David Clyde Dridan (born 15 December 1932) is a

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

n artist, known for painting landscapes in oils. He has been active in promoting tourism and appreciation of wine and art in the Fleurieu Peninsula of the State.

History

Dridan was born in Adelaide to Harold Dridan (1894–1966), later Harold Clyde Dridan, cinema manager in Adelaide and land agent of Renmark, South Australia, and his wife Thelma Aileen Dridan. An only son, his sister Dawn Eleanor Dridan was born in Tasmania on 18 May 1925. He was educated at Renmark Town School followed by Saint Peter's College, Adelaide and 1949–1950 studied art at the

South Australian School of Art The University of South Australia (UniSA) is a public research university in the Australian state of South Australia. It is a founding member of the Australian Technology Network of universities, and is the largest university in South Australi ...

under

Jacqueline Hick Jacqueline Hick ('Jackie; 1919–2004) was an Australian painter whose work is held in the permanent collections of multiple museums in Australia. She is known for her work depicting human figures and the Australian landscape. She is the subjec ...

and

Joseph Choate Joseph Hodges Choate (January 24, 1832 – May 14, 1917) was an American lawyer and diplomat. Choate was associated with many of the most famous litigations in American legal history, including the Kansas prohibition cases, the Chinese exclusi ...

, who was also art master at Thebarton Technical School and, later, St Peter's College. He undertook further studies at the

East Sydney Technical College The National Art School (NAS) is a tertiary level art school, located in , an inner-city suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The school is an independent accredited higher education provider offering specialised study in studio arts p ...

in 1956, receiving encouragement from

Russell Drysdale Sir George Russell Drysdale (7 February 1912 – 29 June 1981), also known as Tass Drysdale, was an Australian artist. He won the prestigious Wynne Prize for ''Sofala'' in 1947, and represented Australia at the Venice Biennale in 1954. He was i ...

, who became a lifelong friend. In 1961, on a grant from the British Council, he travelled to London and studied gallery administration at the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, also taking in the

London Polytechnic , mottoeng = The Lord is our Strength , type = Public , established = 1838: Royal Polytechnic Institution 1891: Polytechnic-Regent Street 1970: Polytechnic of Central London 1992: University of Westminster , endowment = £5.1 million ...

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

, and the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

. He returned to South Australia and served as curator at the

Art Gallery of South Australia The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...

1962–1964 and as senior art master at his old college. He founded a private gallery at North Adelaide in 1966 and later established a vineyard and winery at Clarendon, where he also conducted private classes. In 1975 Dridan founded his winery, and over some 25 years commissioned various artists to create works on the

heads A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may no ...

(ends) of his

wine barrel Oak is used in winemaking to vary the color, flavor, tannin profile and texture of wine. It can be introduced in the form of a barrel during the fermentation or aging periods, or as free-floating chips or staves added to wine fermented in a vess ...

s. When he sold the establishment he had the 27 artworks framed and conserved as the "Clarendon barrel end collection". He founded "The Barn" gallery in

McLaren Vale McLaren Vale is a wine region in the Australian state of South Australia located in the Adelaide metropolitan area and centred on the town of McLaren Vale about south of the Adelaide city centre. It is internationally renowned for the wine ...

. He founded the

Fleurieu Art Prize The Fleurieu Art Prize is a non-acquisitive award, open to Australian visual artists aged 18 years and older. The ''Prize'' encompasses any two- or three-dimensional artwork submissions that follow an annual thematic concept and includes a monet ...

for Australian landscapes, and was a regular contributor to the Fleurieu Peninsula Biennale. He was curator of the

State Bank of South Australia The State Bank of South Australia was a bank created in 1896 and owned by the Government of South Australia. The bank became the subject of a two-year South Australian Royal Commission upon collapse in 1991. The surviving part of the bank now ...

's collection of Australian Art, which suffered water damage c. 1985 when the water tank atop the State Bank building (later Santos building) ruptured.

Recognition

Dridan was awarded an

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

in the 2007 New Year's awards, citing service to the arts and to the community.

Family

Dridan married Sarah Gosse In 1963. They had three children.

Works

His paintings are among those held by HRH The

Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, was a substantive title that has been created three times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not produc ...

; the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra;

; Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston; and Rockhampton Art Gallery,

Rockhampton, Queensland Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of the ...

. His painting ''Hills Landscape'' (1969) is held at

Carrick Hill Carrick Hill is a publicly accessible historic property at the foot of the Adelaide Hills, in the suburb of Springfield, in South Australia. It was the Adelaide home of Sir Edward "Bill" Hayward and his wife Ursula (née Barr-Smith), and con ...

. Dridan was a great friend of the Haywards, who built that historic residence. He was later a member of the Carrick Hill Interim Committee, and founding member of the Carrick Hill Trust.

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dridan, David 1932 births Australian landscape painters Australian art gallery directors Australian art teachers Living people