Meet the Artists

Raurenga (2021)

Tell us a bit about yourself

I was born in Scotland and lived remotely for many years including the Shetland Islands and later the Isle of Rhum. Growing up on the islands, where my father worked in Conservation, provided lots of opportunities to get up close to nature whether it was watching otters and seals playing on the rocks in front of our house or being present to witness a White-Tailed Sea Eagle take its first flight. I emigrated to NZ in 2005 with my Kiwi husband. We have two daughters and for many years I have been the primary caregiver.

How are you inspired in your art practice by the surrounding environment of Taranaki, where you live?

We are surrounded by stunning parks and gardens in Taranaki, such as Pukekura Park and Pukeiti Gardens where it’s possible to see a vast number of our beautiful native trees and ferns. Nothing is more humbling than gazing up into the canopy of an ancient tree such as the magnificent 2000 year-old Pūriri in Pukekura Park. This sense of awe and wonder of our environment had a profound effect on me and led to my first series of native fern designs which I have had printed on textiles and wallpaper.

What would you like visitors to the exhibition to understand or sense from looking at your artwork?

I feel deeply connected to nature and am drawn to its beauty. As humans, we often forget how uplifting it can feel to spend time walking through a park or sitting in a garden. Just like us, our natural world is impermanent, fleeting, fragile and incredibly unique. Through my designs, I aim to capture this beautiful delicate side of nature and demonstrate how our natural world can create incredibly uplifting and beautiful interiors whilst also reminding us of the need to protect it.

Where do we go to find out more about you?

www.betharmstrongdesign.com

www.instagram.com/betharmstrongdesign/

How did you get started as an artist?

I needed a break one weekend when my kids were much younger so my husband took the kids away and I found solace with a pencil and sketchbook! Re-discovering the joy in being creative again and how healing this was for me at the time, I decided to continue exploring and embarked on a course in Art & Creativity. That was in 2017 and since then I have continued to follow my curiosity which has led to further studies in botanical illustration, watercolour and surface pattern design.

What advice would you give to a young, aspiring artist?

Follow your curiosity! I think out of all the advice and guidance I have had over the last six years, focusing on what brings you joy in your art practice has to be the best compass to use and this will show in your work. Keep working at your craft and know it will take time to create work you are truly proud of, all the best things in life take time.

What is the most challenging part about working with your chosen media/medium for this artwork?

Working with watercolour can be very unforgiving and if you make a mistake, you can’t undo like you can on a computer or graphics tablet. For the purpose of creating wallpaper it can be hard to scale-up a hand painted design that has been scanned into the computer due to the fact it’s made up of thousands of pixels (unlike vectors) so the larger the scale is increased, the more pixelated it becomes. It’s always important to envisage the final scale it will be printed at when painting your original motifs. As you can see for this design, the original watercolours are a very similar size to the repeating pattern which avoids this problem.

What are your tools of choice?

I love to use Windsor & Newton Professional Watercolour due to the quality of the pigment and the fact that you don’t need to use much! I also love to use smooth Hot Press 300gsm Watercolour paper which allows the paint more time to move around on the paper rather than cold press watercolour paper which is more absorbent. I also use Photoshop to create my final repeating designs.

Gardens of the Mountain (2023)

Tell us a bit about yourself

Born in England I emigrated to New Zealand in 1973, becoming a Kiwi in 1976.

After graduating with a BA in 1988 I went on to be a potter/pottery teacher creating functional ware, sculptures and whimsy figures. This continued until the early 2000s when, having always harboured a desire to be an artist, I finally began to follow the dream and began my journey of painting every day. In 2008 I achieved a post-graduate Diploma in Fine Arts.

How are you inspired in your art practice by the surrounding environment of Taranaki, where you live?

As an artist in Auckland my work, always eclectic, had evolved from impressionist to a series of abstract landscape and cityscapes. Moving to Taranaki in 2011, I found a new energy and enthusiasm. My somewhat oscillating approach to painting somehow made sense in this rugged and constantly changing landscape dominated by Taranaki Maunga. Abstract experimentation quickly became the main thrust of my practice. I find endless inspiration in the changing colours and textures that surround us.

