Kathleen EARLE

Kathleen EARLE
aka Kay; Kay WALKER
1893
1966

Daughter of Samuel (a barrister) and Marion 'May' Earle, Kathleen moved with her family from Eltham to Bromley in 1901, and their house 'The Thwaite' was the family home throughout her young years.  As she had qualified as an Assistant Teacher while at school, her parents wanted her to be a teacher, but whilst at her small finishing school (near Hastings, Sussex) where she became known as an accomplished artist, she read about the FORBES SCHOOL in The Studio and proceeded to apply for further study there (1910-11).

She introduced to Newlyn, and later married in 1918, Alec George WALKER, an artist-craftsman. Together they set up a fabric-designing and -making business known as Cryséde, first in Newlyn at Myrtle Cottage (the 'Myrtage') and later in St Ives.

Myrtle Cottage had been a boarding house pre WWI for the pupils of the FORBES School. They drew their primary inspiration for their designs from the local natural environment. Kathleen not only exhibited paintings (1924) but also illustrations, dolls and leatherwork up until the 1930s at NAG. (See Alec George WALKER and CRYSEDE entries for fuller accounts of the work.)

[Photo likenesses of Kay and Alec in Hardie 1995, p59 and Hardie 2009, p65]

media

Painter and textile designer, craftworker 

works and access

Penlee House Gallery and Museum, Penzance: Still life with Buddha; col pl in Hardie 2009, and PCF 2007

exhibitions

NAG December 1924 (paintings), March 1925 Show Days and Spring Show (dolls and leatherwork) 1930s

NAG 1924-30s, 'Arts & Crafts in Newlyn 1890-1930' 1986; RIC Crysede Exhibition 1993; Penlee House, Penzance: 'Women Painters in Cornwall 2002'

memberships

Crysede

references

Berriman The unique textile designs of Alec Walker

Berriman (1936) Arts and Crafts in Newlyn 1890-1930

I Green [in] Hardie 2009 Artists in Newlyn and West Cornwall p78

Hardie (1995) 100 Years in Newlyn: Diary of a Gallery (pp 59,69) illus

Hardie (2009) Artists in Newlyn and West Cornwall (p323) (under Walker) illus

Johnson & Greutzner

Tovey (2010) Sea Change

Public Catalogue Foundation (PCF) Cornwall & the Isles of Scilly: Oil Paintings in Public Ownership