Giselle's story is one of transcending pain and many illnesses to focus on creativity, intellectual passions and deep friendships. Her legacy is not just her writing and her art but her ability to make life better for the many she has taught and the many she has supported, encouraged, cooked for and comforted as well as entertained. She could be very funny and strongly believed in the cure of laughter.

 

Giselle was born May 9, 1946 in Germany. Her parents Franka and Martin, both resistance fighters, were young and damaged by their horrible experiences. Most of their families in Poland and Germany were decimated. The marriage broke up and Giselle aged four and a half was sent to a boarding school for children with tuberculosis. Although this experience was traumatic there was the comfort and beauty of the German alps and Giselle fell in love with the mountains and the drama of nature.

 

When Giselle was seven her mother came to take her home to Munich. Franka was vivacious, beautiful and charming and was living a colourful bohemian life. They shared the flat with Helga a young German woman Franka had taken in as she too had lost her family. Helga was motherly and balanced out Franka’s laissez-faire attitudes. This meant that Giselle had unprecedented freedom for a young girl. She wandered around the neighbourhood to visit gypsies, old ladies on their baking days for a slice or two and spent much time in the studio of a professor of monumental sculpture and also the studio of a painter who pined for a ballerina famous for the fire dance; her flame painted ballet shoes hung near his easel like a slightly dusty symbol of eternal longing.

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Munich at that time was in ruins. Whole streets in their neighbourhood had been bombed and men in rags sought shelter and begged for a piece of bread. Franka somehow always gave some food to those who knocked on her door and this made a huge impression on Giselle. All her life she feared homelessness and all her life she had a deep need to save money to secure herself but also to give to others. That she was able to do this gave her relief from the fear of dispossession but also the pleasure of being useful to others. It had a lot to do with her ongoing commitment to human rights and justice.

 

When Giselle was nine her mother told her that they were going to Australia to see her father. Sydney in 1955 was a huge culture shock but it was wonderful to see Martin, her beloved father, after all those years. Her parents divorced and Giselle had to choose between them. Unwisely she chose her father and her life was difficult with him and his new wife.

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However, there was light on the horizon. At Bellevue Hill Primary School German-speaking Joanna Ball (Kalowski) took her under her wing and stayed a very good friend. Also, she met Wendy Hacobian a wonderful, kind, wise and very funny woman who lived in the flat building above Margaret and Martin. When there were beatings Giselle ran to Wendy and was comforted with understanding and often Wendy’s very good cake. If there is a soul mate in life then it is Wendy; that friendship saved Giselle and has endured for 60 years. Wendy is in a nursing home in Katoomba and it is only in the last few years that her phenomenal mind has floated away into another sphere. Aside from kindness Wendy fostered Giselle’s interest in nutrition, healing, mythology, metaphysics and laughter. This is a woman who never went to high school but was very gifted. Her son Andre is still a close friend.

 

When Giselle was thirteen she started to challenge her stepmother and was sent to boarding school for being rebellious. She was banned from home and they adopted two baby boys, Tony and Ricky. Again there was a bright light because Tony eventually got to know Giselle and has become a very good brother and solid friend.

 

Claremont school was an emotional and educational desert. It had never been a high school, the teachers were mostly unqualified, the food was scarce and awful and there were two books in the library. The emphasis was on hats, gloves, being a lady and listening to high Church of England doctrines. Giselle rebelled and was often punished but as the punishment consisted of staying after school to write essays on a variety of topics she never let on how much she enjoyed it. Luckily the desert held one oasis in the form of the brilliant Elizabeth Campell who taught English and history. She recognised Giselle’s passion for reading and brought boxes of books from her own eclectic library. Giselle took off like a rocket, winning a national poetry prize at sixteen and deciding to do English honours and German honours. There were no classes for this but she worked on her own and eventually persuaded the school to let her go to a library. She applied what she had learned in Miss Campbell’s excellent pass classes. No one expected her to do well so it was a surprise to come near the top of the state in English and to also do solidly in German honours as well as gain a maximum pass in the other subjects. She was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship to do arts/ law but was desperate to go to art school which her parents saw as a den of iniquity. She really had no ambition. She loved to read and wanted to spend her life on art but because of the holocaust background, she felt obligated to her parents to go to university.

 

Meanwhile, her mother Franka had remarried another Holocaust survivor. They had another child in 1961 and Giselle has remained close to his two children who are wonderful.