What would you like visitors to the exhibition to understand or sense from looking at your artwork?

Applying multiple layers of acrylic paint of varying viscosity with brushes and many hand-made tools, to either wet or dry surfaces creates varied effects. I hope that the impact of this, sometimes unpredictable process conveys a sense of depth and complexity to the work, engaging the viewer in a search for their own interpretation, enjoyment and critique of the content which includes some essence of the colours and shapes of the flora and fauna of our environment.

Where do we go to find out more about you?

www.facebook.com/ian.axtell.3

www.mobileart.co.nz

IOU for Dad (The Prodigal Son) (2021)

Tell us a bit about yourself

Born and raised in New Plymouth. I grew up surfing the coastline of Taranaki with my family and friends. I have spent time travelling and painting in many places around the world, but always find the right work/life balance back home in Taranaki. Full time artist, recently married to a local girl, we built a house in 2022 and we have a little Italian greyhound named Mo.

How are you inspired in your art practice by the surrounding environment of Taranaki, where you live?

The ocean makes me feel alive. It frees up my mind to ponder the next creative pursuit.

What would you like visitors to the exhibition to understand or sense from looking at your artwork?

As an artist, my ultimate pursuit is a deeper understanding of the human condition, aiming to unearth fresh perspectives about myself and others. Often, my work explores the figure or portrait in response to a carefully chosen environment. Through meticulous rendering and hyper-realistic details, I strive to captivate the viewer’s attention. Yet, my true objective lies in delving beneath the surface, endeavouring to expose a profound psychological narrative.

Where do we go to find out more about you?

www.jordanbarnesartist.com

www.instagram.com/jordanbarnesartist/

www.facebook.com/jordanbarnesartist                             

Upper Ihaia (2023)

Tell us a bit about yourself

I live in Eltham, was bought up in back country Taranaki on a sheep farm in Tarata and the Taranaki landscape has inspired me ever since.

How are you inspired in your art practice by the surrounding environment of Taranaki, where you live?

Documenting the landscape makes up a large part of my personal work. I like to find interesting points of view in the “ordinary everyday that surrounds us”.

Paintings in the last 12 months are based mostly from my travels around the back roads of Taranaki on my Royal Enfield. They are painted Plein Air (on location), or in my studio in the manager’s office of the old BNZ Bank in Eltham from various references and memories.

What would you like visitors to the exhibition to understand or sense from looking at your artwork?

That the simple landscape that surrounds us provides endless possibilities to create.

Where do we go to find out more about you?

www.markbellringer.co.nz

www.instagram.com/markbellringer/

How did you get started as an artist?

I found I had a little talent and started painting around 11 or 12.

What advice would you give to a young, aspiring artist?

Don’t give up, follow your heart and don’t take any notice of the “art establishment”.

What is the most challenging part about working with your chosen media/medium for this artwork?

They are painted "Alla Prima" - wet-on-wet, and in direct painting style, a method of painting in which artists apply paint to the canvas essentially in one sitting. The source material is endless and I am continuing to document the landscape around me. I have also produced a number of commissions over the last couple of years.

What are your tools of choice?

I work with oils on canvas mostly, however I am also a photographer and am known for my Taranaki landscape photographs as well.

Old Zealand (2022)

Tell us a bit about yourself

Growing up in Nelson I was surrounded by art. I've spent 28 years in the design industry, first as a commercial illustrator, then as a designer where I worked with NZ's famous school journals, and later as a brand and marketing consultant for businesses of all sizes. My art was a way to create outside of a corporate brief and so the garage became a studio/gallery and this allowed me to explore art more freely - without ruining the carpet.

How are you inspired in your art practice by the surrounding environment of Taranaki, where you live?

