Jay Ell
ABOVE: New Colour Street, Gel ink on black card. 8.5 x 11 inches (approx. 21.6 x 28 cm) THE MAKER As…
Jamie Harkins
ABOVE: Jamie creating his work on Mount Maunganui Beach, Tauranga THREE DIMENSIONAL PERSPECTIVE Always wanting to be an artist, right from…
Joanne Luker
ABOVE: Rangitoto Porcelain SHARDS OF JOY Born in the UK, Joanne Luker loved art at high school: “I have always enjoyed…
Sonja Walker
ABOVE: Sonja with her Tasman National Art Award Merit Award painting - 'Everything but the bowl' GOOD FOR THE SOUL “Oil…
Oil Paint Brushes
CHOOSING THE RIGHT OIL PAINT BRUSHES Choosing the right brush is important and with 150 years of brush making experience Winsor…
Damian Jacobs
ABOVE: Mercedes AMG One
UNDISCOVERED TALENT
Born in Hamilton, Damian Karl Jacobs developed a passion for creating art at a young age. Over the years, he intermittently indulged in this passion, finally becoming serious about in the mid-2010s, and hasn’t stopped since.
He hasn’t had any formal art training as there was no-one at the time that could cater to his specific artistic skills. However, he did gain some influence from an artist in the 1990’s by a lovely lady called Laurel Flemming, she ran a studio from her home in Dinsdale, Hamilton. It was there that he got some basic tips on how to paint, but once that episode ended, he figured the rest out himself.
Tim Houghton
ABOVE: 'Old Garden Shed' - I was struck by the peace and silence of this old garden shed, as the light…
Judy Woods
ARTISTIC ADVENTURES
ARTISTIC ADVENTURESJudy Woods graduated with a Diploma in Fine Arts from Otago Polytechnic in 1985. Having always wanted to be a professional artist, she taught for 16 years and then decided to devote her time to her own career in art and see what happened. Finally motivated by the passing of her father and feeling some urgency to pursue her passion, she began to paint.
In the beginning, Judy battled with self-belief and struggled to produce artwork that she was satisfied with. However, having developed a process of embarking on a painting adventure with every work and not worrying about the outcome, she is producing work that excites and surprises her. “It’s a much more enjoyable experience to create work that I’m happy with and this has helped me grow in confidence.”
Iris Wood
SATISFYING THE SOUL-ITCH
Iris Wood found she was drawn to each, and every art medium introduced to her at school, and she never stopped exploring. Her mixed-media body of work is both chaotic and calming, with a distinctly playful tone.
Never having been afraid of trying a new tool or method, and with a curious, explorative mindset, the biggest motivating factor to pursue a career as an artist for Iris was the profound satisfaction she gets out of pulling a real, tangible piece of art out of ephemeral experiences. "Sometimes I will experience something, and it’ll instantly get transformed into a painting in my head, and I’m compelled to execute that vision. It’s like a soul-itch that needs to be scratched; what will it feel like? what will you find under there? could it make someone else feel the same way?"
Jana Branca
AN EXCITING VOCATION
Jana Branca hails from South Africa, where she obtained a BA in Fine Arts from the University of Pretoria. “I remember a very pivotal moment at high school where my art teacher made a comment that she thought I could go on to be an artist. It was just a little thing she said in conversation, but it had a massively encouraging and life altering effect on me.”
Making, creating and re-creating has always been a very big part of her life and she says she couldn’t imagine a more exciting vocation. Having always been a ‘deep’ child, Jana loves having a vehicle for investigating and engaging with meaningful and weighty concepts. “Most of the things I like thinking about seem just out of my reach, and further wrestling with them through my art practice seems to make them just a little bit more graspable.”