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Ira Mitchell

Ira Mitchell-Kirk - Aotearoa Artist

IN THE ZONE

The 2010 Christchurch earthquake irrevocably changed Ira Mitchell’s life. In this article she tells of how she faced the formidable challenges of depression and post traumatic stress and found a new direction and purpose through her art.

I was in a high-rise building in Christchurch when the earthquake struck. That, and the ensuing aftershocks, traumatized me to the extent I still suffer from PTS. I was teaching part time at that point and it made me rethink my life and what I wanted to do with it.

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John Burns

John Burns - Aotearoa Artist

THE INVENTOR

John Burns, husband, father, grandfather, and artist, born in Wellington “many years ago” does not see himself as an artist but describes himself as an ‘inventor’ who makes ‘stuff’, something he has been doing very successfully for the last 30 years, selling most of the work he has produced. This is John’s story and a collection of his works over the years.

“I admire and am inspired in my art by people such as Pablo Picasso, Petrus van der Velden, Colin McCahon, Marc Chagall and many others. To me their art was different from the ‘norm’ (whatever that was). Some have taken flack for their style of art; Colin McCahon is an example of this. I think art is a long term activity where one can become bolder over time something I certainly feel applies to me.

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Gareth Barlow

Gareth Barlow - Aotearoa Artist

A SENSE OF BEING

Accompanied by family and friends, well-known Lower-Hutt-born New Zealand carver and painter Gareth Barlow describes his first major solo show at the Kura Gallery in Wellington earlier this year as “a very proud moment and a wonderful experience.”

The show was a great success to further represent Gareths work, as well as his future exhibitions in New Zealand and Australia including a show scheduled for Queenstown this month (July). In this article Gareth writes about his insights and the thought processes that brought his exhibition ‘From the Land’ to fruition.

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Aaron Scythe - Aotearoa Artist

Aaron Scythe

Aaron Scythe - Aotearoa Artist

DRIVEN TO CREATE

Painter and ceramicist, Aaron Scythe trained at the Carrington Polytech in Auckland in 1988 and East Sydney Polytech in 1989 where he developed an interest in Momoyama pots.

While working at the Sturt Craft Centre in NSW, Australia he built an Anagama Kiln and began investigating Shino glazes. In 1995 he travelled to Japan to study Minoyaki style pottery under master ceramicist Koie Ryoji. Aaron lived and worked in Japan until 2011 when he returned to New Zealand. During his time in Japan he held over 60 solo exhibitions and participated in many group shows and workshops. He is currently based in Whanganui East.

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Jason King

Jason King - Aotearoa Artist

MAGICAL INGREDIENT

Award winning landscape artist Jason King, a part-time fire engineer with penchant for making and flying model gliders, had always envied people who could draw or paint realistic pictures and never imagined he would be able to do it himself until one day he decided to give it a try. In this article he charts his course from the sketchpad to the winners podium.

When I first tried my hand at drawing I discovered that drawing ability is not necessarily an innate skill or ability, but rather something that can be learned. I found that there are techniques that can be used to create an image and, for me, the most important skill was developing an eye for what looks good.

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Gavin Chai - Aotearoa Artist

Gavin Chai

Gavin Chai - Aotearoa Artist
Self-portrait

THE PRODIGY

At the relatively young age of 17 years, Malaysian-born portrait artist Gavin Chai will hold his first solo exhibition at the Estuary Arts Centre in Orewa in May this year. This follows outstanding achievements in winning both KG Fraser award (best in show) and the gold medal (most successful artist of the show) at the 2014 Royal Easter Show. Gavin also had a painting selected as a finalist in the 2014 Adam Portraiture Award and placed with the nation-wide touring exhibition. In this article Gavin tells how the work of the old masters inspired him to create and pursue a career as a professional artist.

I started drawing and painting when I was 12 years old and trained under an artist in Malaysia where many materials such as oil paints and acrylics are in short supply. I was only taught how to use pencil, watercolour and oil pastels.

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Anne Michelle Johal - Aotearoa Artist

Anne Michelle Johal

Anne Michelle Johal - Aotearoa Artist

THE ART OF ILLUSTRATION

My entire family are passionate readers, creatives, entrepreneurs, and story tellers. My father, a farmer, collected humorous books with illustrations full of wonderful little stories that tickled, and he taught us how to draw cartoons as a child. Beatrix Potter’s little handheld books, with her delicious little watercolour paintings, were read to us by our grandmother. Dad’s books included those written and illustrated by A.S. Paterson, the Andy Capp series, and many others. The coloured line illustrations and stories of Asterix and Obelix, the black and white cartoons of Murray Ball, The What a Mess collection by Frank Muir with Joseph Wright’s wonderful illustrations, Quentin Blake’s work, among others, became part of our favourite collections growing up.

A passionate reader, from a very young age, I lived inside these books as movies in my imagination. The narratives of people and places, emotion and experience captured and transported me out into the world of cultural difference and exciting possibilities, such a contrast to the farm life.

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Claudia Recorean - Aotearoa Artist

Claudia Recorean

 

aotearoa-artist-claudia-recoreanCONTEMPORARY EXHIBITIONIST

Claudia Recorean has been exhibiting her contemporary artwork in far-flung locations such as Germany and Mongolia and more recently right here in New Zealand. Here she tracks her career from the start.

The start of my artist career was marked, when I was ten years old and my grandfather sent me out to burn the rubbish. Watching the flames melt plastic into fluids and turning objects into new shapes initiated along lasting fascination with material transformation and the wish to spin straw into gold.

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Bruce Mortimer

Bruce-Mortimer-aotearoa-artistGRAPHIC DETAIL

A life-long artist with no formal art training, graphite photo-realist, Bruce Mortimer, whose work has been sold all over the world, describes himself as a ‘self-learner’. He takes his art very seriously, committing himself to learning with a passion and working to a plan. This applies equally from his art and photography, to learning languages or sport. In this article he writes at length about his life as an artist and his quest to find peace and a sense of value in an increasingly frenetic global village.

My interest in art began at school, and I have practiced it in one form or another ever since. Although I enjoyed art at school and was competent even at that stage with pencil drawing, I developed a genuine love of photography in my early teens that I still have. Even then I approached my photography as an artist, in that I photographed subject matter in my own way and which had meaning for me.

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