Bartosz Wysocki
ABOVE: Opening of the exhibition “Surrealism – Painting”, 2026 The Face as a Map of Emotions Broken into planes of…
Margaret Scott
PRIDE AND PASSION
When Margaret Scott got married, she started painting as a way to supplement their income. Early farming years were tough and she found she could sell paintings of Mount Taranaki to tourists and gift shops. “If I had a hundred calves to feed or four children to look after, I still found time in the evenings to paint. I am constantly thinking of the next painting and what I will paint. I live by the sea and spend lots of time walking, looking at the environment, taking photos and making workbook drawings. Gathering resources is a very important part of being an artist and a teacher.”
It has been a complete need, a passion and drive that has brought Margaret to this point. Having just published her first book, ‘Self-portrait of a Paua’ she laments about the lack of support from the government for artists. “We used to have a thriving arts environment, supported by local arts councils. I was chairperson of the Egmont Community Arts Council for over ten years and we had exciting projects, exhibitions and workshops, all government funded. There were four arts councils in Taranaki and it’s much harder to get funding from the local councils. There is virtually no funding available for solo artist’s ventures, for example, my book, which I had to fund myself. “I am very proud of this book, as it is part autobiographical, historical and resource. The students I teach encouraged me to do this as they felt I should reproduce pages from my workbooks. This makes the book a valuable resource for both teachers and students alike.”
Jamie Larnach
MOVING FORWARD
At the age of 13, Jamie Larnach overheard his father talking about a guy he knew as a teenager, who had a gift for drawing but never did anything with his talent. He thought that was a travesty. “That’s stuck with me all my life. I try to make the most of my talents. I have been fortunate enough to be surrounded by insanely creative and passionate people and they’ve always inspired me to keep moving forward and creating.
Inspired by New Zealand’s environment and the patterns that occur in nature, by geometry, coral, Arabic mosaics, and ancient architecture, I have been making artworks for 22 years, including music, jewellery, sculpture and festival dressing. In 1991, immediately after finishing high school I was pre-enrolled at Law school at Waikato University.
Ross Anderson
PHOTOGRAPHIC SURREALISM
PHOTOGRAPHIC SURREALISMRoss Anderson, a 17 year old photographer born in Northern Ireland, raised in the Northern Rivers of Australia and attended ACG Senior College in Auckland for the last two years, just completed his high school studies with a cracking 92% for his photographic art. This is his story.
I opted for photography due to lack of other options as despite being a high scoring student, my almost illegible hand writing caused me to achieve less than favourable scores in classical studies.
John Burns
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.
Geoff Noble
FREEDOM AND MOVEMENT
There is a lot of paint and colour, lots of colour. Bright, vibrant and even startling. And movement, always movement, large bold images leap out demanding attention, captured but seemingly not, on the cusp of rising and falling but nowhere near frozen.
There are paintings all over the place when entering a very cluttered Tahuna Studios in Nelson. Some are complete, overs still in that moment of creation. New and old it is an eclectic mix. Added to this are posters, surfboards, skateboards, and all manner of tools.
Adam Styles
ETHEREAL DIMENSIONS
Inspired by dreams and images from another time and place and forged with fire and passion, the steel warriors, dragons and other mythological beings that emerge from the Nelson-based workshop of Adam Styles are real and definable but their earthly shell has been removed to reveal a core of what is normally hidden, the unseen.
Adam’s work has taken on a life of its own. It is more than simply ethereal, it is otherworldly. His fish swim in from somewhere we haven’t seen, a parallel dimension perhaps. Steel warriors stand vigilant, swords readied, steel angels look on, observing. Of course it is all fantasy such creatures simply don’t exist, not on this earth at any rate, do they?
Karen Panton
THE ART OF HUMOUR
Karen Rosaline Panton is one of those exceptional, largely self taught artists who has developed a sense of style and presentation all of her own. Reading her comments in this article and perusing through some of her paintings it is evident that Karen lives her art; each painting has a voice and meaning, each one a soul.
Apart from the odd day class, Karen, who currently hails from Napier, says she has enjoyed several short courses with the likes of Krispin Korschen, Rua Longley, Marianne Muggeridge, Megan Schmidt, among others. “All fabulous artists,” she enthuses, “who have stretched my mind sideways, up and down and inside out, that is when they could catch up with my own train of thoughts.”
Jo Chester
HOLD ON TIGHT
“Art enables us to find and lose ourselves at the same time” Thomas Merton.
“Ever since I can remember I have always been drawing and creating images,” Jo Chester explains when asked about her entry in the world of art, “I had a very supportive teacher at Rotorua Girl’s High who encouraged my talent and insisted that I apply to Wellington Polytechnic to study graphic design.”
This ultimately resulted in a career with art as the baseline. “I have worked as a Graphic designer, Textile designer, even designing jeans at one stage as well as drawing up fashion shots for a retail outlet.
Brian Looker
AN OPPORTUNITY FOR REFLECTION
When Brian Looker returned to New Zealand after an absence of twenty years living in Australia, it was like coming to an unknown country. It was the catalyst he needed to become a full time artist. “It seemed a fitting time, to follow my dream and make a commitment to pursue my art on a deeper level,” he says.
“It seemed a fitting time, to follow my dream and make a commitment to pursue my art on a deeper level,” he says. “For many years my wife and I had visited artists in their studios in many countries around the world, each time thinking what a perfect lifestyle they had. Truthfully the only difference between dreaming and having is that first step of doing.”