Artists

Having studied at Whitecliffs School of Art – Diploma in landscape, Summer Schools at University – Diploma in figurative design and ATI Certificate for adult education, Loretta Arthur is still going strong.

She cannot remember when she didn’t draw or paint, however in the 1950s, there was no money to be had and she was encouraged to pursue secretarial and accounting work. Although there was no special training in art at St Mary’s College Christchurch, the school she attended, she always managed to receive the art prize.

Loretta became involved in theatre and created many sets for production as well as acting and directing, “Art was always there, sketching on the boat at Christmas, observing figures and the like. When my four children were at secondary school, I decided to become serious about my art.”

Finding immense inspiration from black and white studies, photos and sketches, enjoying the atmosphere created, she kept herself busy sketching and taking her own photos. Loretta maintains she sees potential paintings everywhere around her, in everyday life and all occasions, with her preferred subjects being people in various situations, at the beach or in cafés and historic or old buildings. Her current projects include trying different styles and doing research on various mediums. She is currently enjoying experimenting with Biro and is looking for more inspiration for acrylic work.

The artists who have provided the most inspiration for Loretta are Monet, John Turner and her art tutor, John Horner at Whitecliffs School of Art. “I love impressionist art and using the alla-prima technique, the freedom of just painting on a blank canvas with no preparation; sometimes it doesn’t work, most of the time it does. I find this very therapeutic and suggest all artists do this at least once a year, especially after a big commission. There is a lot to be gained from the peace and solitude of creating something on a blank canvas and calling it your own.” Contact Loretta on NZ (0064) (0)21 941 767.

Melissa McDougall drew like all children usually draw. Both her parents were artistic; her dad Ewan was taught by Colin Wheeler in the 1960’s and her mother, Suzette, raised her in an artistic environment with books on Surrealism and Modern art.

“Mum’s drawing skills were excellent and she encouraged my creative writing and painting. I was good at writing and art but I enjoyed making a tangible image that others could appreciate. I was always inspired and wanted to learn more. I also had a lot of ideas to implement. I was taught different styles of drawing by my High School art teacher, Trevor Gray. While attending Claremont Art School (1989-91), I took Anatomy drawing at the Anatomy Department at the University of Western Australia. In 1996 I began a three year Bachelor of Fine arts at U.W.A., a course mostly focused on art criticism and history. I was 25 at this stage and had already been exhibiting independently for five years, so I began University late. My mother’s death (aged 53) was probably my biggest life changing event. She had cancer and died when I was 31 and it led me to something of an existential crisis. She was a solo parent during my childhood so we were very close. I became aware how much I had relied on her as a friend and artistic collaborator. I had dedicated my show ‘Love and Shadows’ to her in 1999. The birth of my lovely daughter Charlotte in 2005 did a lot to bring back some optimism to my world, and in 2007 my beautiful son Michael was born. My work began again, this time working parallel to family life.
See more of Melissa’s work HERE

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Watching her mum creating her artworks, thinking she was performing magic and inheriting her father’s exceptional design skills as a builder, it’s not surprising that Jane Riley has ended up as a talented, inventive artist in her own right.

Inspired by the seen (she constantly takes photographs) and the unseen (spiritual) world, combined with her well of emotions, the result is vibrant, moving artwork that resonates deeply. Jane is also inspired with the Renaissance Period, enjoying the vast techniques mixed with the spiritual icons. “I couldn’t wait to travel to Europe and explore all that art history that I had only previously absorbed in books.” Jane constantly challenges herself to better herself, finding that once she mastered the techniques she could stray from them and evolve, inventing other ways to express visual communication. “I get excited by textures, new mediums and fresh ideas. Some of my biggest mistakes have been my biggest breakthroughs. I am very experimental, take lots of risks and apply a variety of the learned techniques to my varied repertoire of self taught ideas and mistakes. I hope to inspire people and enhance their visual beauty of living.” She strives to live the ‘Life of Riley’ that was born to her and become a full time artist, focusing and surviving off her art alone. This is a wonderful scenario and she has had periods in her life when she has found a way to do exactly that. However at other times she juggles her creative streak with part-time employment to pay the bills. She does battle with this though and finds being away from her studio robs and depletes her creative juices. To achieve her goal, Jane wants to ensure steady growth with sales and promotion and wants to achieve more international connections.
See Jane’s website HERE.

