Malcolm Poole

After leaving school at 14 to start an apprenticeship at Betta Meats butcher shop in Newtown, Malcolm Poole spent most of his early life surrounded by sirloins, sausages and sweetmeats.

As part of his apprenticeship he attended the School of Butchering at East Sydney Technical College in Darlinghurst, where he was surrounded by the sculptures and paintings from the National Art School which shared the same campus. A few decades on, Poole worked in Woollahra, butchering to the rich and famous including Thelma Clune, a famous patron of the Sydney Arts scene and its fledgling gallery system. Poole accompanied Clune to many of the openings during the grand epoch of Sydney art in the 70s.

By the 1990s Poole had what some would call a mid life crisis, having endured the death of a long term partner. He looked at life differently, reviewed his priorities and decided to go to Art School full time. Graduating in 1994 he and his colleague Steven Perrin decided to set up an artist colony to immerse himself in this creative culture. They took out a lease on the old St. Joseph’s Catholic Boys School in Lennox St Newtown and 25 years on the place is a thriving community of around 40 artists.

The idea to create an arts studio environment came to Malcolm after he graduated. He found it difficult to find a suitable studio space at a reasonable cost, one, which would allow him to further develop his skills in an artistic environment.

Today Lennox Street Studios is a thriving colony run by artists for artists and has been established for nearly 25 years. Long-term leases are available with good natural light. Each year there is an open studio exhibition which attracts over 1,000 guests and visitors. Previous exhibitions have been opened by high profile arts people they have included Humphrey McQueen, Wendy Sharpe, Gary Shead, Peter Berner, the wonderful Charles Blackman, The Director of the National Art School, Bernard Ollis. Elizabeth Cummings.