Pem’s formative years strongly influenced his lifetime devotion to drawing. From ages 7 to 12 he attended Saturday morning drawing classes at the SA School of Arts and Crafts. His Advertising Manager father employed in-house fashion artists and here Pem became acquainted with fine art materials such as: art board, sable hair brushes and indian ink washes. His pre CAD, architectural training involved endless drawing. As a youngster he would enter drawing competitions which would culminate in a new bicycle prize. His architectural studies ensured he became a skilled architectural draftsman and then architect with a reputation for speed in both technical and presentation drawings.
In 1974 Pem graduated in his Arts Degree with a major in English Literature, together with the other major which was politics. He was invited to consider continuing on with Honours English, but with his other commitments that was never to be. He has always loved books and words. All his life he has bought books and read avidly.
Pem works in several media including: pencil, pen, pen and wash, charcoal and carbon pencil, full colour and analytique. He attempts to match the medium to the picture’s theme. The themes seek to convey whimsy, sometimes quirkiness and humour, showing that we are prone to foibles and eccentricities.
Pem’s versatility as a writer and illustrator is demonstrated in a variety of formal and informal books including illustrated books.
Pem’s first major writing venture was in joint authorship with Brian Mazlin in a book entitled Architecture by Team – Devine Erby Mazlin The Multidisciplinary Architectural Practice 1975 -1995 Brian Mazlin and Pem Gerner. Other books then emerged, some authored and illustrated by Pem, others by different authors with Pem’s illustrations.
Pem has written many articles and reviews particularly contributing some 120 in number for the online journal Cityscape (2005 – 2012). A popular professional journal addressing architectural, planning, urban design and environmental concerns under a joint editorship with Dr Rodney Jensen.
Apart from his professional writing Pem has contributed a series of poems to the Australian Anthology of new Poets published in 1995.
Illustrations for other Writers
Pem’s illustrations for other writers include illustrations prepared for a series of novels written by his writing partner Penny Gerner.
He has also illustrated the amusing limericks of Stafford Ray.
Pem’s had an Exhibition of 60 of his Drawings in March 2017
This was held at the Artisan Cafe in Blackwood. This venue was celebrated as a popular community hub and patron of the arts, holding regular art exhibitions, poetry readings and live music and here Pem and his trio TOFFS played regularly.
Many of the drawings in the exhibition are to be found in his books 80 Drawings and 90 Drawings.
The exhibition was extremely well attended and eight of the drawings were sold very early in the proceedings.
Sadly, like so many good things that come to an end, The Artisan eventually closed.
