House of British Artist in Sabah To Be Turned Into Gallery

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is honouring British teacher and artist Tina Rimmer by converting her Likas home into an art gallery.

Sabah Art Gallery curator Jennifer Linggi said this was to enable the public to have glimpse into Rimmer’s life

“The house will serve as a showcase of the simple life Tina lived,” she said after the launching of a three-month exhibition of Tina’s works at the Sabah Art Gallery here on Tuesday.

The exhibition will run until Dec 1.

Linggi said Tina had moved into the house in 1996 and the house has remained empty since her May 5 death, just three months short of her 100th birthday on Aug 1.

Rimmer, who made Sabah her home in 1949 is best known for her portraits of ordinary folk and her paintings of tamu or traditional farmers’ markets.

She produced more than 1,000 artworks since she started painting and sketching everyday scenes around Sabah.

Tina, originally from Devon, came to then-North Borneo then in 1949 as an Education Officer.

She was one of the original lecturers at Kent Teacher’s Training College in Tuaran in 1951 and later taught at Siew Ching Chinese School and Saint Dominic’s Secondary School in Lahad Datu.

Tina married Bert Rimmer, a planter in Lahad Datu in 1959 and they settled in a farm where she learned to rear cattle and to plant fruits before moving to Tamparuli in 1974

Meanwhile, in his speech at the opening of the exhibition, state Tourism, Culture and Environment minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said Rimmer had contributed the state by capturing scenes of life in Sabah.

He added that Rimmer had also brought comfort to families of terminally ill patients with her portraits of those in palliative care.

“There was no doubt of Tina’s love for Sabah and the people here,” Masidi said.