Caitlin Johnston
SELF-TAUGHT BY THE SEA By Matt Mortimer It is said that if you make a job out of what you love,…
Pat Nielsen
STRUCTURED REALITY
STRUCTURED REALITYI made my first timid venture into the world of creating art about 20 years ago when a friend suggested I should enroll with Tony Clarke – a local art teacher who runs a very successful art school. It was there that I overcame my terror of the blank canvas and realised that I could at least draw
Under Tony’s watchful eye I learned a lot of valuable techniques and I gradually began to develop my own style. I subsequently decided I was not a group artist and went my own way. Although I am quite ambitious and competitive, I never saw art as a possible career. Also, I was totally immersed in another passion which was tutoring year 11 and 12 maths. I was self-taught and started by helping our oldest son’s friends to prepare for NCEA1. This quickly developed into a commitment and, eventually, it took up most of the late afternoons sharing my time with keeping control of a husband (who is also an artist using wood as a medium) and three young boys and two foster children.
Marley Mcleay
Back in the 1980s, Marley McLeay had a special interest in drawing, inspired by science fiction television programmes and a special artist he knew at primary school who won his heart with his drawings. He went on to gain a graduate Diploma of Visual Art and Design from the Eastern Institute of Technology, in 2002, and a graduate Diploma in Graphics and Multimedia, from the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology, in 2012.
“My art has always been to the fore of my interests over anything else. Whether I had a career or not, my primary focus was to be as good as the artists that inspired me over my life.” With a strong drive to improve his technique, he is at a point of understanding that a nice relaxed doodle can hold as much meaning as a technically proficient artwork. “I simply have not had a life that is conducive to being a standard factory worker – although I have held such jobs. I need to feel fulfilled in my work and connecting with my creativity is certainly advantageous.” Film and music is hugely influential for him. The ‘Star Trek’s series’ incredible visual design, the ship designs seen in the series, won his heart very quickly. The early films such as ‘The Motion Picture’ and ‘The Wrath of Khan’ have extraordinary sound design for the era; the music and the sound mixing is unique, in his opinion. “My mind articulates in both movies and music how things are presented sonically. I love sound that can stimulate the imagination.” He loves listening to electronic music artists like Bjork, Burial and Zomby, enjoying their fascinating sound fields. He also enjoys the likes of Enya, Van Morrison, Clannad, Burial, Boards of Canada, Faithless, Leftfield, VVV and anything that can stir a dream-like world. “They all win my heart when it comes to painting!” Marley’s influences include HR Giger, a Swiss surrealist artist responsible for the unusual xenomorph design seen in the movie ‘Alien’, 1979. “His technique was mind boggling, such an ethereal beauty to his works with fine detail. He had an original voice with his creations.”
Marley Mcleay
Kay Goldfinch
Over the years, Kay Goldfinch has attended workshops and classes at Inverlochy Art School in Wellington, Wellington High School night classes, Monash University in Melbourne, Boon’s Pottery in Singapore and life drawing workshops in Toronto. In 2008 she was invited to be a part of a ceramic exhibition in Zongshan, China, Hong Kong and Singapore, and was awarded a Certificate of Honour. A solo watercolour exhibition in Singapore also provided a great learning experience. Her work has ended up in Australia, New Zealand, UK, Germany, France, Singapore, Hong Kong, America and Canada.
“I have drawn and painted most of my life and after selling my hairdressing business and starting a family I had the opportunity and time to develop my art and ceramic interests. Creativity has always been a big part of my life, so I guess this all came very naturally. For me the biggest inspiration for my work has been travel and the opportunity to live and work in other countries. The inspiration is endless, whether it’s the people, the colours, the culture or the different architecture etc. It seems to supply a passion for my creativity. I admire artists like Matisse, Van Gogh and Gauguin etc, and they have inspired me because of their use of colour and texture – they were not afraid to experiment. They seemed to paint the way that they wanted to even though this resulted in rejection by the art establishment. I think as an artist you see the world in a different light. To have an idea and then follow through with creating something special is very rewarding. And seeing people respond to your work, especially if it is in a positive way, is magic!
