Region

Contemplation-tammy-gabriel-aotearoa-artist

Tammy Gabriel

tammy-gabriel-aotearoa-artistFINDING IDENTITY

By Matt Mortimer

The great Roman philosopher Cicero was credited as saying; “The face is a picture of the mind, as the eyes are its interpreter.” These words seem to resound beyond a quotation and take on a literal meaning for Albany-based portrait artist, Tammy Gabriel.

“I get inspired by photos of interesting compositions, but mostly ones that show expression on faces. My goal is to capture that expression in my painting. I love photos of interesting body compositions creating unique shapes too,” she says. “Individualism has been an area of interest to me my whole life and I am drawn towards uniqueness. I try to capture a person’s individual personality through my paintings.

register and subscribe

Subscribe Today

featured-amanda-gleason-aotearoa-artist

Amanda Gleason

amanda-gleason-aotearoa-artist

Painting en plein-air is a dream for many landscape artists. Unfortunately, the hurdles of self-consciousness and a lack of appropriate equipment often constrain us to the studio. Amanda Gleason has broken these chains and is now flying solo; loving her newfound artistic freedom. 

My mother was an artist and art teacher, so I was surrounded by art all my growing years. I work full time as Practice Manager at a physio clinic, but once my children had finished high school, I had the time to pursue some formal art classes and over the last five – six years I have become increasing impassioned with my painting and drawing. I have had classes in oil painting, portrait painting (based on the old masters’ techniques), drawing and landscape painting. I have also done a number of workshops through the Howick Art Group, including life drawing and still life painting.

register and subscribe

Subscribe Today

featured-rachel-barber-aotearoa-artist

Rachel Barber

rachel-barber-aotearoa-artistLOCKDOWN LIMBO REVERSED

Rachel Barber is an inspiration to us all. With her enthusiasm, self-discipline and drive she took the economic and psychological impact of a COVID19 lockdown job and home loss, and turned the situation around into an opportunity for artistic growth and self-employment. And what an opportunity she created! Rachel tells us about it . . .

After I left school, I studied Digital Photography at Raffles College of Design. I have always been an artist, but I always worked as well. I was in such limbo when lockdown happened, I had lost all my work overnight due to COVID and moved out of my flat the day of lockdown. So, I was really faced with the reality of a ‘blank canvas’ in my life. I just knew I wanted to paint every day, that it was my dream job and my passion. So, the biggest flex was just saying to myself – I’m going to do this thing! I came to the realisation “I literally have nothing to lose right now.

register and subscribe

Subscribe Today

featured-pat-nielsen-aotearoa-artist

Pat Nielsen

pat-nielsen-aotearoa-artistSTRUCTURED REALITY

I made my first timid venture into the world of creating art about 20 years ago when a friend suggested I should enroll with Tony Clarke – a local art teacher who runs a very successful art school. It was there that I overcame my terror of the blank canvas and realised that I could at least draw

Under Tony’s watchful eye I learned a lot of valuable techniques and I gradually began to develop my own style. I subsequently decided I was not a group artist and went my own way. Although I am quite ambitious and competitive, I never saw art as a possible career. Also, I was totally immersed in another passion which was tutoring year 11 and 12 maths. I was self-taught and started by helping our oldest son’s friends to prepare for NCEA1. This quickly developed into a commitment and, eventually, it took up most of the late afternoons sharing my time with keeping control of a husband (who is also an artist using wood as a medium) and three young boys and two foster children.

register and subscribe

Subscribe Today

Susannah Law - Aotearoa Artist - The New Zealand Artists Magazine

Susannah Law

Susannah-law-aotearoa-artistSince childhood, Susannah Law has been receiving awards for her artwork and it was always her dream to be an artist. With much encouragement from family and friends, she finally completed a Diploma in Fine Arts from Hungry Creek Art School in Puhoi.

My mother always supported me and organised private lessons for me during my teen years with my forever favourite art tutor (late) Kathleen Bartlett. Kathleen was so passionate about art and the history of art which she studied in London, she was always inspiring to me. I can remember her even now, vividly telling a story of her travels such as to murals in Greece and Turkey and other exhibits she visited, how Van Gogh’s originals move you in a way that prints never could and that paintings in their original form always have a better impact.

register and subscribe

Subscribe Today

Lynley van Alphen - Aotearoa Artist - The New Zealand Artists Magazine

Lynley van Alphen

lynley-van-alphen-aotearoa-artistSOUL SOOTHING

Although largely self-trained, Lynley van Alphen has done various workshops with the likes of John Crump, Ben Ho, Wayne Edgerton as well as a week-long plein air workshop with John Wilson in Alice Springs, Australia.