I find the Taranaki landscape incredibly textural, in my print work you'll find directional lines and curves of the sea contrasting with topographic lines of the landscapes and cliffs that border our ocean. That West Coast ruggedness reveals itself in my painting where I'll mix black sand into my acrylics and use rough brush work to bring out a dark and textural finish to my landscapes.

What would you like visitors to the exhibition to understand or sense from looking at your artwork?

Old Zealand looks back to a moment where an ancient land meets its first inhabitants, as witnessed by the curious Tūī. The landscape is a fantasy of prehistoric volcanoes and islands invoking a sense of the untouched nation that the arriving waka may have encountered. The patterns carved into the Tūī give it a sense of form and texture in the absence of colour.

If I really wanted to annoy historians I would've chucked a dinosaur in there too.

Where do we go to find out more about you?

wwwwww.rossbennettart.com

www.instagram.com/rossmbennett/

www.facebook.com/RossBennettArtist

How did you get started as an artist?

I've worked commercially as an artist but my most enjoyable work is created without the constraints of a brief. As a kid my older brother and I were always drawing but he drew on the walls and so my talents weren't crushed into oblivion by behavioural expectation like his.

What advice would you give to a young, aspiring artist?

Not every piece is a masterpiece, one piece of art draws from another, the more you make, the more they inform the next until suddenly you find you have developed your own visual language to use and once that's done, then nobody's negative opinion of your work matters, because the reality is that you can't compare something that is unique.

What is the most challenging part about working with your chosen media/medium for this artwork?

Mostly that I'm not very patient when it comes to the printing process. The treatment of inks, the dampness of your paper, the temperature, the press pressure all combine to either make your day or poop on your parade.

What are your tools of choice?

Wood is great for large scale works, yet my preference is rubber as it is softer to cut and more flexible than lino which can go brittle and break over time. I'm currently working with water-based inks for ease of wash up but some small experiments with oil based inks have given me richer results. Wine helps.

Te Tīmatanga o Hūmārire (2023)

Tell us a bit about yourself

Ko Aotea te waka, ko Waingongoro te awa, ko Taranaki te maunga, ko Ngāruahine rātou ko Ngāti Ruanui, ko Te Ātiawa, ko Tapuika ōku iwi. Ko Jordan Berry ahau.

I am 30 years old and I am an Engineer. For the past 3 years I have been studying and practising Whakairo – Maori wood carving.

How are you inspired in your art practice by the surrounding environment of Taranaki, where you live?

When I was young, a fully carved wharenui was built and opened within my iwi and hapū at Aotearoa, in Ōkaiawa. I was very young and impressionable. And the carvings within this wharenui were stunning and have always lingered in the back of my mind. Fast forward 20 odds years I was given the opportunity to learn whakairo. I hope to use this newly learnt skill to spread and improve our traditional art practise all over Taranaki.

What would you like visitors to the exhibition to understand or sense from looking at your artwork?

This taonga is called "Te Tīmatanga o Hūmārire" which translates to humble beginnings, this taonga was my first poupou carved by myself while learning whakairo. He is a kaitiaki (guardian) of whatever space he occupies, he represents protection and guardianship.

Where do we go to find out more about you?

lnstagram - Jordanberry414

Through Time to Her (2023)

Tell us a bit about yourself

Born in New Plymouth, Philippa earned a Bachelor of Visual Art majoring in Graphic Design before her career in the creative sector. This included working as both an in-house and freelance designer, and since 2010 as a Creative Arts Tutor at WITT Te Pūkenga.

How are you inspired in your art practice by the surrounding environment of Taranaki, where you live?

My inspiration for this particular piece comes not so much from the physical environment of Taranaki (although that affects me deeply) but rather from the people who live here now, and in the past. I'm interested in how my ancestors ended up in Taranaki, what brought them here. Taranaki is a fixed point in space around which my family rotates. The chance to travel back in time and peek into their lives is an exciting aspect for me.

What would you like visitors to the exhibition to understand or sense from looking at your artwork?

That we are all much more connected to those around us that we might suspect. I would like people to experience for themselves the thrill of finding a connection to a distant ancestor.

