Art
Galleries
Welcome to my online art gallery. I am a trained painter and artist with several years experience including group and solo exhibitions of my work.
From a young age I had been interested in drawing and painting. My earliest work I remember doing was of my grandfather drawn from memory. It wasn’t terribly good, but it was a concerted effort. I took art throughout high-school, and despite scoring more in Bursary Mathematics (which I despised) than I did in Bursary Art, I enrolled at Massey University in their Fine Arts programme.
After spending six months there doing design instead of art, I left and enrolled myself at The Learning Connexion in Island Bay. Here I was encouraged, mentored, and developed to embrace my creativity in every and any way possible. My first piece there was a 2m x 2m mural, something I had always wanted to do after studying the works of Colin McCahon. From there I worked in many different formats, with my largest piece being a 6m x 2m three piece artwork. I exhibited at multiple galleries at the time, and for my 21st Birthday, held my first solo exhibition of my work.
My art career was never a permanent vocation. My calling had always been to Primary School Teaching, and after graduating from the Honours course at The Learning Connexion in 2004, I enrolled at Victoria University to become a teacher. During this time I continued my interest in art, taking multiple Art History papers. I experimented with my own artworks and began using spray paints, stencils, and oil paints to create my work. As I came across more and more modern art, through exhibitions I would go to, or thoughts and philosophies in my Art History papers, I became more and more despondent with the notion of “Art”. A particular work of white boxes, with fluro tubes and other non-descript items placed on a gallery floor masquerading as art was the final straw and I no longer wanted anything to do with this thing called “Art”. There was not longer any skill, or talent required to be developed in order to “make it” in the art world.
In time, I continued to draw, paint for myself and create bits and pieces, but nothing with any regularity or vigour. My time was also being taken up with being a full time teacher, which is naturally creative. I use my skills to inspire and engage the students in my class, and still occasionally create an artwork for a space or a commission now and then.