Birdlife Archives - Page 4 of 5

Robert Rapson

1 November 2014
Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Birdlife, Contemporary Art, Featured Artists, Nature, Sculpture, Vehicles

FOCUS ON ROBERT RAPSON

Ceramic artist Robert Rapson, who has made the trophies for the annual Arts Access Awards for the past four years, has received one of his trophy creations: the Arts Access Artistic Achievement Award 2014.

Robert learned he was the recipient when he returned home to the Hutt Valley in late June after three months travelling in Europe and North America. The judging panel described Robert as a “clever, quirky and self-taught artist” and said the award acknowledges his “unique voice and contribution to New Zealand art.”

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Annie Lambourne

1 November 2014
Acrylic, Animals, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Birdlife, Contemporary Art, Driftwood, Featured Artists, Installation, Sculpture, Wire Work

PIPE DREAMS ASIDE

Annie Lambourne says she does not always love being an artist but has an inherent and absolute need to create often to the exclusion of all else. “Everything around me takes a back seat,” she says, “housework, gardening and even cooking food.” Fortunately, Annie’s family are incredibly supportive and are quite used to having to work around the creative process, and often having to dodge around the latest creation that obstructs the TV or sit next to a six foot metal man sitting next to them in the car on the journey home from school.

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Darina Cincurova

1 November 2014
Acrylic, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Birdlife, Expressionism, Featured Artists, Illustration, Murals, Nature, Oils, Painting, Portraits, Realism, Seascape

THE ART OF FREEDOM

A passionate environmental artist, Darina Cincurova, hopes her art will inspire a respect and appreciation of New Zealand's diverse wildlife heritage.

Born in the Czech Republic, Darina says art has been her ‘thing’ from early childhood when she started drawing the world around her and dreamed of becoming a full time artist. Little wonder then that as a student Darina abandoned fashion design opting instead to undertake a four-year art course at a private art school in Prague as this allowed her more freedom to express herself. It is this artistic freedom that has driven and inspired Darina all her life and what she loves most about being an artist. “I cannot imagine life without it,” she says simply.

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Beth McGill

1 November 2014
Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Birdlife, Featured Artists, Oils, Painting, Realism

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.”

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Bari Duncan

1 November 2014
Acrylic, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Birdlife, Featured Artists, Floral, Landscape, Nature, Painting, Pastels, Realism, Seascape

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.

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Claudia Slaney

1 November 2014
Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Birdlife, Featured Artists, Impressionism, Painting, Seascape, Street Scenes, Watercolour

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.

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Melissa Wallace

1 September 2014
Acrylic, Artists, Birdlife, Contemporary Art, Featured Artists, Landscape, Oils, Painting, Realism

MY LIFE IS COMPLETE

Taupo Artist Melissa Wallace has had a journey of self discovery since having a chance discussion with a fellow mother at the net ball courts just over 10 years ago.

It was the seemingly standard question of “what do you do?” that started it all. The answer was “I’m a full time artist.” That day, and an invite home for coffee while a painting was being completed for a deadline, was the beginning of Melissa’s journey, finding her way home to that which makes her life complete.

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Fiona Hayward

1 September 2014
Acrylic, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Birdlife, Drawing, Expressionism, Featured Artists, Figures, Oils, Painting, Pencil, Symbolism

GOING SOLO

Fiona Hayward was highly rated in two prestigious New Zealand art awards. Her works can be found as far afield as the USA and Australia. She is currently working on a new series of paintings of endangered species from around the world which, she says, will enable her to host her first solo exhibition.

Whilst a deep and profound love of nature lies at the core of her inspiration, it is a peaceful inner feeling of freedom and joy in creating a new artwork that drives and motivates Fiona to paint and draw. Although she has had no formal art training, Auckland born Fiona says her capacity to draw and paint stems from her mother, a talented artist in her own right, who encouraged Fiona from a young age to pursue her artistic bent.

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Kathryn Millard

1 July 2014
Acrylic, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Birdlife, Expressionism, Featured Artists, Impressionism, Landscape, Nature, Oils, Painting, Pastels, Seascape, Still-life

THE INNER ARTIST

It is an intense and intimate relationship and interaction with the world around her that feeds Kathryn Millard’s artistic soul.

“My life is about energy, rhythm and sensation, and translating that into a piece of art,” she declares. “It is about inventing the perfect technique, my own unique language for my response to nature. It is the experience of what I see happening all around me that stimulates me and gets me going, not the thing itself, that is the underlying subject of my work.”

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Karen Panton

1 July 2014
Abstract, Acrylic, Artists, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania, Birdlife, Expressionism, Featured Artists, Illustration, Nature, Painting, Portraits, Still-life, Surrealism

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.”

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Sally Heritage
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