Carla Sclanders
BLESSED INSPIRATION
BLESSED INSPIRATIONBorn in South Africa and immigrating to New Zealand in 2020, Carla Sclanders is inspired by God. “He has blessed me with a gift and I am driven to portray a glimse of His Glory in all that I am able to create.”
She began with a pencil portrait of her daughter and was so pleased with the result that she began to do more family portraits. “My passion for art grew with every artwork I created especially once I started experimenting with colour pencils. Posting pictures of my artwork on Facebook lead to people contacting me for commissions and so my hobby turned into a part time job.”
Audrey Anderson
ALWAYS AN ARTIST
ALWAYS AN ARTISTAudrey Anderson grew up in a home where both her parents would draw and practice art. “When visiting my grandfather, he would show me how to harmoniously work with water and colour. It was a normal part of life I suppose, like eating or sleeping.”
“I have always been an artist; I don't think there was a time in my life where I ended up doing it. I have just always done it. It's my career, it's my livelihood. The funny thing is there have been times in my life I have thought about changing my career path, but then something from the arts industry would call me back again, and I would cancel my plans and just continue being an artist again.”
Fiona Ehm
INTERVIEW WITH FIONA EHM
INTERVIEW WITH FIONA EHMHow did you end up being an artist?
I’ve always had a deep motivation to create. Early on I pursued classical piano as my creative outlet – but found so many creative pursuits gave me joy and eventually visual arts won out as my primary form of expression.
What was your biggest motivating factor for you to pursue a career as an artist?
Creating art is deeply fulfilling. Currently, my primary career is in the Financial Services sector, however exploring my creative side remains so important to me. It keeps me balanced and grounded, and brings so much joy. There is nothing more rewarding seeing someone’s face light up when they find a piece that they connect with.
Fiona Garlick – Sculptor
Sometimes it takes a global pandemic to shift your thinking.
Covid-19 and the visceral fear of the unknown that ensued in the early days of New Zealand’s lockdown took sculptor Fiona Garlick right back to her previous career as a documentary film maker, and a film about the Black Death that swept through medieval Europe. With no orthodox medicine or doctors to speak of, people were superstitious, full of fear, and relied on talismans, incantations and lucky charms to ward off illness.
Naga Tsutsumi
By Carly Thomas
Naga Tsutsumi works from a small studio in front of his suburban Palmerston North house. Just down the road the Manawatū river flows and beyond that is a stand of totara trees that he walks through regularly.
Naga has lived here for 14 years but still he says, within his work his Japan-ness murmurs. This intrigues him - this otherness and a new series of work is an exploration of identity and what it means to be ‘NZ made’.
Sheelagh McHaffie
IN FOR THE RIDE
IN FOR THE RIDEA self taught artist, as her mother was, Sheelagh McHaffie has embraced her self discovery to art as a blessing, considering it a unique way to approach her passion.
Sheelagh was always drawn to the arts. As an only child in a pre-digital world, she would often just sit, observe her surroundings and draw. Having had a hiatus from her artwork for 20 years, after losing her mother and raising a daughter with ASD she found there were too many pressures to continue. “At the beginning of 2019 I was officially homeless. I had separated from my husband who was living in Australia, and had not enough means to support myself. I returned to NZ with my two children, aged 4 and 18, and the bags on our back. My mother passed away in 2005, so I was very much on my own. I had to overcome my own fear, guilt and judgement from others, and truly trust that I knew what was best for me. Starting over forced me to evaluate my life, I had finally been brave enough to put myself first but there was a huge hill to climb.”
Rosemarie Murphy
PLAYING WITH LIGHT
PLAYING WITH LIGHTAs 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.
Kristin Kay
CLAY GIRL
CLAY GIRLIn her childhood, Kristin Kay’s eldest sister Simone, eight years older than her and very creative herself, would often make games to use their imagination. “She would also make me and my other sister Ruth monthly magazines, hand drawn women's fashion pages, puzzle pages, baking recipes, facts about animals, anything.
A magical childhood was had by us girls. Unfortunately, just after her 19th birthday, when she had become a young adult down in Christchurch, her driver crashed the car at quite a speed. No one survived. But I always remember her instilling her creativity in me, her drawings, how she could make something out of nothing. It just stuck - she is still a big part of me.”
