Illustrated & Researched by Janet
Skinner
written by Pauline Reckentin, Edited by John Kerr |
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**
Sales Are Now Available by phoning 0438 123 993 **
'Janet Skinner,
the train lady,' most will acknowledge that they have seen
Janet at work or visited one of her exhibitions.
Her
start is a curious one. The childhood experience of a local
station in England being pulled down gave her such a shock
that when she heard that Queensland local stations were being
replaced her reaction was to paint them to preserve them for
all time. This project started in 1992.
When
the new buildings went up many would have thought ' about
time they were replaced'. The new stations are shiny and clean
but the history has been all but lost. Some of the stations
were given to railway museums and later some of the signal
boxes but without Janet's paintings the in situ pictures are
gone. With the loss of old stations and locomotives went the
demonstrable memory of those who worked on the railways at
the time. This is why her work is so very important.
Janet
is a human dynamo. While her demeanor is measured, deliberate
and organised, she managed to cover more ground in a week
than a pizza delivery van. Last year she decided that it was
time to get her book 'done'. No small feat, she interviewed
and taped all the people she could find who had worked on
around 50 stations and locomotives that made up the first
part of her works. I, her whining and complaining friend,
'translated' these tapes for hundreds of hours.
We
designed the book which contains a picture of
the station or locomotive, a thumbnail history and then the
recollections of one or two people who worked at the station
or on the train.
In
her work Janet is performing a very special service for Australia.
She is preserving Australian Heritage by way of its architecture
as well as its history. Her paintings 104 in all will be a
very valuable collection as time goes on. When the book is
published it will be a unique record of the sociological growth
of the people of Queensland.
Part
of the series of 96 works that form ' The Railway Series QLD
& NSW '
See also Exhibition Co-ordinator page
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