What is Millefiori?
WHAT IS MILLEFIORI Millefiori is a glasswork technique which produces distinctive decorative patterns on glassware. The term millefiori is a combination…
Jonathan Campbell’s Foundry
LOST AND FOUND
LOST AND FOUNDJonathan Campbell has had sketch books since he was a youngster, constantly sketching compositions and ideas, generally ending up in one theme that leads to another. When he starts to make sculptures, he experiences further changes. “I don’t over-think, once I start doing a piece of work, it seems to take off.”
Having studied at the Foundation of Fine Arts in Whitirea, Jonathan had just picked up his skills when a French wool buying company approached him to produce about 200 castings, to celebrate their centenary. “They had seen my work in a group show and had tracked me down. It was complete luck and it enabled me to set up with decent equipment right away.”
Simon Kerr
SIMON KERR
SIMON KERROne-time member of the infamous Hole-in-the-Wall gang, prison escapee and activist, Simon Kerr has turned his remarkable talents to painting, creating a body of work which is both narrative and allegorical, the story of his life and redemption and a commentary on the place of human beings in the world. These works are often autobiographical in nature, exploring Kerr’s controversial history and his Devonport upbringing.
Simon Kerr gained notoriety in the 1980s when he set up the Hole in the Wall Gang (complete with t-shirts!). He also made headlines throughout the 1980s for numerous escapes from custody, including from Mt Eden and Paremoremo prisons. He stowed away on a cargo ship to Australia after escaping from Mt Eden in 1987. In 1994 he mounted a 13-day rooftop turret protest against remand conditions in Mt Eden that ended with the Armed Offenders’ Squad forcibly bringing him down.
Adult Colouring In – Mitchell Manuel
COLOURING IN - ALSO AN ADULT PAST-TIME
Colouring in books have moved from the children’s toy-box into the hands of adults all over New Zealand and the world. A number of local artists have already published or are in the process of producing adult colouring books and according to recent report in the NZ Herald sales are rocketing, there are even colouring in clubs and a number of Facebook pages like Kiwis who Colour and Kiwi Colourers.
It’s not so much that people are suddenly finding their artistic roots they are using the practice of colouring in and blending of colours as a way to relax, de-stress and self-express.
Ron Jackson
RAISING STEAM
With no formal training at an Art College, Yorkshire-born, New Zealand railway artist Ron Jackson honed his skills at night classes at Waiuku College and painting workshops for about ten years.
I started sketching during my holidays then progressed to painting. I had some very good tutors at the art classes workshops that I attended. Further to this I was impressed by the abilities and techniques of amateur artists on a UK Television program ‘Watercolour Challenge’.
Wallace Trickett
CREATIVE SPIN
Believing in what he does and creating a historical link that families will treasure for generations is what makes Wallace Trickett’s creative brain spin. “Life is a learning curve, from the cradle to the grave.”
Wallace studied with a professional painter for the Duke of Edinburgh Gold award at age 17 and has always been interested in art. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1979 and started painting seriously in 1997 after taking some stress leave from a full time job in the transport industry. Commissions started almost immediately.
Patricia Emmerson-Hough
A TRULY NATURAL GIFT
With no formal training, all Patricia Emmerson-Hough has ever wanted to do is be an artist. “I’ve wanted to draw and paint, ever since I could hold a pencil.” Patricia tells us her story.
My family arrived in New Zealand when I was a child and we lived by the sea, so I was surrounded by all forms of nature; which fascinated me so much that it seemed a natural progression to recreate the detail and colours of the natural world. I don’t remember any point in my life when I stopped and said to myself that I want to be an artist, it was there in me all the time.
Donna Lee
INNER CREATIVE DESIRE
I’ve always dabbled with art whether it being sewing, painting, jewellery and so on but it stepped up a gear when my mother, Janice Corbishley, purchased the Red Peach Gallery in Ahuriri, Napier. I began creating jewellery from fine bone china and created a brand ‘China Horse’ which I sell in there. After meeting Brent Redding through the gallery I took up painting lessons and started to put in the long hours of practice behind the scenes while still selling the jewellery. Then in 2013 I held my first solo exhibition and since then have focused on painting.
I paint and create because of a great inner desire to do so. When I paint I feel happy, free and connected! It allows me to choose a lifestyle of freedom, expression, travel and happiness which I cherish above all. The motivation comes from many avenues but is mainly an internal drive to achieve the very best I can be and to attain this lifestyle I have created for myself.
Dawn Brown Meehan
ARTISTIC INTERPRETATION
Drawing was the only thing I enjoyed but from the perspective of my parents, heading into the arts was ‘fickle with no security’ - as opposed to a ‘good government department job’ where I inevitably ended up.
It wasn’t until I was older with a young family, that I took up painting seriously. I began in watercolour and painted scene after scene - ‘stiffies’ I called them, painting exactly what I saw, with little fluidity or deviation from what lay in front of me.
Cherol Filbee
A PORTABLE OCCUPATION
Cherol Filbee has been heading in the arts direction her whole life. She loves being an artist. “I am never bored and my work is portable. My husband Peter, a top croquet player, enters tournaments all over NZ and likes me to accompany him. He knows I am lost without a project, so the deal is that I take my art work with me. When he played the world champs in London, I enrolled in a five day portraiture class at the Heatherly School Of Fine Art.”
Qualifying from The Learning Connection with honours in art and creativity, Cherol studied part-time, starting in 2010.
Awarded a scholarship for every year but one, she explains that simply drawing has become the basis of all her work. “I love faces and like to portray them as portraits or caricature in 2D and 3D. Cats have also featured quite a lot in my work. I like to challenge myself and work from life rather than a photo reference.”