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Well read and ridiculously naïve she began university at 17. Because of her difficult home circumstances, she applied for a living allowance so she could stay at the university hostel. She felt ungrounded and was disappointed in the lectures and the cynicism of university life. She skipped classes and painted and wrote through the nights. Her scholarship was suspended and she wanted to go to art school and be a theatre designer. Her parents were in an uproar so she had to repeat the year. This time she changed subjects and did very well eventually graduating with honours in English and archaeology.  She met Barbara Caine at the start of 1965 and that friendship, which lasted over half a century, was stabilising and intellectually satisfying. Barbara welcomed her into her family.

 

Giselle won a Commonwealth postgraduate scholarship and tutorship. Her flat in Glebe became a studio and she started to exhibit in open competitions like the young contemporaries. Law was pushed onto the back burner although her parents never forgave her. After two years of tutoring, she walked away to live in New York and then London where she worked as a copywriter in publishing.

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When a friend offered her a studio and home on his farm in Kent she produced the work for her London show. She found premises in Shaftsbury Avenue and staged a huge independent art event. A series of fortuitous introductions to most of the art world meant great attendance and very good reviews including a letter from the Tate Gallery. She was also accepted to do a masters at St Martin’s school of art. But once again illness struck and after a lengthy hospital stay, she had no money and came back to Sydney.

 

In Sydney she found work in advertising as a writer but after two years realised that she did not care about the fate of products. A diploma in education to teach art would supply income plus weeks of paid holiday to create artwork and write. She landed at St George Girls High and had a wonderful time with bright students and colleagues. A kiln there was the start of developing her own ceramics and that of the school. It was a very productive time of making and selling work, having exhibitions and setting up a studio in her Newtown house. She wrote freelance articles for art journals and the Australian, she paid chunks off her mortgage with sales from solo exhibitions, her work was bought by the National Gallery of Australia and the Visual Arts board as well as shown in the Perspecta at the Art Gallery of NSW. There were illnesses but she picked herself up and dusted herself off.

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By 1990 she felt the need for new challenges and went to the UK to complete a masters in ceramics and 3D design. Her father died suddenly while she was away and she had to overcome this devastating shock to complete the degree. She knew he expected that strength from her.

 

Back in Sydney she set up her own art school in her Redfern studio and loved teaching with freedom. She also taught at the National Art School, the University of Western Sydney, Sydney College of the Arts, and in the TAFE system. When she was asked to design a syllabus for a course at Sydney University - Foundations of Visual Arts and Design - she was able to go on to teach the course she created. It was perfect permanent part-time work and she loved teaching and developing it. While there from 2001, she looked after her mother who had Alzheimers. They became close and she died in 2008.  During this period she also went through two life-threatening illnesses including breast cancer.

 

Despite the trauma and illnesses she has faced Giselle, set out to have an interesting life and interesting it was. Her artwork is expressive of her travels to Africa, India, Vietnam and other places. She loved world music, singing and dancing and showcased many influences in her cooking and decorating. Her life experiences were broad and deep. Her romantic relationships were never a highlight but she highly valued friendships with people all over the world and most of these friendships have evolved over decades to be strong and lasting. She loved her students and some of them have stayed on as friends. The love and support she received during her final illness was extraordinary. You know who you are and what you meant to her.

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In 2014 Giselle had reasonable health and a wonderful year writing thesis proposals and creating a body of work based on several years of investigation into neuroscience, quantum physics and the new biology. This was the most exciting project she has ever worked on and when she was accepted for more post-graduate work at Sydney University she was thrilled because she would have access to facilities in experimental areas. She completed the first semester of 2015 but was increasingly unwell. The diagnosis of stage 4 ovarian cancer put an end to the dream. Sad as she was she reframed it as at least having had the heady year of 2014.

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Her focus before dying was acceptance and deep gratitude for all her adventures and truly wonderful friendships. She recognised that although there had been some terrible challenges there were so many privileges and gifts given.

 

Because of the goodness of this country to her both in its healthcare and opportunities Giselle has set up a medical research scholarship for Sydney University and an indigenous arts scholarship. Her wonderful friends have agreed to keep her website going and to handle the sale of any paintings so that she can keep contributing to children in need. They will also promote her children’s book The Yawn That Grew - 100% of proceeds go to children's charities.

 

Giving back and usefulness have been lifelong ideals for Giselle. The injustices of the world deeply affected her and although she knew that the gestures were tiny in relation to need she was convinced of the importance of doing them.

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Giselle Antmann 2015