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Born Jacqueline Lourie in June 1931, in the rolling farming country around Hunterville in the Rangitikei, she was the only girl among five children. Her father used to take her riding and she found her best friends were horses. With an abiding natural talent for drawing, Jackie began at the age of four. When she wasn’t riding the horses, she was drawing them.
Although her life was very busy with work on the farm and raising six boys, Jackie continued to draw and paint whenever she got the chance, on scraps of paper and the back of cigarette boxes.
Howard made Jackie a studio in the old dairy and washhouse behind the cottage and that’s when she started her night-time painting sessions. “How wonderful it was to be able to walk out of the studio and back down the path to the house, knowing that all the boys would be tucked up and Howard would be sound asleep too.” Howard decided Jackie needed a manager and her original studio was superseded in 1978 with a larger Quin’s car-shed-cum-studio. She produced many commissioned works here for friends and race-horse owners but she did find the deadlines stressful and would thankfully return to the freedom of her sketches.
See more about Jackie Williamson HERE.

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During the late 70s, Colin Unkovich and a friend started a business manufacturing surfboards. During this period the ability to turn customer’s ideas into personalised artworks on their new boards was an important part of the business and set them apart from a lot of the competition. The most efficient and effective method of applying colour to the boards was via an airbrush. He found that he really liked the process to the extent that he would sometimes be working on a customer’s request into the small hours of the morning. Over the next 30 years, as well as utilising airbrushing intensively on the boards, he also painted wall paintings in his spare time.

“I paint because that is what I want to do. I was part of a perfectly good business; surviving very well, but I wasn’t getting any time to paint. It just felt like there was a hole in me that needed to be filled. My art does that. I am an outdoors person at heart. I grew up on the land and I think that my upbringing cemented that aspect in me; as a result I tend to look to the natural world for my muse. In New Zealand we have such diversity, not only of the physical landscape but equally importantly of light and colour. I sometimes feel that I am a bit spoiled for choice. Mostly I work on commissioned pieces. I think that I enjoy the challenge of interpreting what it is that someone desires. I always really appreciate it when somebody comes to me out of all of the artists out there. It is so nice to know that what you do is valued and that people have confidence in your abilities. I know that some artists find it too constraining to work with someone else’s expectations, but I find it very rewarding. Most of my commissions are of a meaningful nature to my clients and I have a file of thank you notes from clients for whom I have done work. I keep them all because it is nice to know that I have been able to interpret what they wanted in a meaningful way and that with any luck it has provided them with something to enjoy for years to come. As a counter-balance to working on commissions, I like to paint a few surrealist pieces because there is no right or wrong, there are no rules; it is good to let your imagination go.”
See more of Colins work HERE

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I have always had an interest and love of art, particularly painting. I remember vividly as a child, forever with a sketch book in my hand. My parents were always replacing my felt tip pens, pencils and eventually buying watercolour paints and loads of paint by number sets. I left school at 18 years old and then worked in an office for four years. I married at 22 and went on to have our children. Not long after I realised I missed the creative side of my life and still needed to have a pencil or paint brush in my hand. It almost just feels a part of you. So with a six month old baby in my arms, I set out to buy my first set of oil paints, table easel and a lovely little canvas pad. Seven years later, in 2004, I had my website developed, which was also the year I had my first solo exhibition. Living in a rural area near Rotorua and Taupo, there is always natural beauty all around me. Therefore this is where I focus on my subject matter. It is very inspiring to live surrounded in such beauty. I particularly love the end of the day – twilight – for taking photos. The warm light is just beautiful and intensifies the colours of the flora and fauna so much. I have learnt from many artist’s over the years, many different things about painting, whether it be a new colour mixture, or a way to look at a painting differently, even how to approach a subject. One of my great loves is Bouguereau, a well known 19th century amazing French artist. I fell in love with his paintings of women and children, his execution of painting fabrics, the attention to detail is fascinating. See Vicki’s work HERE.