Kay Goldfinch
John McCormack
For artist John McCormack, a.k.a. JR, the deep South of the South Island is home. Born in Wyndham and now residing in Queenstown, JR’s road to becoming an artist was more about bringing out what was already within him.
“I popped into this world with a wicked imagination, so it was just a matter of time before it was used in an artistic sense. The term ‘artist’ to me means the use of one’s personal energy in whatever direction you choose and for me that included athletic pursuits and even a stint at poetry. I used to walk about with a sketchbook and pencil for a couple of years at one stage, drawing anything and everything, which introduced me to the murky world of shadows and light.” Formally a white water rafting instructor, medical ski patroller and action photographer, this lover of the outdoors dropped the paddle, skis and camera and traded them in for canvas and brushes. “Eventually my other careers ebbed away. I came from a pretty intense work environment with 30 years wearing a crash helmet as a professional white water river guide and tandem paragliding pilot. I became more and more obsessed with the art world. Those previous careers still influence the way I think and work to some degree.” This change introduced JR to a wider landscape of work, using an instinctive gazing ability to find inspiration from many different areas, some of which may come as a surprise to some.
John McCormack
Debbie Anderson
Gathering inspiration from the world around her – landscapes, birds and people – Debbie Anderson began painting professionally after the birth of her daughter in 2016. She has always been an artist, right from childhood, and finds huge motivation from her daughter. “I want her to grow up with a strong female role model – a mother who followed her dreams and succeeded.”
Art is a huge part of Debbie’s life, as necessary as breathing: “I am lucky enough to have a partner who believes in me and my talent and supports me while I pursue my love of art. I also need to paint to keep me on the level mentally. Painting regularly is therapeutic for me; if I haven’t painted in a week my family notice a bit of a dip in my mood.” As an emerging artist, Debbie is very proud of the successes and sales she has achieved through ArtEx in Napier and in the Pinehaven Arts and Crafts Fair. Most of her work is through commissions: “I love working with a client to create an artwork with meaning and soul for them. There is no prouder moment that seeing the joy on someone’s face when your artwork is just what they had envisioned or better.”
“After seeing Jenny’s demonstration, I ‘googled’ large flower paintings and eventually came across Birgit O’Connor of California, USA, and her online workshops.
Off I went, starting with her White Flowers online workshop. Later, I bought some of Tauranga artist Susan Harrison Tustain’s DVD’s, and learnt so much about watercolour painting and how to achieve the colours I wanted such as in leaves and skin tones. I watched many more training sessions by Birgit and others on You Tube throughout the nearly two years I have been painting. It is such a great way to learn – just like having a private tutor.
Debbie Anderson
Christine Mottram
Amatuer genealogist and novice artist, Christine Mottram (née Lovett), has always found beauty and inspiration in her environment. From her surroundings, she has coaxed colours of various hues and pedigrees to synchronize and unite in a bright display to celebrate the diverse nature of realism in portraiture and landscape. A resident of the highly creative community in Christchurch, Christine details her journey of realising her passions and chasing her dreams after retirement.
Born in 1941 in the historic Naval town of Harwich, UK, during the height of World War II, after the death of her father, Christine and her mother immigrated to New Zealand in 1950 to escape the aftermath of one of the world’s most horrific wars. On entering Aotearoa, the Lovett family stayed in Pigeon Bay, Banks Peninsula, before relocating and settling in Papanui, a shining example of why Christchurch has been dubbed ‘The Garden City’. The decision to move to New Zealand proved its worth from the beginning, and this fact was soon confirmed when Christine entered Papanui High School, where she was encouraged to explore her budding creativity in art classes taught by renown New Zealand artist John Coley. “An artist’s job is to communicate directly to the audience in a visual representation of ideas that cannot be communicated or explained in any other way”, said John Coley in a RNZ interview.
Christine Mottram
Tania Jack
Initially only trained at school, Tania Jack needed a change and took a course with the Learning Connexion in Wellington where she studied for three years, achieving a Diploma and Honours Diploma, and continued on towards her Advanced Diploma in Art & Creativity.
