Above: Dark Angel, 2023, cotton, plant dye, polyester filling and mixed media elements. Dimensions variable

INTUITIVE AURA

Patricia Fung (Trish) graduated with a Masters in Fine Arts from Whitecliffe School of Arts in 2023. She’s been exposed to creativity from a young age and being around other creatives really motivated and pushed her to pursue this as a career. “My best friend Melissa was the one who pushed me to start at Whitecliffe and I’ve never looked back since.”

Her mental health took a turn for the worse in her first year, but as the years went by, she learned that pursuing a career as an artist isn’t just about creating aesthetically pleasing art, but rather about channeling her true aura and projecting that into her creations. “The repetitiveness of looking at my art everyday can create a sense of self doubt in my abilities. I think that it’s important to hold onto a genuine connection to your art piece but to allow room and space to remove yourself from the equation and breathe before coming back with fresh eyes.”

For Trish, being an artist is like ripping off a bandaid and sharing her deepest thoughts and secrets to the world. “The ability to resonate with other artists and witness the authenticity and genuineness they bring and hold within themselves is one of the greatest gifts I have been given in my life. Being a starving artist has its perks. However many artists struggle and find it hard to make enough money to survive. I think that there’s something special about the challenge in earning money as an artist. The fulfillment and happiness it brings after making a sale feels more than just money being made, it’s years of learning, mistakes and confidence.”

She would love to expand her horizons and do a residency in another country one day, so she can immerse herself into culture and surround herself with different artists around the world.

“My favourite medium at the moment is soft sculpture. I love being able to touch and play around with soft squishy objects and textures. My connection with play stems from my childhood and my love for collecting soft toys. I learnt how to sew during the pandemic and experimented with sewing garments which then led to my love for creating sculpture. This has helped me generate ideas around creating wearable 3D art. My goal is to blur the lines between soft sculpture and fashion, showing that a piece of clothing can move and bend in different ways, much like a soft sculpture can do on its own. This creates more options of an object not only being a wearable art piece but an art piece that can exist on its own installed in a gallery.”

In recent years Trish has been working more intuitively with her art practice. “I find that I create much better with less pressure and stress when I create with my intuition. If I was to plan out my art pieces I normally draw rough sketches in my drawing book and write quotes and poems to help with my thinking process.” She listens to music or podcasts while creating.

In her spare time, she spends time at the gym and doing Jiu-jitsu. “During the weekend you’ll find me mostly spending time out in nature collecting leaves, feathers, dead bugs and many more other treasures in the forest! If I’m not doing either of those things you’ll find me resting as it’s been a huge priority of mine lately.”

Nature is her favourite subject as it’s free and always available for her to use. “Plant dye is one of my art practices and the most beautiful part is foraging all the different plants out in my backyard and around the neighbourhood. There is beauty in the process as the practice and act of finding my own plants brings me closer to the connection I have living in the Waitakere Ranges.”

Some of Trish’s most enjoyable moments of her career were in collaboration with Anita who had a shop on Karangahape Road in Auckland. Sadly the shop has closed but the brand is still available on Instagram – Celestial Corner. “Some of my most enjoyable moments of my artist career have been with Anita and many other friends I have met on the way. Without CC I wouldn’t have made the biggest sale in my career and met the most beautiful team of artists during my time studying at Whitecliffe. It was truly a magical few years of my life!”

In 2024, she was granted Creative New Zealand funding to create an art installation for an exhibition. “I am so grateful for this huge opportunity where for a portion of the year I was able to work as a full time artist. The confidence I have built over the past year has been incredible as it pushed me past the many hurdles I have faced in my career as a professional artist.”

She explains, very honestly, that in her last year of her Masters degree she suffered from Imposter Syndrome because she put herself in the deep end by choosing to work with a new medium. “The biggest lesson I learnt from this is that feelings of Imposter Syndrome shouldn’t always be seen as a negative thing. The unwanted feelings of doubt and fear reflect on how much you care about your creations. When you constantly doubt and fear your work, it’s because you’re unsure of how your work might turn out or how well you’re going to execute a piece of artwork. For me, this is the ultimate turning point for arriving as a true artist and transcending above what you think and know you’re capable of creating. So my advice for artists would be to stick out those unwanted feelings and to trust your intuition more. Learning to trust your intuition will lead to your hands driving the force instead of always having to unnecessarily overwork our brains. Don’t be afraid of trying new mediums, even if you feel like you’re not good at it.”