Jan 1984
"Lifetime dedicated to art in the south"
A firm believer in practicing what she preaches, Mrs Wilson of Edendale has never let geography limit her artistic abilities.
"Mrs Wilson said this week she was 'extremely stunned when a telegram confirmed the award.
So many people were worthy of such and award and remained "unsung" she said. "I have done nothing to deserve it, only led an interesting life" she added.
Mrs Wilson is an art teacher at Menzies College, a position she held since 1972. She had trained at the Dunedin School of Art and on completing her course proceeded to teach art at various schools until 1965 when she was appointed to the position of art teacher at Southland Boys' High School, a position she held for seven years.
Mrs Wilson describes herself as an "enthusiastic" art teacher, painter, sculptor and writer.
She began her literary career with freelance magazine writing, and progressed to writing for school journals and Playschool.
A major project was her book 'The Fresh Plains of Edendale' in 1961. Mrs Wilson had been requested to write the book to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Edendale dairy factory, the oldest operating factory in New Zealand.
Mrs Wilson said much of her inspiration for her stories comes from everyday experiences and happenings. Even incidents in the playground at the college can prompt ideas for stories and illustrations, which accompany the majority of them.
One event which encouraged her to put pen to paper was the Springbok tour in 1981. She had been very concerned about how it had torn people apart. She said the people she had the most concern for were the police. The tour gave her an immediate desire to help the police.
Her original idea was to portray in her story, the image of a policeman as an ordinary person. However as the story progressed the emphasis shifted, as so often occurs in story-writing. The finished story was of a policeman who spoke to his daughter about her surname, address and location of her house. The story was sent to Playschool and appeared on television some weeks later.
TEACHING AID
Not long after the television showing, a policeman from a North Island youth aid department wrote to her requesting permission to use the story as a teaching aid for a police educational programme. Mrs Wilson agreed and proceeded to write other stories.
The aim of the programme was to help children in abused situations and encourage them to tell somebody. Mrs Wilson felt the programme was a very caring and constructive gesture by the police force, and said she was pleased to make a small contribution to such an extensive programme.
Mrs Wilson has not confined her talent to New Zealand. In 1979 Gore Rotary's international committee, chaired by her husband, Mr Arthur Wilson seeking an innovative project. Mrs Wilson suggested they could help finance a series of readers for Cook Island children.
She went to Rarotonga on her own shortly after and filled a sketch book as a basis for illustrations. On returning to New Zealand she prepared stories with English texts and these along with illustrations were sent back to a teacher in Rarotonga who had undertaken to provide a Cook Island Maori translation.
In 1980 Mrs Wilson was contacted by the then English adviser, New Zealander Tim Walsh who explained the Cook Island education authorities would prefer stories written by their own people.
TECHNIQUE
One week later Mrs Wilson was on a plane to Rarotonga again. This time she worked with primary school teachers and taught them the technique of story writing. She said it was important they employed subjects familiar to their Cook Island environment.
As a result of the programme the Rarotongan teachers produced 14 stories with Mrs Wilson's assistance . Eight of the stories were brought back to New Zealand, illustrated by her and later published for use in the Cook Island schools.
The important thing, Mrs Wilson said was that it was a joint effort. The stories were bilingual, with Cook Island teachers providing translations from the English.
"It was a warm, rewarding and an extraordinary experience" Mrs Wilson said, the biggest reward being 40 stories which were published after she returned to New Zealand.
Mrs Wilson said she would love to go back to Rarotonga "to do something." During her last visit she had taught two classes in art, and thoroughly enjoyed it.
EARLY DAYS
The start of her career in the field of television writing came about in the early days of "black and white", whe the production crews worked "on the smell of an oily rag had an abundance of gut enthusiasm".
Looking back she feels that working with such a young team that lacked financial resources created a stimulating atmosphere which she revelled in.
Mrs Wilson wrote a series of 52 stories fore television while she was the art teacher at Southland Boys' High School. "Jacabob and His Magic Pencil" a reluctant soldier who could draw his way out of sticky situations was a major series.
A total of 40 illustrations were required for every four minute story and on returning home at the weekend she would put pen to paper and capture the ideas which had been in her head all week.
Every Monday morning the script and illustrations would be aboard the bus bound for Dunedin and the production team.
Mrs Wilson has several sculptures to her credit. Perhaps the best known example of her work is the Blade for Grass which stands outside the Civic Administration Building in Invercargill. Another of her sculptures stands in the Southland Girls' High School quadrangle. Called "Budding", it is of stainless steel in a rose formation depicting budding womanhood, made for the school in its centenary year.
She also appears once a month on the radio programme "Southland Scene".
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Over the past years she has seen a lot of talent pass through the district. Mrs Wilson has had time to reflect on her first impression of Edendale when she shifted there 30 years ago. She said the tears stopped long ago and she no longer considers she is living at the end of the earth.
She feels the small township cares for its residents and in her opinion it is only a myth the people do not care for each other nowadays, even in the bigger centres"
"Lifetime dedicated to art in the south"
A firm believer in practicing what she preaches, Mrs Wilson of Edendale has never let geography limit her artistic abilities.
"Mrs Wilson said this week she was 'extremely stunned when a telegram confirmed the award.
So many people were worthy of such and award and remained "unsung" she said. "I have done nothing to deserve it, only led an interesting life" she added.
