Frederick Parker Vize 1866-1952



 Frederick Parker Vize, known to his family as Papa, was born in Sale, son of William Henry and Mary Vize. He spent his youth in Gippsland where the family moved between Sale, Maffra, Lucknow, Bairnsdale and Cunninghame (Lakes Entrance). He attended the Bairnsdale School of Mines and specialized in art.

 He furthered his interest in art through land and seascapes and earned his living by sign writing, coach painting, and other general coach work, such as leather work and other arts associated with coach building and its maintenance.

 He married Mary Jane Brown Moriaty in Sale in 1892 where their first child Eva Gladys was born. He began landscape painting around this time. They left Sale around 1894 to take up a position as Art Master in the newly formed Echuca School of Art, and subsequently Director of the school.

 The family of Fred, Mary, Gladys and baby Vera Helen, settled in Francis Street Echuca where they increased prodigiously to nine children. Gladys and Mercy received free education at the local Convent school in exchange for their father providing art lessons to the nuns. The remainder of the children attended the local state school and later, after they moved to Melbourne, the Manning Tree Road State School Glenferrie.

 During this sojourn in Echuca, Papa developed the School of Art. It was at this stage when the Department of Education became interested in converting the school into a Technical College. This change ultimately happened but soon after Papa was offered a position of Art Master at the Swinbourne Technical College, which he accepted in 1916. Echuca Technical College - Centenary Congratulations on 100 years of Learning gives a good insight into the development of the School of Art during Vize's directorship.

 Whilst in Echuca, Papa became the captain of the local rifle club, he was a proficient billiard player and was secretary to the Mechanics Institute where he spent time as the librarian. He also experimented in the development of various art utensils such as: - plasticine, pencils and crayons. Some of these items went into production in Echuca with the assistance of Charlie and Edgar. He was to further develop plastacine at the family's Glenferrie home and eventually sold this business to the firm of Spicer & Detmold.

 The collection of his paintings dates mostly from the period at Glenferrie with a fosu on the bay and the bush, including nostalgic subjects around Lakes Entrance. His paintings have been distributed widely within the family and sold to a number of friends at 5 pounds each. Following his retirement in 1931, Fred Vize settled down to a quiet life and concentrated on his chief interest - painting - until his death in 1952. His wife Mary had died in 1944 after a long healthy life.

 Source: http://members.iinet.net.au/~rpvize/treevize/papa.htm

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