Artist with penchant for pedagogy

Most people see only ugliness in suffering. They are repelled at the spectacle of pain. But a few people are raised to the height of religious and aesthetic exaltation at the experience of misery. They find the lips of the sprit with which to feed upon the substance of sorrow and to transform it into beauty. Such a person is Noeline Fernando the painter.

Among the Sri Lankan artists of today she stands out as the patron saint of pessimism, a woman who finds inspiration in the sadness of human existence. Her entry to the world of art was coincidental. It was at an exhibition at St. Peter's College, her brother's school two of her paintings were exhibited. At the end she sold both paintings and won a prize too.

It was during this time her parents wanted her to make a choice with regard to her future caree. Nursing was regarded as a noble profession which most of the young women of the period were engaged. But art was the love of her life. Nursing or art? she took an un-regrettable choice and joined Melbourne Art Classes conducted by Cora Abraham.

Noeline Fernando

One of her paintings

At the Melbourne Art Classes, she studied all the crafts available - painting, clay work, batik designing, wood work, creative craft and many more. As time advanced Mrs. Abraham initiated another art group known as 'Young Artists Group' Noeline joined the members of this group and exhibited her work in 1970.

For many years she wielded her brush to the delight of her students as an art teacher, and to the enrichment of generations to come. Most of her best work has been an outpouring of genuine experience. She depicts in her work the lifestyle of people and human problems which could engulf a human soul. These are very creatively displayed in her work. Therefore, her style of presenting is vigorous and most certainly articulate.

Noeline reproduced the simple beauty of her own country. She painted the homely scenes of life in village and town. She says, "My style is direct. I enjoy my capacity to redefine structures as in the make up of faces or that of a landscape. I enjoy painting and working creatively." Some of her outstanding work "Return of resettlement oil on canvas. 'White cloth' 'Untitled', 'Women at a well' oil on canvas are painted with amazing craftsmanship. And they were masters of the medium of light and shadow. She worked on broad masses of colour working from black to tints of the deepest luminosity, with high colour values and by subtle gradations scraped down to delicate suggestions and nuances.

From time to time Noeline painted landscapes with frank and tasteful felicity. Beautiful as many of her pictures are, in which so much of the subject is described by a few delicate, precise lines, some of them enclosing sober monochrome washes others simply areas of virgin paper or canvas.

Noeline taught her young children to observe nature keenly and to reproduce it faithfully. Instead of compelling her pupils to copy her methods she allowed each of them to develop in their own way. She is an excellent teacher.

In 1970 she was able to do a sole exhibition at the Samudra Gallery, and also in. 'The Man and His World' exhibition at Montreal, Canada, and 1971 exhibiting at the Septieme Biennate de Paris.

In 1991 Noeline attended open Studio Classes in Life Drawing at the Heatherly School of Fine Arts, Chelsea, UK. Apart from holding exhibitions she is busy teaching art at various schools and institutions such as SOS children's Village lnt, Sri Lanka. St. Bridget's Convent, Ladies' College, and School for the Special Child.

At present Noeline conducts her own art classes at the Sapumal Foundation, Barn's Place, Colombo 7. for Children as well as adults. 'Drawing keeps one fit, like physical exercises perhaps acts like water to a plant - and it lessons the danger of repeating oneself and getting into a formula. It enlarges one's form of repertoire and one's form of experience.