Sorting white from white
WHICH WHITE IS WHICH Some would say that the most important colour choice artists make is the white they choose to…
DeAnne Lawford-Smith
FOR LOVE OR MONEY
Born in Levin, DeAnne Lawford Smith has been artistically inclined from birth. Growing up in a large family which included many foster children, the easiest and most economical means of entertainment was with paper and pencils. With enthusiastic encouragement from her family, DeAnne has blossomed into a full time professional artist.
Married with three children, DeAnne travelled between Rotorua and Taupo over a four year period to complete her Diploma of Visual Art (Fine Art) in 2000 at the Waiariki Institute of Technology. Armed with this accomplishment, she managed to overcome her shyness and was able to present her work to galleries and buyers, resulting in her first solo exhibition in Tauranga and achieved first place in the prestigious Portage Ceramic Award in 2007.
Julia Henderson
THE DISTINCTIVE VOICE
Growing up and being schooled in the United Kingdom, Julia Henderson attended a very conservative grammar school, where art was not considered an appropriate career choice. She studied Biological Sciences and went on to do a BSc and PhD in Ecology. She still felt the urge to get involved with the arts though and after immigrating to New Zealand 25 years ago, she obsessively studied art, taking numerous classes and workshops covering all aspects of art – drawing, painting in all media, print-making, colour theory and art history including Maori and Pacific art.
After deciding to take the next step and try to make a career out of art, she began entering competitions, experiencing some success. Finally a friend convinced her to approach a gallery with her work, and to her delight and beyond her wildest dreams, Julia was offered a solo exhibition. The sell-out show, held nearly 20 years ago, cemented Julia’s ambition and she has prospered ever since.
Beth McGill
BIRDS OF A FEATHER
"The freedom of bringing something to life, whether it be a spark in the eye of a little bird or bringing something out of my head and trying to replicate nature – this is what I love about being an artist."
While Beth’s children were small and she worked part-time, she completed a Diploma with Honours at the Learning Connexion in Wellington. “This involved a lot of discipline and time juggling and although I hadn’t really done any artwork since school, I could feel the creative passion waiting in the background. Completing that diploma with honours really unlocked the doors for me.”
Bari Duncan
A DRIVING FORCE
After trying various work prospects, such as clerical, retail,
bank and so on, Bari Duncan finally decided to follow her
lifelong passion. “Right from pre-school,” she reflects, “my mother couldn’t keep up with my lust for colouring-in books. I have always longed to follow my heart and get focused on my painting. I just kept pushing, struggling, learning and trying until the time was right.”
Having been dealt a number of blows on her journey, Bari reflects, “My art is everything to me, it’s who I am, a driving force. I love that it has helped me through the hardest, roughest times in my life and when it seemed everything around was crumbling, it kept me focused and positive.” On the subject of education, she has not attended art school or university.
Claudia Slaney
MAGICAL FLUIDITY
Inspired and encouraged by the likes of leading New Zealand watercolourist Brian Millard and internationally acclaimed Alvaro Castagnet, award winning watercolour artist Claudia Slaney has painted all her life. In this illuminating article she reveals that art has always been and remains her main interest in life.
Online Galleries
Over the last 25 years the growth of Internet and the social media have irrevocably changed the face of the modern…
Angela Murray
MOVING DALI
“My biggest creative highlight was selling two pieces to the same buyers and then discovering they had moved an original Dali to make room for one of my paintings, that was a real buzz!” holistic life coach and passionate acrylic artist Angela Murray pronounces.
So while Dali is hanging in a different light, Angela has no illusions of grandeur and maintains that ongoing training is a key component in her creative life. “I learned so much through many courses in Newcastle and Nottingham in the UK and Timaru, as well as a lot of self-teaching over the past 30 years,” she rationalises. Indeed, she still attends workshops to brush up on certain skills, the most recent being a weeklong course in Bali with US artist and author of ‘Brave Intuitive Painting’, Flora Bowley and 16 other artists.
Brian Millard
IN HIS OWN WORDS
Brian Millard, who has been successfully exhibiting paintings since he was in his early twenties, won a scholarship to art school when he was eleven years old but left for a job in advertising at the age of sixteen. Since then he has successfully combined being both artist and writer.
He has been a graphic designer, an illustrator, a cartoonist, an advertising art director, a copywriter, a writer for television and radio, a TV producer, a journalist and the editor in chief of two magazines - one a sports magazine in the States. For a decade he and his partner Marilyn Palmer, also a respected watercolourist, ran their own gallery near Queenstown. They now live and paint in Auckland.
Sam Earp
THE CALL OF THE SEA
Despite drawing and painting landscape scenes and trees in watercolour since he was a child, a bad grade in the sixth form put Samuel Earp off pursuing a career in art and he went to university where he studied plant sciences.
Born in Guernsey, Samuel’s first job was in London. Not enjoying either London or earning much money, he took up painting again for something to do. He visited a gallery in Exeter and saw the amazing seascape by Cornish artist, Peter Cosslett.