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As a child, André Brönnimann was very interested in art and drawing. Self-taught, he took a break from his painting between the ages of 20 and 30, returning to his art when he decided to enter the Telecom Phone Book Art Competition in 1995. He has been painting ever since.

André was born of a Swiss father and English mother in Auckland, in 1963. He spent the first five years of his life in New Zealand, after which his family returned to Switzerland where André completed his schooling. When André was 20, he came home to New Zealand. Having a great interest in surrealism and creating something that has never existed before, the challenge and excitement of getting his idea onto canvas gives him a buzz. “Living in this beautiful country of ours provides me with ample inspiration. I also receive inspiration by looking at art. “I love being an artist, I can make my own rules and I get excited about an idea or image in my head that I know would look great on canvas.” André is a self-employed carpet cleaner and flood restorer when he is not painting. “I like having the freedom to only paint 100% what I want. I have turned down many commissions because I had no interest in the subject matter, a luxury one may not be able to afford if painting income is your bread and butter. Salvador Dali was a great influence in the early years of André’s painting but over the past decade he has been concentrating on portraiture and photorealism. He plans to combine surrealism and portraiture in the coming years.
See more about André here.

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From a small child, Sandy Wright always loved to study nature. From the time she left an open box full of snails in the kitchen overnight and realized in the morning that they can cover quite a lot of ground, to the time she put tadpoles in her grandfather’s water butt, which he used every morning for shaving. “I had spent so much of my life working on other people’s projects, I decided it was time to work on my own. I met a lovely lady at a local art group pop up shop in Paihia and she invited me to join the local art group. That was just the motivation I needed.”

Sandy worked for 17 years in a photography lab in Cambridge, England, retouching and restoring old and new photographs. This gave her the opportunity to work with paints, pencils and an airbrush. “I think that’s where my eye for detail comes from. To me, every photograph had a story to tell and that’s what I aim for in my paintings.” Eventually, computers came along and Sandy decided she preferred the hands-on approach, rather than working with a mouse. She and her partner decided to take the opportunity of a new start and in 2006 they arrived in New Zealand. “When I was in England I would travel from Cambridge to London for the day. I suppose most other women in their 20s, might take the opportunity to do some shopping but I would spend the day in the Tate gallery. I could spend hours just wondering round. One painting I went back to time and time again was ‘The Lady of Shalott’ by John William Waterhouse. It fascinated me. Of course I read the poem, but I liked to make up my own stories for the image. My stories always had happier endings.” Having approached a lot of publishers with her children’s books and finding no takers, it was her Mum who persuaded her not to give up. With a lot of help from her husband and friends, she had the books printed herself. “I am over the moon with the result. They continue to find their way all around the world.” Sandy’s children’s books and most of her artwork tell a story and carry a message, a sort of ‘call to arms’. “I believe we are at a time when we need to work together if we are going to keep the beauty and diversity of New Zealand and indeed the world. If we could all put aside our differences and see the bigger picture, it might not be too late to save our amazing planet. I hope to keep improving and keep working on highlighting New Zealand’s most vulnerable species.

Visit Sandy's website here

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Having dabbled in art since childhood, Ros Beck has always felt especially passionate about horses. “I remember drawing a huge galloping horse on the chalk board at primary school which stayed up there for weeks!” In the late 2010s she approached galleries with puppet horse paintings, which sold very well, but it wasn’t until five years ago that she could devote herself entirely to her passion, with the support of her husband.

Ros trained with Mehrdad Tahan (featured in TNZAM in 2014) every Saturday for a year, amongst various other classes and she also belonged to a folk art group, which she found really helpful for brushwork. Other than that, she is self-taught. “When I discovered acrylic pouring (through a class at The Drawing Room) I became obsessed with it and over five years of developing my techniques and pouring medium recipes, I am feeling confident and joyous about my creative process. At the age of 60 I resent doing anything other than painting and get such a feeling of self-worth and value when I actually get paid to do something I love soo much.” Strongly supporting greyhound rescue and re-homing, Ros has donated many paintings to the ‘Save The Macau Greyhounds’ effort to re-home over 500 dogs worldwide from Macau. “I’m very proud to have been able to support this amazing team. Closer to home I support GAP (Greyhounds As Pets) and have donated from my exhibition in Riccarton and local sales.” Ros finds most of her inspiration comes from horses and dogs. “My full name is Rosamund which means ‘protector of horses or horses protect me’, so my first love is horses. I’ve loved them for as long as I can remember. The family home did not always feel the safest and I struggled in my early school years but I always had horses in my head. Of course they are beautiful, amazing animals and are just living works of art. Capturing this on canvas is a joy. Not everyone loves greyhounds and horses, so I do try to paint other things, which I enjoy, but I always come back to my passion. I have four horses and my whippet Louie so I’m never short of inspiration.
Follow Ros here.

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