Ellinore Ginn

Ellinore Ginn was born Jane Eleanor Wilson in 1915 in Ontario, one of the four children of an Irish businessman father and a Scots artist mother. She went to Bishop Bethune College, a school for young ladies, and then left for Toronto where she worked with Lorne Greene doing commercials for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation while training at the Harthouse Theatre with director Nancy Piper. Her father, thinking she might be Sarah Bernhardt, let her study acting at RADA.
She joined Northampton Repertory, where she starred in several roles and spent two years in the Midlands. After returning to London she threw herself on the mercy of drama producer Val Gielgud (Sir John's brother) who agreed to give her a contract for 4 years.
She did a lot of work for the BBC drama department with actors like Flora Robson, Norman Shelley, and Ralph Richardson. While at the BBC the plays were recorded and sent to America. Her experiences included a tour of the United States, and contract work as the official poetry reader to schools in India, produced by Patrick Dickinson of the BBC.
She studied at Heatherley’s School of Art (Interior Design and Theatre) in Chelsea - with Sir Frederick Whiting and Iain McNab and graduated with honours.
During the blitz in Croydon she was an ambulance driver and was decorated for valour by Admiral Evans of HMS Broke. At the war's end she married Russell Ginn, an insurance broker with Lloyds of London and then came to New Zealand where they settled down to live in their Titahi Bay home which looked out to Mana Island and, in the distance, the South Island.
Ellinore found Titahi Bay arid, and set about developing the Titahi Bay Little Theatre now the Porirua Little Theatre, and a going concern. A naturally gregarious person, she determinedly sought out local people to join her group.
:"She wasn't just director, she was a one-man show for a while and modelled herself on Maureen O'Hara dyeing her hair red and floating barefoot round the streets.
:She had long dark hair then, and always dressed in beads and frills and had a wonderful time with the group. We did plays like Gaslight, Ladies in Retirement, Come Back, Little Sheba, Ring Around the Moon, and Hay Fever."
In 1950 she was actively involved in fundraising for the Catholic Church in Titahi Bay (then part of the Porirua parish) Between fundraising and paintings she had four of her paintings in the NZ Academy of Fine Arts between 1956 and 1958. One was of the late Alex Lindsay as a minstrel player. Continuing her painting through the years, she also studied with Paul Oldes in 1966. From 1971 she taught art at Hartham Centre and took art classes at Mana College in the evenings.
The Red Cottage Gallery in Kelvin Grove Wellington and then Waikanae were scrubbed, wallpapered and painted red. One exhibition after another was held for "unknown" and known exhibitors of Wellington to show their work. As a result, the gallery was booked solid for two years. Ellinore's first exhibitor was Robyn Kahukiwa, and after that, names such as Tui McLauchlan, Bety Eaton, Peter Leitch, Marie Stephens and many others followed one after the other.
Over the years, she had many exhibitions in Wellington, Christchurch, and Auckland. Dame Joan Sutherland, Lady Todd, and New Zealand Embassies are among owners of her works, which also hang in Government House, Wellington New Zealand.
Her paintings are poetic fantasy, faun-like people with sweet gentle faces, harlequins, clowns, musicians, flowers and animals whose eyes are alive with understanding were her passion.
Ellinore died May 24, 1995 from Fibrosing Alveolitis of the lungs. She left a legacy not only of her paintings, but her daughters. Known in some art circles as a New Zealand Royal family of artists. Each daughter has her own particular area of expertise.
Margot Stuart, has followed Ellinore's steps into the realm of theatre where she continues to maintain the name of the little Theatre begun many years ago. Margot is a keen crafts person excelling in knitting, computers and creating a webpage for her late mother - http://www.ellinoreginn.co.nz/index.htm.
Joanna Ginn, is a most sensitive lineal artist, whose work is regularly seen in Whanganui's Sergent Art Gallery. She has also taken much pleasure from the simple but lovely pieces of pottery she has made over the years.
Diana Ginn, a portrait painter who has experienced the world of early art in her travels to Europe. She has been a Fine Art Restorer for many years, and has an eclectic collection of painting styles including fresco and Religious Icons. Her latest exploration of creativity is using river stones to create simple artist jewellery. Diana is in the process of writing a biographic look into her interesting family. Her work can be seen at her website. http://www.dicons.co.nz
Victoria Ginn is a world renowned photographer with a list of credits to her name. Victoria has produced 3 books of her astounding photography, and an exciting insight into a horror of a journey she experienced while travelling. 'Freedom's Edge' is a compulsory read for any one considering travelling to the war torn region of Afghanistan.
Youngest daughter Adair Davis, is a painter of naive and innocent works. Her work is from the heart and is usually a reflection of her own gentle and child like nature. Mature but delightful colour and design go into the paintings and sculpture Adair does.

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