If you’re reading this page you must have taken the time to find out a little more about me. So briefly I have been a Commercial Artist for most of my life since graduating in 1987. I started my own design business in 2000 servicing my own clients In 2014 I moved to the Country to focus on my fine Art Career and in this website you’ll see a number of collections as I grow and develop as an Artist.
When I had settled my divorce in 2004 rather than doing the smart thing and buying a rental in Auckland as a property investment I did the romantic thing and purchased a lovely little do up house in the King Country – prices at the time allowing me to buy the house outright. This was the foundation stone of my dream. Over the years we spent many happy holidays here where everyone in our mixed family learned to snowboard slowly doing the place up. Then in 2014 we decided to move out of Auckland and try something new?. I thought if we are going to do this let’s make it a big ghange. So in 2014 we moved to small central North Island farming town Taumarunui and tried it for a year to see if we liked it. Interestingly when I was 16 I passed through the King Country was awestruck by it’s beauty as I looked out the rear window for one last look A voice that was not my own said ‘you will live there one day’ Who and what was this voice? well that that makes good food for a firelight conversation and I have had many brushes with this type of thing over the years. The universe is billions of years old and grasp of it is maybe still only very rudimentary. There are so many mysteries to be explained.
When I first exhibited with a little Gallery of High Street call the Chisaurio Gallery back in about 1995 the curator and owner of the Gallery talked with me and explained that many people worked for sometimes decades to make a name for themselves. Little did I realize at the time this would be the case and so began my long journey down this road.. A starting pointI exhibited a couple of times in Auckland but found that the pressures of raising children and running my own graphic design business always got in the way of producing art in any great volume – that’s the story I told myself at least. I was always pulled in two directions. the earthy side of me worked on my design business while the aspirational side of me dreamed of a more natural connected to nature life where we would live partly on the land, paint and create my art. Probably very cliched dream but in 2014 my partner Lynne and myself decided to make this a reality.
So you will see a collection of work called the Exploratory selection. This is where Where I I am moving my work in a more experimental direction creating works layered with symbolism so each work tells a story. Some of the work is abstract and some leans more to the surreal. Curators sometimes say that good Art should not just drop it’s undies and tell the whole story straight away. Maybe, but I think art needs to be able to appeal to multiple audiences. I don’t believe that art should just be the domain of the lawyer and intellectual sets. I don’t believe that Art should perform cerebral gymnastics. If it does, is it not captured by this audience? Art in my mind should be able to appeal to the non-art literate while at the same time satisfying the enquiring mind of the discerning art collector. At a certain level Art is entertainment so therefore it makes sense to tell a story in such a way that the viewer is also given a trail of breadcrumbs that keeps them intrigued. ‘It’s show business folks’ in a way. But it’s a very real show and the stories authentic least I be accused of being fake and end up canceled heaven forbid.
Alright, that’s probably enough rabbiting on from me. You make up your own mind if you like what you see. Hopefully, you do. If you do, don’t hesitate to reach out. I am always happy to answer questions
Our little slice of paradise – the top of Sunshine Road The perfect Artist’s retreat.
It’s a hell of a thing to leave the world of real estate capital appreciation behind and turn your back on it. In doing so it meant we could never go back to Auckland. But Both of us wanted to get off the treadmill of predictability. Maybe a bit rash so did it anyway.Did I regret it? Partly. When you see your hold house sold a year later at 50% more it was sold it makes you twitchy you do ask yourself questions. Was it worth it? Partly. Every day I wake up and feel earthed by the country. What value can you place on this? In the city, people live like hamsters on the wheel. 70 years can spin by leaving your life meaning nothing exiting without a trace. Is it vanity to want more than this. Maybe? So after a year, we decided to commit and we set the original house up as a BNB and live in another house at the top of Sunshine hill where we now live. It’s a beautiful location. It is perched high on the rim of the valley looking down on the Confluence of the Wanganui and Ongarue Rivers. We live in a cottage with a property full of roses and fruit trees and Bees at the bottom of the garden. In a way, it’s a slice of heaven.
After moving to Taumarunui, the natural thing to do was find other people who had an interest in Art. After getting to know the local group of Artists, the timing worked in such a way that a number of us decided to create a Community Art Gallery now called the Twin Rivers Community Art Gallery. This is a community incubator Gallery and together we put in hundreds of hours getting the Gallery to grow and become stable. We started a number of events with the aim of getting North a Ruapehu a name as a place to discover fresh new artists.For me, it wasn’t an easy task. For a long time, I lead the team and found myself embroiled in petty rivalries probably because I can be a shaker and mover but sadly not a natural leader which eventually lead to me stepping out to focus more on my own work. Today I still help out but just keep a lower profile which gives me more time to focus on my own Art. It is still great though to see and help others gain confidence to step into their own creative selves and I am very pleased with what we have collectively achieved.
The community Gallery has for the last few years been my main outlet for selling my work. Being on the Main highway we get a lot of people from out of town buying our wares which works well for us and we sidestep the commission of City Galleries even better.. But the time has come to the branch and that’s next on the list of things to do. Shortly we’ll be putting in place the Waitomo Ruapehu Art Trail aimed at attracting visitors directly to our studios.