Early Life & Inspiration

Rowena, born in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia on January 25th 1935, to Patricia and Michael Pearce, was the oldest of three children. Some of her earliest memories are of the “wonderful gardens” of her home. Her father was mostly away flying and her mother was always “in the garden”. Later, the family moved to Inyanga in the eastern highlands of Rhodesia.

As a young woman, Rowena went to Queen’s College in Harley Street, a college founded by Frederick Dennison Maurice, her great‑great grandfather, and the first in the world to educate women. She completed a secretarial course there, though frequently escaped to drawing classes at the local art school. Once back in Rhodesia, she became an assistant at the Courtauld Art Gallery under the direction of Frank McEwen.

Married to Ray Burrell, she farmed with him in Rhodesia and later in Australia. There she also became a trustee of Gallery A, Sydney’s leading contemporary art gallery. When she and Ray divorced, she later married Quentin Seddon, and thereafter focused her creative energy increasingly on her art.