So says Naenae-based sculptor Carol Ann Laubscher who admits to being more than a little enamoured by the human form: “I love to try and emulate the beauty of the female form,” she says.
“My jobs were always art related and it was always in the back of my mind that one day I would take my art more seriously. That day came when our youngest son started school and before long I was tutoring adults and children and painting most of the week. Drawing peoples’ portraits came naturally to me and I thought I might become a portrait artist.
With a number of artists in the family, Jan says art was always in her blood. Why she avoided it for 47 years she didn’t say but once she started she was instantly and totally hooked. “I started with watercolours and then moved onto oils,” she reveals. “I learnt to paint by going out to Wellington’s (sometimes wild) south coast, wrestling with the elements and trying to put down on paper what was in front of me.”
Trained as a signwriter, Greg Maddox’s five year apprenticeship taught him a range of disciplines in engineering, carpentry and the art of hand rendering signs using brush and airbrush, something he loves with a passion.And if you think signwriting is mundane, Greg’s skills have taken him all over the world, including Europe and the USA. He was involved in creating 3D apples for the ‘Big Apple Campaign’ that now adorn the streets of New York City and another project in South Street, Seaport. “Moving to Europe was great, as the culture was a pleasure to immerse yourself into. I spent many hours in the English Garden, Munich rendering pastels of the human form. It was bliss. “I thought making money as a portrait artist was me for the rest of my life.”
“I had many ideas for my future but I am sad to say my school would not support any of them. I wanted to become an architect, but I wasn’t allowed to study any of the foundation courses. I was even told by the school career counsellor “not to worry about art or music school as I was just going to get pregnant, so why bother?”
“Painting provides the space and relaxation in which I lose myself in creating,” he reveals, “one of my biggest joys is when the painting is completed and seeing what has been achieved from a blank canvas.”
Recalling her early years when the call of the artist flowed strongly in her heart, Pauline says she has always loved anything to do with art: “I wanted to do art at school, however my school in Wellsford, didn’t offer this as an option in those days. My mother looked into some individual lessons and the principal of Rodney College said he would try to arrange an art teacher; however this never amounted to anything. “Art as a career was what I desired, teaching is where I ended up,” she says wryly.
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