In Memoriam Elizabeth Harvey Odling
1925 - 2004
Click here to see examples of Elizabeth’s work
The people of Lismore were greatly saddened by the recent death of the artist
Mrs Elizabeth Harvey Odling at the age of 79.
Born in Glasgow where her father was a civil engineer
designing Argyll’s roads, Elizabeth Harvey was educated in The Laurel Bank
School, with one year in Oban High School, before she went on to make her mark
at the Glasgow School of Art where she not only won the top prize, the Newbery
Medal – presented to the most talented student in the school - , but also met
her artist husband Ted Odling. After graduating, Elizabeth spent a year in the
Royal College of Art in London before returning to Glasgow to teach at the Art
School where Ted was also teaching.
Ted and Elizabeth married in 1951 and, while devoting
herself to her three children Noelle, Charles, and Nicholas, Elizabeth taught
part time and never stopped distinguishing herself in the world of art. She was
a great illustrator and a long association with the Radio Times included her
designing the cover in January 1958 for the 200th anniversary of the birth of
Burns. As a life long lover of Burns this was a great pleasure and was followed
by an educational animation of Tam O‘Shanter, adapted from the BBC TV
Production, for which she and Ted devised and drew the illustrations and
credits.
Indeed they often worked together as their skills entirely
complemented one another with Elizabeth being a water colourist, illustrator,
designer, and needlewoman with great power to depict the human figure, and Ted
working larger bolder canvasses in oils. Their Burns’ Room Murals in Irvine,
which they painted in 1965, are still described as stunning and fresh.
In the mid seventies Elizabeth and Ted were commissioned by
the National Trust of Scotland to create an exhibition in murals and paintings
telling the story of General Eisenhower at Culzean Castle. In 1945 the Kennedy
family had gifted the Castle to the Scottish people with the proviso that the
top floor apartment be reserved for the use of the General during his lifetime
as a thank you from the people of Scotland. The Trust also commissioned them to
research and interpret in murals the history of the old Coach House and Kennels
of the Duke of Hamilton’s Palace at Chatelerault. And they were both part of a
large distinguished team who put together “Glasgow 2000”, an educational CD
Rom of Glasgow’s entire history from prehistoric times to the present, for
which they provided landscapes and illustrations.
Such interpretative research coupled with the wit and
sharpness of Elizabeth’s observations, are also seen in her illustrations for
books such as Sidney Macer-Wright’s “A Dickens Anthology” and Jerome K
Jerome’s “Three Men in a Boat”.
Elizabeth and Ted came to Lismore in the mid seventies.
They bought the old United Free Manse and converted the disused church into a
studio where they continued working and where, in the early days, they ran
Summer Art Schools. Elizabeth made great contributions to many aspects of
Lismore life, not least as a member and later President of the Women’s Guild.
In 1987, to commemorate the Guild’s centenary, she was commissioned to design
and make a new pulpit fall, her needlework skills already being well known from
her exquisitely colourful large quiltings every stitch of which were hand done.
After the Memorial Service for Elizabeth in the church she loved, the family
invited us to view these quilts plus a sample of her broad ranging work
displayed in her honour in the hall.
Elizabeth had an ever-growing love of the west coast of
Scotland, not just the beauty but the everyday social history of its places and
people, and it is fitting that she will long be remembered for the contribution
she made to its life.
Click here to see examples of Elizabeth’s work