Artists don’t have to work full time in their studio to be an ‘artist’. Tammie says she believes she has artist etched into her bones, as if she is working on the weekend or too busy during the week to get into the studio, she is like a bear with a sore head, and we know what they do. When the question, ‘What are your hobbies in your spare time’ came up Tammie really struggled to answer this, she says it took her a very long time to come up with a response, as her only true hobby is being in the studio, art is her life. Tammie was home schooled from the age of three, it was not until her parents suggested in 2009 that she should enrol in classes held by the Feilding District Art Society, a class that had eight other students, her being the youngest. This is where Rita Easther introduced her to the influences of Braque and the style of Cubism. Rita was a well-known artist for her renditions of Rangitikei cliffs and landscapes and dislocated birds using cubism. She took Tammie under her wing and passed on a wealth of knowledge and continued to work closely with Tammie after the classes had finished. She encouraged her to join the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, as the next step to be taken and to make sure that she continued to regularly submit work. Rita was Tammie’s main inspiration and she relates how she loves how her work stands out from across the room in galleries. This creates a bit of uncertainty in her as sometimes she worries her work is too different, but Tammie has learned different is good, her work is distinctive. See Tammie's work HERE.

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Sarah Kane-Matete was born in Pasig Manila, Philippines and was raised in Nuhaka & Mahia, found on the east coastline of the North Island of NZ. Sarah says, “I was born from a bloodline of creatives”. She lived and breathed art at home and at school, always knowing she would be an artist right from a very young age. Growing up in the countryside surrounded by nature allowed a simpler life, encouraging her creative mind to flow. When Sarah was in high school, her passion for drawing and painting continued which lead her into her tertiary years where she graduated in 2009 with a BA in Contemporary Maori Visual art and Design. While working towards her BA, Sarah was also busy growing a wonderful family with her husband Vaughan becoming a busy lady flitting between her two passions in life. 2016 became her year to focus more on her career in art. Sarah’s children had developed more independence which allowed her more time to grow her small business at her home studio in Gisborne, working as a multimedia artist in ta moko, Filipino tattoo and painting. The wonderful thing about living in a beautiful place such as Gisborne, is you truly appreciate the simple living, which she also says is her paradise. Family is most important to Sarah, she says her young family are lucky to share their living space with their matriarch who is Vaughan’s 95 year old Nan Elsie. Content with living and appreciating the things so many take for granted; Fresh air, water, clean food, sun and the love of doing the things they are passionate about through their creative practices. Sarah explains how life doesn’t have to be complicated, just making a living and living itself is special.

See Sarah's work HERE

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I consider myself an illustrator. For me visual artists are in two main categories: artists with a capital ‘A’, being those who are brave, clever, and who attempt to change the way we look at things: artists such as the impressionists and avant-garde abstract artists. Some turn out some extraordinary work which is beyond me. The other category are the small ‘a’s who are really illustrators, like me. I just don’t have the courage to produce abstract or experimental art and I would feel dishonest if I did. It is enough of a challenge just to capture the moods of the sea and ships on canvas. Excepting genuine primitive artists, I believe that any competent artist must have mastered representation before attempting abstract work and I do not consider myself there yet. Marine painting has its own demands. A bit like specializing in representing horses, one gets hauled over the coals if you get something wrong. Painting all ships, and particularly sailing ships demands a thorough technical knowledge which, I think I have. My technical expertise is inclusive of historical vessels as I specialise in maritime history and have published four books on the subject. A glance at the galleries on my website will show that the majority of my work is historical.
See Roger's work HERE

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