Mrs Wilson is an art teacher at Menzies College, a position she held since 1972. She had trained at the Dunedin School of Art and on completing her course proceeded to teach art at various schools until 1965 when she was appointed to the position of art teacher at Southland Boys' High School, a position she held for seven years.
Mrs Wilson describes herself as an "enthusiastic" art teacher, painter, sculptor and writer.
She began her literary career with freelance magazine writing, and progressed to writing for school journals and Playschool.
A major project was her book 'The Fresh Plains of Edendale' in 1961. Mrs Wilson had been requested to write the book to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Edendale dairy factory, the oldest operating factory in New Zealand.
Mrs Wilson said much of her inspiration for her stories comes from everyday experiences and happenings. Even incidents in the playground at the college can prompt ideas for stories and illustrations, which accompany the majority of them.
One event which encouraged her to put pen to paper was the Springbok tour in 1981. She had been very concerned about how it had torn people apart. She said the people she had the most concern for were the police. The tour gave her an immediate desire to help the police.
Her original idea was to portray in her story, the image of a policeman as an ordinary person. However as the story progressed the emphasis shifted, as so often occurs in story-writing. The finished story was of a policeman who spoke to his daughter about her surname, address and location of her house. The story was sent to Playschool and appeared on television some weeks later.
TEACHING AID
Not long after the television showing, a policeman from a North Island youth aid department wrote to her requesting permission to use the story as a teaching aid for a police educational programme. Mrs Wilson agreed and proceeded to write other stories.
The aim of the programme was to help children in abused situations and encourage them to tell somebody. Mrs Wilson felt the programme was a very caring and constructive gesture by the police force, and said she was pleased to make a small contribution to such an extensive programme.
Mrs Wilson has not confined her talent to New Zealand. In 1979 Gore Rotary's international committee, chaired by her husband, Mr Arthur Wilson seeking an innovative project. Mrs Wilson suggested they could help finance a series of readers for Cook Island children.
She went to Rarotonga on her own shortly after and filled a sketch book as a basis for illustrations. On returning to New Zealand she prepared stories with English texts and these along with illustrations were sent back to a teacher in Rarotonga who had undertaken to provide a Cook Island Maori translation.
In 1980 Mrs Wilson was contacted by the then English adviser, New Zealander Tim Walsh who explained the Cook Island education authorities would prefer stories written by their own people.
TECHNIQUE
One week later Mrs Wilson was on a plane to Rarotonga again. This time she worked with primary school teachers and taught them the technique of story writing. She said it was important they employed subjects familiar to their Cook Island environment.
As a result of the programme the Rarotongan teachers produced 14 stories with Mrs Wilson's assistance . Eight of the stories were brought back to New Zealand, illustrated by her and later published for use in the Cook Island schools.
The important thing, Mrs Wilson said was that it was a joint effort. The stories were bilingual, with Cook Island teachers providing translations from the English.
"It was a warm, rewarding and an extraordinary experience" Mrs Wilson said, the biggest reward being 40 stories which were published after she returned to New Zealand.
Mrs Wilson said she would love to go back to Rarotonga "to do something." During her last visit she had taught two classes in art, and thoroughly enjoyed it.
EARLY DAYS
The start of her career in the field of television writing came about in the early days of "black and white", whe the production crews worked "on the smell of an oily rag had an abundance of gut enthusiasm".
Looking back she feels that working with such a young team that lacked financial resources created a stimulating atmosphere which she revelled in.
Mrs Wilson wrote a series of 52 stories fore television while she was the art teacher at Southland Boys' High School. "Jacabob and His Magic Pencil" a reluctant soldier who could draw his way out of sticky situations was a major series.
A total of 40 illustrations were required for every four minute story and on returning home at the weekend she would put pen to paper and capture the ideas which had been in her head all week.
Every Monday morning the script and illustrations would be aboard the bus bound for Dunedin and the production team.
Mrs Wilson has several sculptures to her credit. Perhaps the best known example of her work is the Blade for Grass which stands outside the Civic Administration Building in Invercargill. Another of her sculptures stands in the Southland Girls' High School quadrangle. Called "Budding", it is of stainless steel in a rose formation depicting budding womanhood, made for the school in its centenary year.
She also appears once a month on the radio programme "Southland Scene".
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Over the past years she has seen a lot of talent pass through the district. Mrs Wilson has had time to reflect on her first impression of Edendale when she shifted there 30 years ago. She said the tears stopped long ago and she no longer considers she is living at the end of the earth.
She feels the small township cares for its residents and in her opinion it is only a myth the people do not care for each other nowadays, even in the bigger centres"
2001
"Patricia is another of our Nelson active retirees. She and her husband moved to Nelson in 1985 from Southland where Patricia's community work had already been recognised with a QSM.
Joining the Citizen's Advice Bureau proved a good way to meet people, and Patricia has been active in this organisation since 1986, serving a term as chair and assisting with training and consumer work.
As a former school teacher she is committed to enthusing young people about books and three years ago initiated 'Storygrans'. Patricia continues to co-ordinate volunteers to read once a week in all Nelson and Motueka Kindergartens, under the appreciative wing of the Kindergarten Association.
Patricia enjoys church work and Sunday School teaching and finds time to paint and exhibit as a member of the Nelson Suter Art Society.