Mention the names of our wonderful north coast nonagenarian artists Thelma Buzzard and Val Wilson, and you’ll get a broad smile, hear a great story. Green Gallery in Mount Edgecombe recently honoured the two with an exhibition, writes Anne Schauffer.
Thelma Buzzard is 97; Val Wilson 90. Wonderful artists both, they’re still painting and accepting commissions. Age really is just a number. Norman Rockwell, illustrious illustrator of the 20th century, suggests: “The secret to so many artists living so long, is that every painting is a new adventure. So, you see, they’re always looking ahead to something new and exciting. The secret is not to look back.”
Thelma paints every single day, normally by 9am; in the corner, an easel, layered with works in progress. She doesn’t only paint, she’s still wildly curious about artists and techniques, so there’ll be an art book there too.
Thelma grew up with Victorian parents who didn’t consider university or a career fitting for a young lady. No art at Eshowe High School either: “Neither did my husband Eric want me to work. In those days, music trumped art …”
Thelma was undaunted though. Her mother always took her to watercolour exhibitions, and she became increasingly interested: “I entered the Royal Show in Durban, and won first prize,” she grins. But she really wanted to study art: “When art teacher Wendy Amm wanted to stop teaching, and suggested I’d be a good replacement for her classes, I saw an opportunity.”
And so began Thelma’s highly successful teaching career, the classes enabling her to save up for and study art at Tech, UNISA, and head off for an annual art retreat to the ’Berg: “When you’re in a group, you always take a little bit of everything from everyone, and gradually your own style evolves.” Thelma’s reputation as a teacher grew, and so too as an artist.
One thing which helped Thelma enormously was her passion for gardening, flowers and floral art. She was a floral art judge for 24 years, and also instrumental in establishing the Watercolour Society.
One day she overheard the words, “Thelma Buzzard. She just paints flowers,” and that prompted her to try other subject matter like trees, wildlife and life drawing. Conspiratorially, “My only claim to fame was this,” she says, bringing out a Sotheby’s catalogue: “Sotheby’s asked the Watercolour Society if members would submit work for an auction.” Thelma submitted three, and there they were in the brochure.
Thelma’s husband died young at age 61, and she remained in their house until two years ago: “Seventy-two years in that house. But after Eric died, I saw it as the next phase of my life. “I devoted my life to my garden and my painting. And here I am at 97, still painting.”
Thelma’s teaching has touched many. Acclaimed Durban artist Nicole Pletts attributes much of her success to Thelma: “I met her 27 years ago. She saw such joy and beauty in all her surroundings. It was so refreshing. She saw so many colours in a green leaf, in a dull mussel shell, and demanded that I see them too. And so began my art walk. It’s not the material things that count, it’s delight in the ordinary – the wonderment of every vista, every face, every object. Seeing the world with new eyes. How lucky am I to have had Thelma as my art teacher, not only to gain her extensive knowledge – but to see the whole world in a new light.”
And Nicole met Val at Thelma’s, 27 years ago: “Many a Saturday morning was spent with Val and friends trolling the local art galleries, being inspired by what we saw and rushing off home to try and achieve something vaguely good (with me failing dismally). When the time came for me to find a way to support myself and my family, Val’s sensible and practical advice inspired me to consider taking up art as a career. It was an unheard-of possibility. It seemed incomprehensible to me (and everyone I knew) that one could support oneself from art alone. Yet Val said I could, and she had faith in me….faith I never had in myself. I would never have thought it possible to vaguely earn income, let alone support a family, on art. Yet I did it. And it’s all thanks to Val.”
Ninety years old, and Val Wilson was waiting for a client to arrive. He’d seen her baobab oil painting at the Animal Anti-cruelty League exhibition at La Lucia Mall, and been pipped at the post by another buyer. He didn’t give up, just commissioned his own.
Val boarded at Potchefstroom high school: “Three of us decided to do art, but the teacher wasn’t there and we had to sit in on the alternative … geography. When the headmistress who taught that class heard our plans for art, she was very clear: “Art? That’s not a subject, you’ll do geography.” And that was that. “I often wondered what would have happened had I done art then,” says Val.
Val always wanted to draw as a child, but somehow it didn’t really happen. Once married, she took up golf: “One of the girls had just been to art and showed us what she’d done, and I loved it. I joined her class.”
Val lost her husband very young: “I couldn’t bear the thought of the staff unemployed, and I needed to earn a living, so my son and I took on the business. That was my life for a long time.” She shrugs, “You have to do things you never did before.”
Val’s interest in art took a back seat, but in time, she returned to it, learning oils with John Smith, then later, watercolours with Thelma. She considers those art classes as very special: “When you have art in common, you make lifelong friends. Everyone is generous, and you learn from one another.”
Thelma won’t forget her first sale: “We were exhibiting on the uMhlanga Green, and I’d painted a little boat. A dealer asked if I could do more. Never one to say ‘No’, I said how many? One hundred.” Thelma headed off on holiday with a friend, touring the coastline and taking endless photographs of boats.” She grins, “I didn’t manage the 100 – eventually, I was over it!”
Thelma’s inspiration is Africa. She’s travelled extensively worldwide, but her subject matter is largely our landscape: “I’ve travelled to every little dorpie, been on hiking trails, visited endless countries, but still …”
International abstract artist Natasha Barnes met Val on her first day on the job at Art in the Park in 1995: “Her stand was next to mine and she had nipped off to the loo without telling anyone. Suddenly a lady appeared, desperate for Val’s large watercolour of three white ducks.
“I got up and sold it. It was R600. Unbeknown to me, it was her first sale here ever. On the way back, Val noticed a woman walking off with her painting, but was too embarrassed to confront her. I walked over to her, introduced myself, and handed her her money.” That was the start of a wonderful friendship.
“I count her among my most treasured friends, especially her wonderful advice over the years. I hear her voice over and over saying to me, ‘Natasha, just put your head down and keep going!’”
Thelma doesn’t paint every day: “I paint when I absolutely have to,” she laughs. “I do better under pressure, like for an exhibition.” Thelma sees painting as an intuitive, rather than a logical process: “You see something captivating, photograph it, then go ahead and paint it. I don’t really know how, I just do.” She adds, “The wonderful thing is you never leave painting. Unlike so many other things, you can keep going forever … once you start, you can’t really stop. And there’s no reason to.”