked in a variety of media, including painting and photography, she is best known for her wood engravings – as standalone prints and as book illustrations. In July 1948, Dyer sailed to England on the Rimutaka. In London she studied wood engraving and book production at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, and mural painting at Goldsmiths’ College. At the Central School, Dyer was taught engraving under Gertrude Hermes, a celebrated British wood engraver and sculptor. Speaking of this time Dyer said, ‘Engraving under the guidance of Gertrude Hermes has increased my assurance that wood-engraving can be one of the most creative media’.
 

Noho ora mai
Lauren Gutsell
Kairauhī Curator
Dunedin Public Art Gallery

[image: RONA DYER Girl Leaning on Fence 1957. Linocut. Collection of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. Given 1965 by the artist.]