From high school age Tania had taken Art & Art History through to seventh form and as far as she was concerned there was no other subject she was interested in. “We had a particularly inspirational teacher who was a great local (Wakatipu) artist, the late Alan Cooke, and also a neighbour who motivated me a lot.” Tania’s father’s second cousin is the painter Neil Bartlett and he had always been inspirational as well and lived nearby.
Tania got serious about painting when her kids were little and they were in Scotland for a few years. “I studied Multimedia at University and joined some part-time watercolour classes up there, then incorporated some natural media paintings with multimedia to create illustrations and animations from my paintings. Some of my work was featured in a graduate showcase edition of the Computer Arts Magazine at the time. The light in the UK is nice and soft for painting and the historic places were all very inspiring.”
Tania’s motivation to be an artist was her constant drive to create things, most often paint and draw, but also illustrate. “I like interpreting my observations on canvas; forgotten places, run down buildings, and places with a strong presence, a feeling. I also love painting NZ’s wild animals and native birds. I don’t see any species as a pest, we humans are the newcomers and the destroyers of habitat.”
See more about Tania here.
Marcia Soanes
In 1996 Marcia Soanes attended some day time classes at ArtStation Ponsonby which included life drawing and painting, as well as beginner painting and drawing with Matthew Browne. Having been diagnosed with fibromyalgia at age 37, she left work and began to paint. She started with hardboard, which she undercoated and started using oil paints – copying pictures, or just painting what she saw out of the window. She wanted to learn more and began reading, learning and trying new styles and ideas. For Marcia, painting has turned out to be very good for her mind, her well-being and as a form of meditation.
Taking a break from painting during the early 2000s, due to studying and moving around a lot, she returned to Eden Terrace in 2011 and has been painting ever since. In 2018, she returned to ArtStation where she did two terms of portrait painting in oils with Alvin Xiong, who specialises in old masters painting techniques. “In this class have learnt new skills as I found it difficult in the past to learn portrait painting from books. Also I enjoy the social aspect of a class situation and meeting other fellow artists.”
Marcia’s inspiration comes from the old buildings which remain in Auckland, the way they have managed to survive the modernisation of the inner city. “I like to put people into most of my streetscapes, behind windows or caught at that particular moment in time. I love to put my personality into my work, making them slightly quirky rather than just photographic copies of a scene.” Vincent Van Gogh inspires her to try to express her emotions as he did by the use of colour, complementary and contrasting colours and his use of pure colour straight from the tube to canvas. “I love his bold brush strokes, and how his paintings disturb the viewer and make you think this is not just a ‘pretty picture’. This I like.”
See more about Marcia here.
Lisa Wallace
Never having had any formal art training, Lisa Wallace has always loved to paint and draw. As a child she would write and illustrate short stories for other children to read and ran an ‘in class’ library. Previously she painted for pleasure and gifted artworks to friends and family, but two years ago she decided to follow her dream, sharing her art and painting with a wider client group. “I have a mind full of artworks that as yet I haven’t been able to create, the possibilities are endless.”
Lisa’s husband mentioned the fact, when selling their house, that people enquired about her artwork. Some of her work was sold some years ago and he suggested maybe she should see “if there was something in that”? “So painting for others began as a trial. I have been very blessed and people have received my art well, so I have been able to pursue it”, says Lisa.
Her inspiration comes from around her. She loves nature and is a people person. “I find myself drawn to faces and love that they say so much. I love to capture the soul of a person through their eyes. I also believe that art communicates in a way that is unique and triggers memories and can inspire for the future. I aim to encourage and connect with the deeper part of a person, speaking life and instilling peace.”
Always having loved Monet’s soft painterly Water Lilie’s, as well as the portraits and scenery painted by Van Gogh, with its broken deconstructed stokes, she adores the Dutch painters of old including the ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ by Johannes Vermeer. The classic poses and beauty and innocence captured through their brush-strokes really inspire her.
See more about Lisa here.