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Rosemarie Murphy

aotearoa-artist-rosemarie-murphyPLAYING WITH LIGHT

As a child Rosemarie Murphy always loved drawing and spent most of her pocket money on art materials, but it wasn’t until she was in her thirties that she started to try other media and materials. “I have dabbled in acrylics, watercolour, pottery (hand-work mostly) and silk dyeing, but pastel is the one that I have worked at the longest. I was introduced to pastel by Maxine Thompson, Master Pastelist in New Zealand. My sister, Raewyn, invited me to one of Maxine’s workshops and like so many of Maxine’s pupils I was hooked.

Having had no formal training, Rosemarie learned by attending many workshops - some in watercolour and acrylics, but mostly in pastel. For a long time family and milking cows stopped her from making art full time and she would attend a workshop and then put her work away until the next one. “This is NOT the way to improve,” she states adamantly.

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Julia Sternkopf

aotearoa-artist-julia-sternkopfTHE GIFT OF TIME

Julia Sternkopf is a self-taught artist, originally from Germany. She loved to draw and paint as a child and in high school, she drew people’s portraits for $20 a shot, although her real interest at that time was music. She moved to New Zealand in 2018 and is happily ensconced in Lake Hawea where she gains much inspiration from the scenery surrounding her.

Always having been told that being an artist is not a good career choice, Julia was disappointed with her art education at school. “We never even looked at the Old Masters and were solely focussed on Modern Art – I didn’t enjoy that very much.”

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Daniel Carter

Oriental Dragon-daniel-carter-aotearoa-artist

Oriental Dragon, 1200 x 800mm, Blowtorched on wood.

DESIRE FOR CREATION

The closest Daniel Carter came to formal art training would have been extension art classes and graphic design throughout intermediate and college years. “These classes were taken above my selected art classes, as the art teachers noticed I had an interest and above level ability for my age group. I left college at an early age to become a car painter, which ultimately led me towards the automotive artistry of airbrushing.”

The artist life started for Daniel at a very early age, “As a young child my parents encouraged my artistic abilities. By year two of primary school, my father Roger would sit with me for hours, teaching me how to draw realistic people, muscle cars, fighter planes, architectural buildings with two-point perspective etc. We didn’t have much but wherever I went I would have a small pad and pencil, taking inspiration from my surroundings, nature, birds, people, cars, buildings, that sort of thing.

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Sonya Prchal The NZArtist Magazine

Sonya Prchal

Sonya Prchal

PAINTING WITH THREAD

Originally from Pukekohe and now based in Whangarei, Sonya Prchal has always loved art and has drawn and painted from a young age. “I started working with textiles in 2003 and first entered works in our National Quilt Symposium in Wellington in 2009. When four of my works sold, I was encouraged to create more and started teaching fabric painting and stitching at the next Quilt Symposium in Queenstown, at subsequent symposia and tutoring classes throughout New Zealand.”

Sonya has always managed to fit in daily practice in her studio, but has only recently been creating on a full time basis. “I love making works that draw in an audience and start a discussion. I enjoy commission work, and take great pleasure seeing joy on the faces of people when they receive their favourite pet replicated with thread.” 

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Iwen Yong

NOTABLE TALENT

Born in Kuala Lampur, and immigrating to New Zealand at the age of six, with his family, Iwen Yong has never formally trained as an artist. “I have never had any formal education in art and no one in my family (extended and immediate) have had any experience in the creative field so it was hard to bridge that gap. Growing up I would never consider art as a profession (more of a hobby) so it was a tough decision to give up a stable income and career aspirations to take a risk and pursue art full time."

Iwen grew up in Maungaraki, Lower Hutt and went to Puketiro primary, Hutt Valley high school and then Victoria university. “I went to university to study accounting and commercial law and then I qualified and worked as a chartered accountant. While at work one day I drew a picture of my dog, Gus, on the whiteboard. An older lady who was an artist asked my boss Marie who the artist was. She approached me and asked if I had ever tried oil painting. Growing up I wasn’t really exposed to the arts and I didn’t even know what a canvas was. She offered to bring her student grade oil paints for me if I wanted to give it a try. I was reluctant at first but I found it relaxing and I really enjoyed the creative process. However, accountancy is quite different from pursuing a career in fine arts.”  

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Ashley Mcdonald

Ashley McDonald 2023

Ashley McDonald The NZ Artist

CONSCIOUS PERSPECTIVE

Self-taught artist Ashley McDonald was published in a ‘Youth Art’ article in The New Zealand Artist Magazine in July August 2016, and has continued on with her remarkable journey. Seven years later she catches up with us and in her own words, tells us her story.

My artistic journey began by accident. When I was in my early teens I would paint and draw for school homework (or just for fun). I’d draw things I was interested in - such as birds and fish. One day I painted a portrait of my pet Siamese fighting fish. I posted the end result online to a group of tropical fish enthusiasts. Almost immediately I had comments asking me whether I would take commissions and if I could ship internationally. It was quite overwhelming, as I was in my early teens at the time - I had no idea if I could even send art outside of New Zealand. My first commissioned piece was completed at age 15 and was shipped to the United Kingdom. My artistic career snowballed from there. Once my first commission arrived in the UK, the owner posted the piece online, bringing more queries and future commissions. Before this, I had never thought about selling my artwork.

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WAKE (Alex Tikaram)

WAKE Alex Tikaram The NZ Artist

ESOTERIC CANDOUR

“I want to say I had formal art training at school, but what did school teach anyone apart from how to prepare yourself to be short on cash. Art was something that I always did that cost me next to nothing that I could learn alone and in my own way, so no, no formal training.”

It’s hard for Wake to pinpoint how he ended up being an artist. “Anyone who does anything slightly creative is an artist to me, but to define it to something more specific, I started to take it seriously when a friend of mine made a social media page for me around the end of 2020, to exhibit and possibly sell some pieces. A couple of years ago, I would never have dreamed of people wanting to pay actual money for the things I draw. However, I sold a piece to a guy all the way in the USA which I’m pretty proud of, it’s very humbling.”

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Jonathan Bourla 1 Aotearoa Artist Magazine

Jonathan Bourla

Jonathan Bourla Aotearoa Artist Magazine

CREATIVE FORCE

Jonathan Bourla has never been formally trained, however he has gained invaluable experience and insight from the likes of Ansel Adams and Howard Bond. In 1997 when he travelled from New Zealand to attend a workshop in America run by Howard Bond, Howard realised Jonathan couldn’t learn everything from a single workshop so he gave him a whole book’s worth of notes to take home. 

These notes, together with instructional books written by the great American photographer Ansel Adams, formed the basis of his education. Both Howard and Ansel believed you had to be in good control of the technical aspects before you would be in a position to express yourself creatively. Adams had created a system called the Zone System which allowed you to calculate ideal camera settings and film development times. “It was very difficult to grasp from Adams’ writings but became clearer from Bond’s notes. Many people apparently give up on the Zone System as too complicated but it formed the basis of my photography’s technical side for many years.”

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Beyond Self - Artist Diane Ammar

Diane Ammar

diane-ammar-aotearoa-artist

I AM AN ARTIST

25 years ago Diane Ammar completed a correspondence course on learning how to draw and with the final assignment assessed, the mentor suggested she should investigate paint as a medium as they felt she had an affinity to that. Diane explains further:

“For about four years I occasionally attended short courses held by local artists on learning how to use watercolour, and discovered I loved portraiture. I had a long break from attending classes and workshops until 2021, but during those years I painted many portraits for friends and family using photographs I had taken or ones they had given me to use. These paintings are hanging in homes in Australia, New Zealand, Philippines and England.

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