Wendy Solling

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Wendy Solling
Wendy Solling at French Painting Today, Sydney 1953.JPG
Solling at the "French Painting Today" exhibition in Sydney, 1953
Born1926
Maitland, New South Wales, Australia
Died20 January 2002 (aged 75–76)
Brevard, North Carolina, US
NationalityAustralian
Other namesSister Angela
OccupationSculptor, Franciscan nun

Wendy Hope Solling (1926 – 20 January 2002) was an Australian sculptor, Anglican Franciscan nun, and one of the earliest women ordained in the Anglican Church of Australia.

Early life and education[]

Wendy Hope Solling was born in Maitland, New South Wales.[1] Solling was sent to boarding school in Moss Vale to improve her health, having suffered from chronic bronchitis.[2]

She she attended the East Sydney Technical College which later became the National Art School.[3][4] Her teacher there was Lyndon Dadswell.[5] After graduation, she went to the Slade Art School, London. While in London, exhibitions displaying her sculpture attracted attention.[6]

Artistic career[]

Solling held her first solo exhibition at the Galerie Apollinaire in 1951.[7] She was then commissioned for several portraits, including of the Australian High Commissioner in London, Sir Thomas White, and Covent Garden singer Rosina Raisbeck.[7]

As a sculptor, Solling worked with stone, wood, ebony, plaster, iron and wire.[7]

In 1952, Solling returned to Australia and had several successful exhibitions, including a solo exhibition at the David Jones Art Gallery in September of that year.[8]

Solling and Kathleen Shillam were the only women in the group exhibition held by the Society of Sculptors and Associates at the David Jones Art Gallery in 1955. Her wood and copper-wire mural, The Man from Snowy River, is currently at the Ashfield Hotel, Sydney. She has other works which reside in the Anglican cathedral in Newcastle, New South Wales.[5]

Religious life[]

In 1955, she returned to England, settling in Freeland, Oxfordshire, with the Anglican Community of St Clare.[9] Solling made her profession and chose the name Sister Angela.[1][10]

In 1972, Solling returned to Australia at the invitation of the Bishop of Newcastle, Ian Shevill, and lived in the rectory of St John's Church at Stroud, New South Wales.[9]

Between 1978 and 1980, the Monastery of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Hermitage of the Bernadine of Siena were built for the growing group of sisters, overseen by Solling who viewed it as a "work of Sculpture".[9][10] The buildings were blessed and dedicated on 12 July 1980.[10]

Solling supported Patricia Brennan in her Movement for the Ordination of Women.[1] Solling was ordained as a deacon on 11 November 1989 by the Bishop of Newcastle and as a priest in Christ Church Cathedral, Newcastle, on 21 December 1992,[10] the first year in which women were ordained as priests in the Anglican Church of Australia.[11]

In 1993, the monastery was accepted into the Order of St Francis as a second-order community. Solling added additional buildings to the monastery which were opened to lay women, who came to learn about spirituality, Indigenous culture and other matters. These buildings were called Gunya Chiara, using an Indigenous word for 'house' and the Italian word for 'light'.[8]

Solling was at this time the only remaining sister and the community ended when she moved to the United States in 2000, after the library, workshop and other buildings at Stroud burned down.[1][4][8] In the last two years of her life, she lived in Boston and North Carolina with the Reverend Carter Heyward and Alison Cheek.[4]

Death[]

Rachael Kohn notes that Solling was active and riding horses up to the time she had a stroke and died.[4] A funeral service was held for her at St Philip's Episcopalian church in Brevard, North Carolina, on 9 February 2002. Memorial services were also held in Newcastle, Australia, and at the Stroud Monastery.[8] After her death in 2002, Solling's ashes were scattered partly in the United States and partly in Australia.[4]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d Melbourne, The University of. "Solling, Wendy Hope - Woman - The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia". www.womenaustralia.info. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Solling, Wendy Hope (1926-2002)". trove.nla.gov.au. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  3. ^ "East Sydney Technical College | The Dictionary of Sydney". dictionaryofsydney.org. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Sister Angela's Ashes". Radio National. 21 March 2002. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Wendy Hope Solling: biography at Design and Art Australia Online". www.daao.org.au. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  6. ^ "Speaking Personally". Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954). 15 September 1949. p. 6. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  7. ^ a b c "Wendy Sailing Variety In Sculpture". The Sunday Herald (Sydney) (189). New South Wales, Australia. 7 September 1952. p. 24. Retrieved 24 July 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ a b c d "Wendy Hope Solling: biography Design and Art Australia Online". www.daao.org.au. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  9. ^ a b c "History | The Old Monastery Stroud". The Old Monastery St. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  10. ^ a b c d Campbell, T W. "Religious Communities of the Anglican Communion: Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific" (PDF).
  11. ^ West, Andrew (7 March 2012). "Twenty years of female Anglican priests". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
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