Sarah Freiburger
ABOVE: Motatapu River, Wānaka. Acrylic on Board, 900x600mm BALANCED HAPPINESS Born and bred in Germany, Sarah Freiburger has always loved painting…
Sonja Walker
ABOVE: Sonja with her Tasman National Art Award Merit Award painting - 'Everything but the bowl' GOOD FOR THE SOUL “Oil…
Gaylene Lonergan
SILK Gaylene Lonergan was taught the art of painting on silk by a master silk painter in Bali, Indonesia around 30…
Sheelagh McHaffie
IN FOR THE RIDE A self taught artist, as her mother was, Sheelagh McHaffie has embraced her self discovery to art…
Daniel Carter
DESIRE FOR CREATION
The closest Daniel Carter came to formal art training would have been extension art classes and graphic design throughout intermediate and college years. “These classes were taken above my selected art classes, as the art teachers noticed I had an interest and above level ability for my age group. I left college at an early age to become a car painter, which ultimately led me towards the automotive artistry of airbrushing.”
The artist life started for Daniel at a very early age, “As a young child my parents encouraged my artistic abilities. By year two of primary school, my father Roger would sit with me for hours, teaching me how to draw realistic people, muscle cars, fighter planes, architectural buildings with two-point perspective etc. We didn’t have much but wherever I went I would have a small pad and pencil, taking inspiration from my surroundings, nature, birds, people, cars, buildings, that sort of thing.
Jackie Krzyzowski
DETAILED DELIGHT
Jackie Krzyzowski never had any formal training but always enjoyed drawing as a child. She used one private workshop and various online tutorials to get her started with pastels. She explains further:
I spent most of my adult life with horses and riding as a hobby and with family life, working full time and studying part time there was not much time for anything else. I always thought that one day I might come back to my art. Getting older, I was not fit enough to carry on with the horse riding and moved to breeding and showing miniature horses. This was successful for 10 years, but again, getting older, mobility issues were making this hobby more difficult and so I decided to retire from it. Then came COVID lockdown and I was looking for something to do and now I am on this new, amazing art journey.
Michaela Voigt
MICHAELA JANE VOIGT
Always a very creative person, when the decision came in year 13 to decide what was next for Michaela Voigt, it was either going to be something along the lines of Sports and Nutrition or something creative and she chose an Applied Arts Degree - a Bachelor of Applied Media Art at the Southern Institute of Technology which she completed in 2013.
“I did focus a lot on the digital side whilst studying but my favourite class, looking back, was definitely life drawing. Since graduating I have mostly been a full time Graphic Designer putting work into the odd exhibition but in the last couple of years I have really started pursuing my love of drawing again in particular flowers and botanicals.”
She finds inspiration in all that surrounds her. “I draw things I have seen that are memorable to me and it’s usually the little things.
Andrea Robinson 2022
Drawn to painting native birds and flowers from a young age, Andrea Robinson’s first sale was as a teenager when a friend bought one of her drawings for a few dollars. “I started to sell my drawings and designs on pillowcases, tablecloths, and tee-shirts. As an adult I continued to paint and draw around my office job and family. I started selling professionally in 2015 and I now sell my artwork through galleries and art shows.” Featured in The New Zealand Artist Magazine before, in 2017, Andrea has caught up with us and tells us where she is now.
Creating artwork is as important to me as the air that I breathe. It is the language I use to tell my story, to celebrate nature, and to raise awareness of environmental issues. This has always been my biggest motivating factor. Three exhibitions I am particularly proud of include exhibiting work in The Garzoni Challenge, curated by the Uffizi Gallery in Italy; receiving two excellence awards through Manhattan Arts International, New York, and receiving a Special Recognition Award in ‘All Women’ Art Exhibition 2022, in Santa Fe.
Siobhan Demeester
MY HAPPY PLACE
MY HAPPY PLACEFrom the moment Siobhan Demeester opens her eyes in the morning and sees the sun hit the top of the gum trees outside her window, she just wants to put those colours onto canvas. “Everything I see I convert it into a painting. I take my camera with me everywhere I go and am constantly taking photos to paint. Then when I go to bed at night, I dream about painting…quite obsessive really.” Obsessive or not, the positive feedback she receives from people and the fact that when she paints, she is in a very happy place, motivates her as well as winning prizes, being commissioned and selling her work.
Born in England and sharing her time between Australia and New Zealand, Siobhan completed two years at Gold Coast Art School between 2011 and 2013. When she moved to Russell Island, she saw a notice on the board at the ferry terminal, advertising a workshop with New Zealand Master Pastelist, Maxine Thompson, which she promptly signed up for and has never regretted.
Ken Tanner
ROOM TO MOVE
Brought up in the London suburbs and having studied art as a school subject, an enthusiastic teacher encouraged Ken Tanner to maintain his interest in art, which he has done for over 30 years. Training as an engineer and then working in construction management, Ken found there was not much room for creativity in his daytime work, so art as a hobby became a welcome respite, giving his creative mind room to move. He moved to New Zealand in 1974 but busy with his wife and children, and his work, he only really started to paint in the 1990s. Since then painting has become a large part of his life.
Ken’s inspiration, he says, is mostly to do with the creation of an image, rather than trying to convey some political message. “I really enjoy the realism but I did an abstract course some years ago and I now also enjoy developing the realistic image into a more abstract form. I have entered some of these paintings into the Howick Art Group’s annual competition and they have taken 1st prize. One of the judges, Evan Woodruff, said that the work was more abstractionism than pure abstract.”