Women's History Month Heritage Walk Civic Square, March 2022

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this Heritage Walk contains images and names of deceased people.

Rosalie Gascoigne (1917-1999)

Artist, Teacher and Leader

Rosalie Gascoigne is best known for her distinctive artworks comprised of found materials: wood, iron, wire, feathers, and bright yellow retro-reflective road signs. She found beauty in objects that had been discarded and left to weather. Her work reflected her observation of her regional environment and is represented in international, national and regional galleries.

Born in New Zealand in 1917, Rosalie earned a Bachelor of Arts at Auckland University College (1938) and a teaching qualification (1939) after which she taught at various schools in Auckland.

In 1943 Rosalie travelled to Australia to marry astronomer Ben Gascoigne who was working at the Commonwealth Solar Observatory. The couple set up home in the small scientific community on Mount Stromlo and soon welcomed three children.

Rosalie was introduced to the world of modern art by artist Carl Plate in the 1940s. Her aesthetic was informed by an early love of the romantic poets and her close engagement with the country around Canberra, although her formal art training was limited to the study of ikebana. From 1955 to 1964, Rosalie’s floral arrangements were awarded prizes by the Horticultural Society of Canberra for imaginative work that included found objects and dried materials. Between 1959 to 1974, Rosalie was commissioned to provide larger scale floral arrangements for the Shine Dome.

She taught the art of ikebana from 1966 to 1970. From the mid-1960s, the rusted farming and mining machinery collected from the paddocks of around Canberra and Captains Flat for use in her ikebana arrangements began to be made into small sculptures. In this period the family travelled for pleasure and for Ben’s work, exposing Rosalie to other modern artists, making the acquaintance of many, and expanding her knowledge of assemblage art.

Rosalie’s first solo exhibition opened in June 1974 at the Macquarie Galleries in Canberra and she continued exhibiting for the next 25 years. Among the honours for her work, Rosalie was the first Australian woman selected for the Venice Biennale (1982) and received an Order of Australia for services to art (1994).

Select Bibliography

Photograph courtesy of the Gascoigne Family.

Museum of Contemporary Art

Rosalie Gascoigne a Catalogue Raisonné (book)

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_{Header photograph: March by Women's Employment Rights Campaign from the ACT Health Authority to the CES building, 2 December 1977.  ACT Heritage Library, Canberra Times Collection, 006515}