Where do we go to find out more about you?

www.filamentdesign.co.nz

www.instagram.com/filamentdesignnz/

How did you get started as an artist?

My family is full of creative people: craftspeople, engineers, artists, and designers. Some of my earliest memories are of playing with colour and paint.

What advice would you give to a young, aspiring artist?

Try out as many different media as you can, even the ones that appear challenging. Watch for interesting things to happen, and remain curious in your practice. Aim to explore topics that you engage deeply with, as they will hold your attention well.

What is the most challenging part about working with your chosen media/medium for this artwork?

There are three very distinct sections to the build of this work: the research (which can take years to piece together), the visual design, encoding, and construction of the image, and lastly the animation and audio elements. The most challenging aspect is visualising the appropriate shape that will allow me to show all the data points I need to include. The data can be slippery and doesn't always like to be pinned down to a static shape.

What are your tools of choice?

Pencil and paper, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere, genealogical research software.

Native New Zealand Kohekohe (2023)

Tell us a bit about yourself

I am Taranaki born and raised and I love our unique region. I left school and wanted to use my apparent artistic ability for some sort of career. Unfortunately there weren't too many jobs around in Taranaki 45 years ago that utilised artistic ability so I got a job at Taranaki Newspapers. I had two uncles there and there was an aspect of design, even back then.

From there I went on to Commercial Print factories, which involved a lot more design but it truly wasn’t my thing. Only in the last 15 years or so that I have launched into painting as a job.

How are you inspired in your art practice by the surrounding environment of Taranaki, where you live?

As an artist, I need to be inspired by my surroundings in order to paint. Taranaki is one of those unique regions that has unlimited inspiration, from our iconic Mt Taranaki to our rugged coastline. I need to see something that captures my attention. I don’t paint from my imagination; I know that I don’t possess that gift, so I stick to what I’m good at - capturing a great shot with my camera and then painting it in oils.

What would you like visitors to the exhibition to understand or sense from looking at your artwork?

I think I would like visitors to appreciate the grandeur and character of this rugged old tree. I noticed this tree several years before I painted it. I knew where it was, so when the time was right I went back to find it. Thankfully it was still standing!

I love to paint in black and white, when the photo lends itself to it, and this particular tree just had to be painted in black'n'white to show it off in all its grandeur.

Where do we go to find out more about you?

My website is www.kevinbetteridgeart.com

www.facebook.com/p/Kevin-Betteridge-Art

www.instagram.com/kevinbetteridge

How did you get started as an artist?

I tried painting in oils 40 odd years ago, and though part of it looked great, other parts weren't so great at all. I thought I couldn’t paint up to my high expectations, so I gave it away for 40 years. Being inspired by other artists certainly brought the desire back, so I washed cars in my lunchtimes to help pay for the paints in order to get give it another shot. I took a few photos, bought all the equipment and very nervously gave it another go. I was freaking out that it wouldn’t turn out great and my hopes would again be dashed, but it turned out fairly well and it actually sold!

What advice would you give to a young, aspiring artist?

Definitely don’t expect your first attempt to be brilliant. It takes time, skill and definitely using the right brush for what you are painting makes a huge difference. Settle on a style that you love. Don’t try and paint exactly like someone else. You have a unique style that you enjoy. Make sure it is enjoyable to your eye. Don't worry what others might think; if it looks brilliant to you, others will probably think the same thing. Play around and settle on a medium that suits your style. Find something that inspires you to paint and give it a go!

What is the most challenging part about working with your chosen media/medium for this artwork?

I think painting in layers has definitely been a challenge. I don’t normally do a lot of layers on my paintings. I'd prefer to paint wet on wet if at all possible. There are some things that just have to be painted over the first layer once it has dried. Finding the right medium that allows you to do that is a skill in itself.

What are your tools of choice?

I paint primarily with brushes. I can't say that I've ever used a pallet knife to paint with. I have a style that is more realism than abstract.

