A real character, Arnold held an art exhibition in a butchers shop in 1966, with 35 paintings on show. He also painted murals on the walls of the Railway Hotel in Queen Street.
Gordon Fetterplace remembered Arnold pulling off the "most successful hoax in Campbelltown history". The artist had negotiated with Fontainebleux (the former sister city of Campbelltown), for a prestigious local exhibition of French art. Gordon recalled dropping in to see Arnold a few nights before the exhibition to find him hard at work painting a number of boat and wharf scenes. Unfortunately the art had failed to arrive from France, so Arnold was improvising. The big night was a huge turnout, with art critics and official visitors, all looking at Arnold's paintings!
During the early seventies, Arnold completed a 3 tonne, 7 metre high statue of a rearing horse for his friend Tommy Sewell, Hawkesbury businessman and horse trainer. The statue stood in the forecourt of Tommy's Tourmaline Hotel, named after Tommy's sprinter King Tourmaline. Tommy Sewell said of Arnold "he was a wonderful man - never before or since have i ever met a character like him".
Sadly, Arnold suffered from mental illness and alcoholism, and during one of his stints in hospital, he painted murals on the walls of the Male Admission Ward building, part of the Parramatta Psychiatric Centre Complex.
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| Mural at Parramatta, Photo Dr Terry Smith 1985 |
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| Mural at Parramatta, Photo Dr Terry Smith 1985 |
A recent interviewee said of Arnold "He was one of our first known resident artists. A fantastic gifted man".
Written by Claire Lynch
Sources
Campbelltown Clippings - Jeff McGill
http://picbear.com/fleet_street_heritage_precinct
http://hdinews.com.au/hawkesburys-finest-tommy-sewell/
Local Studies Pamphlet Files
Robyn Watson Oral History
Trove
