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Ian Given

Ian Given - aotearoa artist

FROM THE BOAT HOUSE

In 2010, after being in business for 30 years, manufacturing aluminium windows and supplying hardware, both retail and wholesale, Ian Given - a keen photographer - decided to begin painting. He signed up for lessons with Sue Dent, a recognised Tauranga artist, and has never looked back.

Spending many years looking at and enjoying other artists work, Ian always had a niggle in the back of his mind that he could paint like that if he tried. Some of the most influential artists in Ian’s artistic career include Tim Wilson for his attention to detail and the way he portrays mist and clouds, John Crump for his ability to paint plein-air on large canvases and the depth he manages to portray in his paintings and Richard Robinson for his loose brush work, the ability to control his colours and his talent with adjusting scenes to ease and balance up his composition. Preferring landscapes, seascapes, boats and architecture as his subject matter, Ian also takes commissions. Currently he is doing a commissioned painting of the Pungapunga estuary at the northern end of Whangapoua Beach. He is also working on a group of scenes of the coastal areas around the Coromandel. Both of these areas are firmly in Ian’s favourite list. 

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Patrick Greene

Patrick Greene - aotearoa artist

TAKING A RAINBOW FOR A WALK

A master watercolour artist, draughtsman and recipient of many awards, James Patrick (Patrick) Greene sadly passed away in October 2014.

By Barbara von Seida

In the 1950’s, he trained as a cartographic draughtsman with the Lands and Survey Dept, which was interrupted for two years whilst he travelled his big “OE”. During this time he was actually shipwrecked in British Guyana. His love for art took him to the great museums of the world which left a big impression on him and a desire to become an artist.

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Katrina McGettigan

katrina-mcgettigan-aotearoa-artist100 BIRDS IN 100 DAYS

The New Zealand Artist Magazine first met Katrina McGettigan at the Christchurch Art Show 2015, where, in awe, we watched her paintings sell like hot cakes. Katrina is an established artist in the Canterbury region. At that time she worked as a full-time pre-school and art teacher, inspiring young artists to fulfil their artistic talent. By night she spent her time painting.

Recently Katrina completed the colossal challenge of painting 100 birds in 100 days. “I had heard about the challenge and was inspired by other artists who had completed the challenge in previous years. So I thought it would be a great thing to gain a little more exposure, help with my technique and give me something to aim towards each day.”

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Caley Hall

Caley Hall - aotearoa artist

HALL OF ART

With many trials overcome, and no formal training Caley Hall is finding that being a professional artist really suits him. “Working as an artist has changed me. I’m a caring, giving type of guy - take with one hand give with the other. I’m happy with my current situation, it’s always new and exciting each day.” Caley tells us his story.

I become an artist by starting a gallery and having an interest in other artists styles and way of life. I have painted with a few known NZ artists and honed my skills that way. My biggest motivating factor is the stress relief that painting as a professional full time artist gives me. This new life, of course, comes with a list of new stresses but they are mild in comparison to the life I lead before becoming an artist.

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Jamie Larnach

Jamie Larnach - aotearoa artist

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.

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Mike Greenwood

Mike Greenwood - aotearoa artist

CRIKEY! IT'S MIKE GREENWOOD

A larger than life, grumpy sweetheart with a brilliant sense of humour, Mike Greenwood started drawing and painting at the tender age of 12. In school, he was only ever interested in art and sport and has been actively pursuing these passions for 64 years.

Mike left school at 15 and played football until he retired aged 33, intending to be a full time artist. As all artists do, Mike found it hard to exist on the income from his art and decided to start his own domestic fencing business. In this business, he not only did fencing, but retaining walls, decking and landscaping, designing all jobs himself.

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Donna Lee

Donna Lee - aotearoa artist

INNER CREATIVE DESIRE

I’ve always dabbled with art whether it being sewing, painting, jewellery and so on but it stepped up a gear when my mother, Janice Corbishley, purchased the Red Peach Gallery in Ahuriri, Napier. I began creating jewellery from fine bone china and created a brand ‘China Horse’ which I sell in there. After meeting Brent Redding through the gallery I took up painting lessons and started to put in the long hours of practice behind the scenes while still selling the jewellery. Then in 2013 I held my first solo exhibition and since then have focused on painting.

I paint and create because of a great inner desire to do so. When I paint I feel happy, free and connected! It allows me to choose a lifestyle of freedom, expression, travel and happiness which I cherish above all. The motivation comes from many avenues but is mainly an internal drive to achieve the very best I can be and to attain this lifestyle I have created for myself.

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Katie Mines - Aotearoa Artist

Katie Mines

Katie Mines - Aotearoa Artist

MEDITATIVE ART

An intense academic by nature, and artist in heart and soul, Katie Mines spent much of her life studying for a series of degrees and teaching at university before engaging her childhood dream of being full-time professional artist in her own right, and on her own terms.

Prior to 2012, Katie spent 10 years travelling through Asia, Africa and America and seven years teaching at a Confucian University in Seoul, South Korea. She returned to Hawkes Bay at the end of 2012, to raise her daughter and try her hand at painting, which remained a life long dream, “I always knew that art would become a big part of my life, I just wasn’t sure in what capacity until I started painting full time,” she reflects. After years of travelling, Katie was ready for what Hawkes Bay has to offer, “the space to slow life down, have a garden, bring up my daughter, and paint.”

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Ira Mitchell

Ira Mitchell-Kirk - Aotearoa Artist

IN THE ZONE

The 2010 Christchurch earthquake irrevocably changed Ira Mitchell’s life. In this article she tells of how she faced the formidable challenges of depression and post traumatic stress and found a new direction and purpose through her art.

I was in a high-rise building in Christchurch when the earthquake struck. That, and the ensuing aftershocks, traumatized me to the extent I still suffer from PTS. I was teaching part time at that point and it made me rethink my life and what I wanted to do with it.

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John Burns

John Burns - Aotearoa Artist

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.

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