Always a teenage dream, and always having wanted to make a living as an artist, Lynley fondly remembers sitting on the hillside above the Tarras (Central Otago) primary school, sketching with crayon the distant Hawkdun mountain range. She has continued to paint and sketch during her free time. The sad passing of her husband, seven years ago, enabled her to take the step to pursuing her artist’s dream more fully. "He told me when we first found out his terminal diagnosis of motor neuron disease, that he’d like me to follow my art dream when he was gone. Focusing on that helped me overcome the grief that comes from losing one’s life partner."

register and subscribe

Subscribe Today

Jenny Konz

jenny-konz-aotearoa-artistTHERAPEUTIC TALENT

The first time Jenny Konz picked up a pencil to draw with, was in 2009. She maintains there was never a 'plan’ to become an artist. She resorted to drawing to ease the ache in her heart from her daughter and granddaughter living so far away in America.

"I went over to America for the birth of my first grandchild as my son-in-law (GI Joe) was doing a tour in Iraq. It tore my heart in two when I had to leave this beautiful little bundle and come back home. His second tour was when she was two years old, and my daughter and granddaughter came to New Zealand for a holiday. I fell in love with this bundle of joy all over again and my heart seriously broke when they had to leave. I struggled to cope with the loss and decided to pick up a pencil and try to draw her from my favourite photo, thinking that it would be good therapy for me. I had my Aunt Margaret who lived in Christchurch who was an artist (Margaret Hudson-Ware) so I sent her my drawing for some feedback and this is what she said… "What a lovely drawing! You have caught the most important part of any drawing, which is the spirit of the work. Alex looks unsure, uncertain what is happening. Well done Jenny!!! The hair is very soft and babyish and wispy . . . good work here. Hands are a nightmare. These hands are very sweet and very young . . . good work again. (I think of them as a bunch of sausages). Lop-sided is real, too symmetrical often looks artificial - a bit of good work. Just keep going."

register and subscribe

Subscribe Today

featured-claire-wallwork-aotearoa-artist

Claire Wallwork

 

claire-wallwork-aotearoa-artistCONQUERING DOUBTS

As a young woman and throughout her life, whenever Claire Wallwork thought of her dream career, she saw herself as an artist creating beautiful works and loving it,and yet she never really imagined that it was something that could actually eventuate. Three years ago, she had a catharsis where she asked herself,’what is holding me back?’ When she realised that the only thing stopping her were her own self-imposed limitations, she began to pursue her dream in earnest. ‘From that moment I replaced my student paints for professional ones and dedicated all my time and resources into mastering my craft and stepping up to the challenge’.

I am self-taught and have learnt through a huge amount of experimentation, asking a lot of questions and through watching YouTube Videos to familiarise myself with various mediums and techniques. To describe the theme that has permeated every aspect and stage of my life, it has been the challenge of self-expression. As a child I was cripplingly shy, and it took many years to find my voice, and even more to be able to express it eloquently. I eventually found writing really supported me in that but then I discovered painting. After a lifetime of soul-searching and healing, I discovered that painting allowed me access to the feelings and thoughts that sat under the surface of my conscious awareness.

register and subscribe

Subscribe Today

featured-alex-hoare-aotearoa-artist

Alex Hoare

 

As with all artists across the board, the issue of confidence in ability is always a tenuous thing, especially when young and starting out. Alex Hoare is just such a young talented artist, who is finding out exactly how much talent he really has, both with visual and performance art. Colin Hoare, Alex’s father was featured in our September October 2014 issue, and visited us here in Whangarei around the same time, bringing his twin sons, Alex and James to introduce them. It is with great pride and pleasure that we introduce our readers to Alex, his talents and his reflections.

The only formal training for art I’ve had was in classes at school. My art class in high school was the foundation for my understanding of art and made me excited to create; it gave me a really good baseline understanding of how to apply different materials and techniques to my work to create art that looked the way I wanted it to. I remember we would experiment with so many different mediums and just have fun with creating art and I think that’s still so important to my creative process now.

register and subscribe

Subscribe Today

featured-clint©-aotearoa-artist

Clint©

clint©-aotearoa-artistClinton Christian’s proudest moment in his artistic career was the first time he ever exhibited in a gallery, a solo show at The Mandarin Tree Gallery, Gordonton, in 2018. This was a huge success, “It was kind of a ‘coming out’ show called ‘Resolution’, many of my friends didn’t even know I could paint. Creating the new work under pressure for the show, and almost selling half my work on opening day gave me the confidence to call myself an artist.”

 

Born in Hamilton, Clinton, most commonly known as Clint©, achieved a Certificate in Visual Arts at the Waikato Polytechnic in 1992. He was an A+ student at art school, but realised the income from being a relatively unknown artist wasn’t going to get him on the property ladder and so he joined the building industry. He trained and worked as a draftsman, which is an occupation that allows for some sort of creativity, but not enough for him to realise his true ambition of becoming a full-time artist. “Too many straight lines,” he jokes.

register and subscribe

Subscribe Today

← Newer Posts
Older Posts →
Back To Top
Search

You cannot copy content of this page