Featured Artists Archives - Page 25 of 27

Jo Chester

1 May 2014
Abstract, Animals, Artists, Featured Artists, Figures, Oils, Painting, Portraits, Realism, Still-life, Surrealism

HOLD ON TIGHT

“Art enables us to find and lose ourselves at the same time” Thomas Merton.

“Ever since I can remember I have always been drawing and creating images,” Jo Chester explains when asked about her entry in the world of art, “I had a very supportive teacher at Rotorua Girl’s High who encouraged my talent and insisted that I apply to Wellington Polytechnic to study graphic design.”

This ultimately resulted in a career with art as the baseline. “I have worked as a Graphic designer, Textile designer, even designing jeans at one stage as well as drawing up fashion shots for a retail outlet.

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Jan Thomson

1 May 2014
Animals, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Featured Artists, Impressionism, Landscape, Nature, Oils, Painting, Seascape, Watercolour

BREAKING THE RULES

Recollecting how she first picked up a brush in her mid-forties after recovering from an encounter with the big ‘C’, Jan Thomson says “My journey into the world of painting began late. It was then that I decided that life is far too short to delay doing what you love, so I gave up my house painting job of 17 years and took up slightly smaller brushes.”

With a number of artists in the family, Jan says art was always in her blood. Why she avoided it for 47 years she didn’t say but once she started she was instantly and totally hooked. “I started with watercolours and then moved onto oils,” she reveals. “I learnt to paint by going out to Wellington’s (sometimes wild) south coast, wrestling with the elements and trying to put down on paper what was in front of me.”

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Greg Maddox

1 May 2014
Animals, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Birdlife, Driftwood, Featured Artists, Impressionism, Installation, Nature, Sculpture

DRIFTING WITH PASSION

Trained as a signwriter, Greg Maddox’s five year apprenticeship taught him a range of disciplines in engineering, carpentry and the art of hand rendering signs using brush and airbrush, something he loves with a passion.

And if you think signwriting is mundane, Greg’s skills have taken him all over the world, including Europe and the USA. He was involved in creating 3D apples for the ‘Big Apple Campaign’ that now adorn the streets of New York City and another project in South Street, Seaport. “Moving to Europe was great, as the culture was a pleasure to immerse yourself into. I spent many hours in the English Garden, Munich rendering pastels of the human form. It was bliss. “I thought making money as a portrait artist was me for the rest of my life.”

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Brian Looker

1 May 2014
Animals, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Birdlife, Featured Artists, Figures, Oils, Painting, Surrealism

AN OPPORTUNITY FOR REFLECTION

When Brian Looker returned to New Zealand after an absence of twenty years living in Australia, it was like coming to an unknown country. It was the catalyst he needed to become a full time artist. “It seemed a fitting time, to follow my dream and make a commitment to pursue my art on a deeper level,” he says.

“It seemed a fitting time, to follow my dream and make a commitment to pursue my art on a deeper level,” he says. “For many years my wife and I had visited artists in their studios in many countries around the world, each time thinking what a perfect lifestyle they had. Truthfully the only difference between dreaming and having is that first step of doing.”

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Amanda Brett

1 March 2014
Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Featured Artists, Floral, Impressionism, Landscape, Painting, Still-life, Watercolour

THE COLOURS OF WATER

“All my life I had always wanted to be an artist,” Amanda says, “but it got lost amongst a business career, and that of being a wife and mother.” Continuing she adds that High School was a big waste of time for her.

“I had many ideas for my future but I am sad to say my school would not support any of them. I wanted to become an architect, but I wasn’t allowed to study any of the foundation courses. I was even told by the school career counsellor “not to worry about art or music school as I was just going to get pregnant, so why bother?”

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Geoff Popham

1 March 2014
Abstract, Acrylic, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Digital, Featured Artists, Ink, Maori, Nature, Painting, Watercolour

EXPLORING NEW DIRECTIONS

Born in Kawakawa, Bay of Islands, New Zealand, art has always been a part of Geoff Popham’s life. From when he was a child growing up in the Far North, he was surrounded by what he describes as 'amazing artwork'.

“Spending time at our whanau marae, and being taught by my elders about the carvings, paintings and weaving was my first education in art,” he reveals. “Seeing the intricacies of the skilled work and the meaning and pride associated with them, inspired me to want to do the same.”

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Don Wilkie

1 March 2014
Animals, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Aviation, Birdlife, Featured Artists, Figures, Impressionism, Oils, Painting, Realism

SOARING TO NEW HEIGHTS

Painter, published author, and printer - Don Wilkie does not set limits on his range of creative talents.

“Painting provides the space and relaxation in which I lose myself in creating,” he reveals, “one of my biggest joys is when the painting is completed and seeing what has been achieved from a blank canvas.”

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Pauline Gough

1 March 2014
Acrylic, Animals, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Featured Artists, Figures, Impressionism, Landscape, Mixed Media, Nature, Painting, Seascape, Still-life, Street Scenes

CALL OF THE ARTIST

When asked what motivates her, Pauline Gough says simply: “It is the love of it. It’s important for me to love the whole process – if it feels like work, I shouldn’t be doing it.”

Recalling her early years when the call of the artist flowed strongly in her heart, Pauline says she has always loved anything to do with art: “I wanted to do art at school, however my school in Wellsford, didn’t offer this as an option in those days. My mother looked into some individual lessons and the principal of Rodney College said he would try to arrange an art teacher; however this never amounted to anything. “Art as a career was what I desired, teaching is where I ended up,” she says wryly.

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Kerry Fenton-Johns

1 March 2014
Acrylic, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Featured Artists, Floral, Hyper Realism, Landscape, Painting, Seascape

KERRY'S WORLD

“Slow down, let the art touch you inside,” poignant words indeed from well known artist Kerry Fenton-Johns.With her very busy mind she is finding inspiration everywhere she looks, be it a building or a plant in the garden

Those who are familiar with this work marvel at the photographic realism. TNZAM first came across her pohutukawa paintings for an exhibition at the Dunedin International Airport 2010. Kerry was one of the instigators behind the ‘Artist in the Terminal idea.’

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Robyn Mitchell

1 March 2014
Abstract, Animals, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Carving, Expressionism, Featured Artists, Figures, Maori, Nature, Sculpture

CHISELING OAMARU STONE

“Learn to organise your life, make time to do the things you dream of.”

Robyn Mitchell’s favourite sculptural medium is wood: “It is not until you start to shape and polish the wood, that the beauty of the grain and colour are revealed,” she says. “Because of the variants of grain, the type of wood and what part of the tree they come from, no two pieces will ever come out the same.”

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