REMEMBERING GEORGE GEORGE KIRK
Penelope Wharton
At almost 99 years, George Kirk (1921-2020) was still drawing and painting in his Maryborough studio. In earlier years he would create in his studio at Aroona the family property. He was a much loved, prolific regional artist who was a joyful, inquisitive art maker and a hard-working third generation cattleman of the Burnett district. Inspired by concepts of freedom and externalising inner emotion, he was a diligent student of colour and form who observed his landscape and social environment with a keen eye. George’s images were also informed by his passionate and in-depth study of the works of the post-impressionists, expressionists, surrealists, and many contemporary Australian artists. George described his attitude to creativity in the 1982 Australian Flying Arts School catalogue, “…drawing and painting, or the creative spirit, has been ever-present since early childhood, and perhaps my highest aspiration is to be accepted as an artist among artists.”
George Kirk at an opening of one of his exhibitions at Gatakers Artspace. Susan Rogers.
