Mary Sneyd
FABRIC AND THREAD By Matt Mortimer Artists of all types are often asked about their favourite instruments to make their creations…
Ashley McDonald 2023
CONSCIOUS PERSPECTIVE
Self-taught artist Ashley McDonald was published in a ‘Youth Art’ article in The New Zealand Artist Magazine in July August 2016, and has continued on with her remarkable journey. Seven years later she catches up with us and in her own words, tells us her story.
My artistic journey began by accident. When I was in my early teens I would paint and draw for school homework (or just for fun). I’d draw things I was interested in - such as birds and fish. One day I painted a portrait of my pet Siamese fighting fish. I posted the end result online to a group of tropical fish enthusiasts. Almost immediately I had comments asking me whether I would take commissions and if I could ship internationally. It was quite overwhelming, as I was in my early teens at the time - I had no idea if I could even send art outside of New Zealand. My first commissioned piece was completed at age 15 and was shipped to the United Kingdom. My artistic career snowballed from there. Once my first commission arrived in the UK, the owner posted the piece online, bringing more queries and future commissions. Before this, I had never thought about selling my artwork.
WAKE (Alex Tikaram)
ESOTERIC CANDOUR
“I want to say I had formal art training at school, but what did school teach anyone apart from how to prepare yourself to be short on cash. Art was something that I always did that cost me next to nothing that I could learn alone and in my own way, so no, no formal training.”
It’s hard for Wake to pinpoint how he ended up being an artist. “Anyone who does anything slightly creative is an artist to me, but to define it to something more specific, I started to take it seriously when a friend of mine made a social media page for me around the end of 2020, to exhibit and possibly sell some pieces. A couple of years ago, I would never have dreamed of people wanting to pay actual money for the things I draw. However, I sold a piece to a guy all the way in the USA which I’m pretty proud of, it’s very humbling.”
Sheree Foster
SHEREE FOSTERS ARTISTIC JOURNEY
By Ben Lavin
Sheree Foster has always been involved in one way or another with creative things. Before becoming a full time, self-taught artist “...graduating from the school of Life’’, she was in Banking, Event Marketing and then, after having her family, a Design Build Consultant, with interests in photography, floral, and landscape design. She actually never considered becoming an artist until a visiting friend observed a piece she had created lying on a table and then asked her what gallery she had bought it from. She was quite taken aback to hear that Sheree had made it and after learning there were no plans for it she promptly decided to buy it on the spot. It now hangs proudly on their wall in their new contemporary beach house in Waihi Beach - all two metres of it, and recently been joined by piece number two another two metre monster. Thus began Sheree’s adventure as an artist which she admits was a bit of a crossroads in her life. What should she do next?
After doing several weddings and seeing the wastage of flowers for one day she decided she wanted to create something from this and the idea came to her of repurposing floral waste into all sorts of art pieces from wreaths to busts of heads, all in pre-loved flowers and often with a vintage flair. The enjoyment of creating this art, as well as the pleasure of seeing one of her pieces in its forever place, was what really motivated her to keep going.
Jonathan Bourla
CREATIVE FORCE
Jonathan Bourla has never been formally trained, however he has gained invaluable experience and insight from the likes of Ansel Adams and Howard Bond. In 1997 when he travelled from New Zealand to attend a workshop in America run by Howard Bond, Howard realised Jonathan couldn’t learn everything from a single workshop so he gave him a whole book’s worth of notes to take home.
These notes, together with instructional books written by the great American photographer Ansel Adams, formed the basis of his education. Both Howard and Ansel believed you had to be in good control of the technical aspects before you would be in a position to express yourself creatively. Adams had created a system called the Zone System which allowed you to calculate ideal camera settings and film development times. “It was very difficult to grasp from Adams’ writings but became clearer from Bond’s notes. Many people apparently give up on the Zone System as too complicated but it formed the basis of my photography’s technical side for many years.”
Bernadette Ross
RARANGA HARAKEKE
Gaining a Bachelor of Māori Art between 2010 and 2013, at Te Wananga O Aotearoa was the solution for Bernadette Ross after she sustained permanent damage to her spine from landscaping.
Bernadette adores working with plant material. “After visiting the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, UK, when I was a younger mum, I was drawn to the woven artefacts on display. After 18 years in the UK I returned to NZ with my family and the journey into Raranga began eight years later.” She feels very privileged to live both by the sea and bush, claiming the inspiration is all around!
Sayed Sadat
ESCAPE THROUGH ART
Sayed Sadat is an Afghan refugee who has had a remarkably difficult life. He tells us some of his story and illustrates how he came to be here and shares his work with us.
I am a self-taught artist, graphic designer and nature photographer. I never had formal study as my school was burnt down during the Russian invasion in 1979 when I was a year 10 student. My father was a high ranked Police Officer in Afghanistan during King Zahir Shah and president Dawood Khan, and he served his country for nearly 40 years. He, along with my two uncles (who were also army generals) were thrown in jail, right the same day when the Communist Regime took power. Fortunately, my father escaped and took refuge in Pakistan, and soon after that the government turned on me to arrest me or keep me as hostage to get to my father, who joined the opposition. I fled the country for my life and also to stay away from the war, which was started by the Russian invasion in my country, to join him and started living in exile as a refugee.
Diane Ammar
I AM AN ARTIST
25 years ago Diane Ammar completed a correspondence course on learning how to draw and with the final assignment assessed, the mentor suggested she should investigate paint as a medium as they felt she had an affinity to that. Diane explains further:
“For about four years I occasionally attended short courses held by local artists on learning how to use watercolour, and discovered I loved portraiture. I had a long break from attending classes and workshops until 2021, but during those years I painted many portraits for friends and family using photographs I had taken or ones they had given me to use. These paintings are hanging in homes in Australia, New Zealand, Philippines and England.
Bernadette Ballantyne
WINDOWS TO THE SOUL Gaining her Bachelor of Fine Art at Whanganui Quay School of the Arts (now Whanganui UCOL) between…
UK Artist Jennifer Evans
A ROYAL COMMISSION
Jennifer Evans received a commission to paint HM the late Queen’s corgis for her Silver Jubilee.
“I taught my husband on the train how to use the second camera: I set it on Green and continuous, my usual mode. We went to Windsor Castle, and met the Queen’s Diary Secretary and the Footman, who was OC Dogs during her absence. Thank goodness the Queen was not actually there that day, I don’t think I could have managed the social area and the unaccustomed nuances and curtseying requirements while concentrating on photographing each of the seven dogs.