MEET THE PATRON OF THE SUTTON HERITAGE HOUSE AND GARDEN TRUST
PAT UNGER
First, some general biographical details. Maureen Patricia (Pat) Unger, formerly Smart was born in Te Awamutu and attended Victoria University Wellington, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1950. After her marriage to the renowned psychologist Heinz Ralph Unger, she devoted much of her time to raising a family, moving with her husband to Wellington, Pahiatua and Te Awamutu in the North Island before coming to live Christchurch in 1967.
Pat’s interest in art developed in the 1970s and she attended, as a mature student, the Christchurch Polytechnic from 1975 – 1976, gaining a Certificate of Graphic Design, and the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts from 1977 to 1979 graduating with a Diploma in Fine Arts, in painting. Since 1980 Pat has become established as an artist and has exhibited her work regularly in both solo and group exhibitions, and continues to do so.
Pat has also for several decades been active as an artist, writer and art critic. As a writer she has contributed regularly as a commentator to several art publications including: Art New Zealand, and for a number of years between 1986 –1993 she was senior art critic for The Press.
And then there is the very important “Sutton Connection”.
Pat got to know Bill Sutton while she was studying at the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts, and they became good friends. In 1994 she was invited by Bill Sutton to collaborate with him in writing :W. A. Sutton Painter. This wasfollowed, after Bill’s death in 2000, by: Bill’s Story, in 2008 and An Italian Sojourn –Watercolours Dairies and Letters of W.A.Sutton which she edited in 2012. She also contributed a significant essay to the publication that accompanied the major W.Sutton retrospective exhibition held at the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu in 2003.She is regarded as the prime authority on Bill Sutton’s life and work and as one of the two Trustees for Bill Sutton’s estate, an expert on the archival material Bill left to the Christchurch Art Gallery.
Pat has been a leading supporter of the establishment of the Sutton Heritage House, the Sutton Residency and Sutton Park from the beginning. She is the Trust’s first choice as its inaugural patron.