Taniwha (2023)

Tell us a bit about yourself

I am originally from Auckland, but have lived in coastal towns, Muriwai Beach, Tairua, Raglan, Gisborne and now Waiinu Beach, in South Taranaki. Growing up, I spent my holiday at Langs Beach in Northland. My siblings and I were allowed to roam the native bush that the property backed onto. There we found old glass bottles, thrown off banks years ago. We found cow bones that we carted back to show our parents. We built huts out of punga logs and set lines to catch eels. Hours were spent in that bush. We got lost and found our way.

- The valley has now been taken over by concrete paths and new builds –

How are you inspired in your art practice by the surrounding environment of Taranaki, where you live?

The ever-eroding cliffs of Waiinu Beach offer treasures to be found while beach combing. I love the textures and the colours. The earthy finds inspire my work as do the surrounding flax bushes, black sand and ocean waves. Often, seams of clay can be seen in the cliffs of Taranaki. We call this 'wild clay' and it too inspires me to create with clay.

- My uku –

What would you like visitors to the exhibition to understand or sense from looking at your artwork?

Ngā taonga tuku iho – te tuna; The eel – An ancient gift from the gods.

Why then do we take such pleasure in its death? Thinking back to my childhood adventures, exploring the bush with my siblings. We anxiously tied lengths of nylon line to exposed roots – baited the hook with bacon and dangled it above deep dark crevasse in the clay bank. Overnight the line sat, waiting for an eel to take a bite. I regret these unruly acts of juvenile rebellion. Instead take shame for the act.

These precious taonga wairua were mere taniwha of the awa, guardians, lurking in their watery dens.

Where do we go to find out more about you?

www.facebook.com/lulustudiopotterynz/

How did you get started as an artist?

I started creating with clay while at home with my young daughters. I'd spend my evenings creating maternal sculptures. Expressing the emotions which consumed me. Without access to a kiln, I would then make molds from these figures, which I would then cast with concrete. They now hide beneath a pōhutukawa tree, covered in moss and lichen.

What advice would you give to a young, aspiring artist?

Just get some clay and start creating. You don't need classes or a studio with all the fancy equipment. Your hands are all you need. Just get started. Find a local club to join or another fellow artist who is happy to share kiln use.

What is the most challenging part about working with your chosen media/medium for this artwork?

The firing process is the most difficult part. You should not have a set result in mind as often it is up to the 'kiln gods'.

What are your tools of choice?

Most of my work is hand-sculptured, however I have used an extruder to create the initial form of my tuna.

Box (2023)

Tell us a bit about yourself

Hokitika is my tūrangawaewae but Ngāmotu has been my home for 5 years.

I am a multi-disciplinary artist who's worked in Europe, Asia and New Zealand for about 2 decades. I graduated as a painter from the National Art School of Australia, Sydney, in 1991 followed by Furniture Design in Tasmania but now specialise in sculpture and multiple media formats. I have reduced my art output since Covid and its travel restrictions but I'm slowly picking up steam again.

How are you inspired in your art practice by the surrounding environment of Taranaki, where you live?

Like many places I've lived, Taranaki provides a kaleidoscope of history and social narratives to feed my curiosity.

What would you like visitors to the exhibition to understand or sense from looking at your artwork?

Hopefully "Box" triggers the viewers' imagination and curiosity. It works on several levels and is open to interpretation. For me it’s a play on words (box was a metaphor for a vagina when I was in primary school - we were fiendishly inappropriate back then). The broom references stereotypical roles. There is much more here to ponder and lots to be found in closets.

Where do we go to find out more about you?

My website is kaput at the moment. Some work can be found on FB:

www.facebook.com/buglassart/photos_albums

How did you get started as an artist?

I had difficulty writing and communicating effectively from an early age and found art was a way to express myself.

What advice would you give to a young, aspiring artist?

Draw, paint, sculpt; repeat.

What is the most challenging part about working with your chosen media/medium for this artwork?

Having the courage to go with my gut feeling.

What are your tools of choice?

Pencil, paint bush, chainsaw, chisel, grinder.