John Thompson Conway (1922 - 2011)*
Born London, UK, 1922.
At 19 years old John was called-up to serve in the RAF as a radar technician in 1941 for 6 years. After he was demobilized in 1946, he moved to Australia with his wife Moyna and was appointed art teacher at Riverside, then Bega, then Burwood High School until 1952.
He then returned to the United Kingdom to study architecture at Lancing Secondary Modern School for four years.
Once returned to Australia, he continued to pursue an art degree while also becoming a teacher and lecturer at several different regional schools and colleges, most notably becoming the Head of Department at the Wollongong Teachers' College in 1967.
During his time in Wollongong he forged friendships with Bill Peascod, Col Joran and Peter Pinson, each exercising a n important encouragement in the development of a personal style.
He moved to Sydney in 1970 to become the Senior Lecturer in Art at Sydney Teachers' College.
He simultaneously pursued a career as an intellectual and an artist but also enjoyed time as an art critic for the Wollongong Mercury and president of the Contemporary Art Society.
John's work has often been linked to abstract surrealism through his preferred use of watercolours but is known to venture into his use of inks and pottery.
He has been a member of the Australian Water Colour Institute since 1996.
*This account is managed by John Allen Thompson Conway's family estate in who own the right to any and all unsold work that was created by him.