Bernadette Ballantyne
WINDOWS TO THE SOUL Gaining her Bachelor of Fine Art at Whanganui Quay School of the Arts (now Whanganui UCOL) between…
Bec Robertson
AVIAN AFFINITY
AVIAN AFFINITYBec Robertson’s grandmother and her grandmother’s sister were painters in their retirement. Bec’s grandmother also wrote and illustrated poems and stories, “As a kid I also wrote and illustrated A LOT of ‘newspapers’. I would make up fanciful news stories and pictures then sell ‘the paper’ to my dad for lolly money. I soon learnt that I could resell the same articles to my other family members for more money for lollies! I loved showing them new pictures and ideas and getting their feedback.”
She tells us more: “I have loved being creative for as long as I can remember. As a young child I had a cupboard in the kitchen under the bench where I kept all my treasures, little bottles of crayon sharpenings, paper cut outs of anything which took my fancy, matchboxes full of strange found objects - I think a few unfortunate forgotten lady bugs and a caterpillar died as a result of my match box obsession.”
UK Artist Tony Feld
Painting a variety of subjects from buildings to wildlife, keeps Tony Feld busy.
“But my method is very much the same no matter what I am painting,” he says. “I usually square up a picture, so draw a grid on a print of a photograph I am working from. I transfer that onto the surface I am working on and go from there. Quite often a complicated painting can take anything up to a month to draw out, even before I have started painting.” Tony’s painting of a leopard took a month to draw out and another five months to paint.
UK ARTIST Russ Chester
Sheep shearing doesn’t rank highly among the topics that typically capture an artist’s attention. But it caught Russ Chester’s eye. The artist, who relocated from the north of England to Wales, has produced a series of paintings celebrating the craft.
“When I first moved to Wales I got involved with shearing on the farm where I was living,” recalls the successful oil painter. “I was gathering and wrapping the wool - I didn’t actually do the shearing because it takes quite a lot of skill to do that. It’s a yearly event. New Zealanders and Māori’s used to come over. It was a good cultural exchange. Local shearers used to have a circuit where they would start off in Wales, then go to Canada and on to New Zealand, returning to Wales. They would just do a circuit round the world, shearing. You would see these guys stripped to the waist absolutely dripping in sweat and crikey they’d get through some sheep. They’d have a counter that they’d click when they’d done one. Half the time they were just wrestling sheep. The sheep weren’t taking too kindly to it especially when there were rams.”
Roxanne Milson
THE MAGIC WEAVER
THE MAGIC WEAVERWe introduce you to Roxanne Milson, an artist formerly of Australia, now living in Tauranga. Roxanne tells us her story:
I haven’t had any formal art training. My education was based in Graphic Design since I was predominantly a digital artist until two years ago. When I was pursuing education, graphic design was all that was offered for digital artists but it turns out it was not what I wanted! I wanted to illustrate, to draw, to create. So the internet and books were the things that educated me. If I wanted to know how to do something, I looked it up.
Michaela Voigt
MICHAELA JANE VOIGT
Always a very creative person, when the decision came in year 13 to decide what was next for Michaela Voigt, it was either going to be something along the lines of Sports and Nutrition or something creative and she chose an Applied Arts Degree - a Bachelor of Applied Media Art at the Southern Institute of Technology which she completed in 2013.
“I did focus a lot on the digital side whilst studying but my favourite class, looking back, was definitely life drawing. Since graduating I have mostly been a full time Graphic Designer putting work into the odd exhibition but in the last couple of years I have really started pursuing my love of drawing again in particular flowers and botanicals.”
She finds inspiration in all that surrounds her. “I draw things I have seen that are memorable to me and it’s usually the little things.
Lacey Middleton
SYMBOLIC DETAIL
With a diploma in Creative technologies from WelTec, Lacey Middleton began painting seriously when her twins were babies
as a way to earn extra cash while looking after her three young children.
“Art was something I was naturally good at, and it brought in extra income. My realistic paintings seemed to sell as fast as I could make them, and word of mouth sales meant I began to have commissions come in. I also studied art history for seven years, and adore the renaissance and impressionism styles. The work of great artists, like Monet, never ages.”
Deborah Taylor
Never having had any formal art training, Deborah Taylor attempted an online course a few years ago but found the deadlines and stress of it all too much as well as working full time. Other financial constraints had left her feeling inadequate and floundering and after being diagnosed with bipolar, she found art to be cathartic and a means with which to express herself. With a level 5 in Academic Writing, she also likes to write and compose poetry.
“I have always been interested in art since high school especially, my art teacher Mr Hebley was a great teacher. I did unfortunately muck around a lot and never passed art as a subject but I always kept on painting and creating art whenever I could. When my children were little I would always have art stuff set up for them to express themselves through drawing and painting or making salt dough craft. I started painting again when my children were older, as a hobby.”
Andrea Robinson 2022
Drawn to painting native birds and flowers from a young age, Andrea Robinson’s first sale was as a teenager when a friend bought one of her drawings for a few dollars. “I started to sell my drawings and designs on pillowcases, tablecloths, and tee-shirts. As an adult I continued to paint and draw around my office job and family. I started selling professionally in 2015 and I now sell my artwork through galleries and art shows.” Featured in The New Zealand Artist Magazine before, in 2017, Andrea has caught up with us and tells us where she is now.
Creating artwork is as important to me as the air that I breathe. It is the language I use to tell my story, to celebrate nature, and to raise awareness of environmental issues. This has always been my biggest motivating factor. Three exhibitions I am particularly proud of include exhibiting work in The Garzoni Challenge, curated by the Uffizi Gallery in Italy; receiving two excellence awards through Manhattan Arts International, New York, and receiving a Special Recognition Award in ‘All Women’ Art Exhibition 2022, in Santa Fe.
Sue Laursen
TURNING THE LIGHT ON As the first thing Sue Laursen thinks about when she wakes up and the last thing she…