Recently David Bell and Terry Wall visited Jay Venables, long-time member of St Paul’s Methodist Church, Remuera and widow of Mark who died in 2003. The purpose of the visit was to gain an insight into the life of Jay’s late husband, a respected graphic art teacher, printer and artist. David and Terry report on the highly anticipated and immensely rewarding visit.

Jay welcomes us warmly and talks about helping to organise the centenary of the St Paul’s Church building, planned for November 2022. On the walls, numerous works by Mark include oils and many watercolours, mostly of New Zealand scenes. Some of the paintings date from the year when Mark had a sabbatical and travelled to Europe. Jay offers us gifts of books that Mark had written, set in type by hand, illustrated, printed and bound himself. Their daughter Rachel drops in during our visit. “I helped with the binding of some of those volumes,” she says.

Reading the autobiographical writing, we discover that Mark had a formation in Christian faith growing up in Napier and in other places. Both his father and grandfather were printers and Mark became familiar with the craft of printing, typography and presses. His father moved the family around regional centres printing daily newspapers. For a time, Mark’s father ran The Tuakau Advocate having bought it from Sir Edmund Hillary’s father, who had become a beekeeper.

Mark was active in bible class leadership and became aware of the dispute about pacifism as war approached. He felt the power of the arguments and yet had ‘an urge to serve’. Influenced by prominent Methodist leaders including the Rev Dr J J Lewis, he finally decided this ‘awkward question’ by opting to serve in the medical corps. In his book My Quiet War, he described his experience of the Pacific as ‘a touch of heaven’.

In another book Mark writes about his experience joining the worship of Solomon Islanders. He comments, “I guess I was proud to be a Wesleyan: it was the first time I had experienced our Wesleyan mission stations in action. I was also to do a water colour of the native preacher’s wife and her baby. Rachel Nivi Piani made a good change from the military.” Upon discharge, Mark opted to enrol at the Canterbury College School of Art.

In Christchurch, he attended Durham Street Methodist Church, leading junior bible class. He attended Naylor Hillary’s leaders’ meetings on Friday evenings and found that, “Naylor, an ardent leader under Dr Ray Dudley, knew how to bring out the best in people.” Leading bible class helped Mark to develop a teaching style when he became graphics art teacher at Seddon Memorial Technical College for 30 years.

His books, works of art in their own right, include amusing anecdotes and observations about family and friends, as well as indications of his spirituality. Mark records that during a painting trip, “On one night I was awakened by a most spectacular storm with lightning and thunder at their best – something I always enjoyed – as a touch of the divine.” Mark was a committed Methodist. On visiting a friend who was unwell he reports, “It was one of those times when I considered prayer was needed …”

As a craft bookbinder and letterpress printer, Mark made a unique contribution to publishing within Methodism. It was a labour of love. Among other works, there is the early life story of the Rev James Wesley Parker, It Happened in Eketahuna, Four Years in the Life of a Boy. Wes Parker (1907-2003) was one of the remarkable ministers of the 20th century, but putting together the story of his young years was a work completed very close to the end of his long life. Mark helped him to achieve it: a high mountain to climb – text and typesetting, binding and publishing – and both men well beyond their prime. Both the autobiography and how it came to be published are worlds vanished yet the spiritus mundi very close in what has been achieved here.

Mark was a competent artist who was grateful for the gift he had received. He pondered his vocation: “The artist is an unusual being – caught under the spell of something that is quite out of this world – a peaceful surrender to his craft, which often means incredible subservience or dedication. Like a violinist lost in the glory of music: or a composer lost in a passage of a new theme, altogether self-hypnotic.”

Before leaving, we visited the garage to view a printing press and type. We marvelled at the fine work Mark produced on such ancient equipment. Jay opened up for us the life of a Methodist for whom the creative arts of painting and printing were a way of expressing his response to the mystery of life. We treasure his work and legacy. Writing of the vocation of the artist he commented: “Their reward can be great – whether it is financial or self-satisfaction: a heavenly matter concerning the soul.”