Jo Midgley
ABOVE: “Robin with Lichen” 120mmx120mm, oil painting A Life Inspired by Nature Jo Midgley has always been creative and drawn…
Bev Smith
Above: Autumn Leaves (June 2023) - Acrylic and Collage on Canvas (under tuition of Heather Matthews - Tindalls Bay). 400 x…
Jane Tian
ABOVE: Curious, 250 X 300mm, Watercolour TALENTED WHISPERS “I am driven by a deep passion for expressing my creativity, recognising beauty…
Sarah Freiburger
ABOVE: Motatapu River, Wānaka. Acrylic on Board, 900x600mm BALANCED HAPPINESS Born and bred in Germany, Sarah Freiburger has always loved painting…
Sonja Walker
ABOVE: Sonja with her Tasman National Art Award Merit Award painting - 'Everything but the bowl' GOOD FOR THE SOUL “Oil…
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…
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.”
Stephen Martyn Welch (Marty)
A PROFICIENT PAINTER
Stephen Martyn Welch, known as Marty, has had no formal training in painting and as such, the beginning of his career was very difficult. Not many galleries were interested in what he had to offer. “I am 100% self-taught, which I am proud of because I worked really hard to get where I am today.”
He failed his school certificate in art, so he joined the army and started doing sketches for his fellow comrades, “so they could go to the local tattooist, where they proceeded to ruin my drawings on someone’s skin.” After the army, Marty worked in an Irish pub in Auckland. “I started off sketching images on a big white beer fridge door that was like a white board. From there people used to come in and ask me to draw different things from actors to comic characters.”
Carol Moffatt
I gather ideas and inspiration from the natural environment of New Zealand: the trees, mountains, water, plants and flowers. My paintings strive to capture the wonders and mystery that surround us.
I love using oils because of their strong colours. In addition, I use transparent colours as much as possible because they vibrate in the light. Combining brushstrokes with music in my head, I create my world on canvas.