Information shared by Deborah Zinn, Australia 2026
In 2017 the Canberra Museum and Gallery in Australia exhibited the work of Eirene Mort. “This year marks the 40th anniversary of Eirene Mort’s death at the age of 98, a fitting time to consider her life and work. Thanks to a generous gift from her heirs Canberra Museum and Gallery is well endowed with artefacts from Mort’s art practice.”
This contained six ceramic buttons c.1900–1910 in a style that resembles the Satsuma buttons of Japan. These included an emu, kookaburra, lyrebird, and kangaroo designs (shown below). The PDF exhibit brochure containing biographical information and examples of her art can be seen here. Images of the exhibit, plus links to a taped radio interview and the text of opening remarks from Dr. Nicholas Brown can be accessed from the Gallery page at this link.
The incredible 60-year creative partnership between Eirene Mort and Nora Kate Weston is explored in intricate detail in a moving new biography by Dr. Sylvia Martin from NLA Publishing: DOUBLE ACT. “Eirene Mort (1879-1977) and Nora Kate Weston (1880-1965) lived unconventional lives, pursuing careers in the arts in the early part of the 20th century – dynamic ‘New Women’ challenging the gender conventions and societal norms of the time. To their families they were known simply as ‘The Aunts’.”
AN AFTER SHOW AH-HA MOMENT
Taking Another Look at my Buttons
Sometime a few years back, I stopped competing in any competitions. No particular reason why, just stopped. I had my share of blue, red, and green ribbons, but they weren’t incentive even when I competed and suddenly, they seemed much less so. Then just as suddenly, it seemed time to start competing again. My state’s spring show what on the horizon and I had written and submitted two awards. The first was an award for moonglows. The second was shapes, specialized to anything but round, i.e., hearts, spindles, rectangles, squares, etc. It was after this competition that I began to look at my buttons differently.