Creative ID: 203
Wellington, Hutt valley, Porirua, Kapiti, Horowhenua. Open to travelling further for short projects.
My arts or creative practice (including details about my specific focus within that art form/practice and my strengths)
A professional painter, muralist, designer, I use brushes and exterior acrylic to paint murals for public and private clients, and at times paint oils on canvas or board. I've designed and painted several large public murals and many smaller ones in the Wellington region, and facilitated groups of children and adults to represent their art in murals. I am a commission specialist, developing designs, specific to the needs of each project/client, from my particular point of view. I enjoy making large-scale, publicly accessible artworks and helping others to do so, or otherwise have input into the process.
My track record of experience and success - or the track record of experience and success of the creative or artist that I will partner with
In the new year, I will have had 20 years of mural experience, having painted smaller things for longer than that. I persisted with painting through an 'Art & Craft' diploma, picking up some other skills and media. Coming out of training, I followed my desire to paint 'big', firstly large canvases, then the various mural opportunities that presented themselves. In the years since, I've been employed as a muralist by the Wellington City Council, several community centres, six Wellington schools, other groups, and individuals to deliver various solo, collaborative, and facilitated artworks. I get projects I start, finished and have achieved a low-key but consistent level of success on the many projects I've worked on.
Describe the experience you have had working with children or young people, teaching or facilitating creative processes
Beginning with a self-motivated, voluntary, project in 2000 at a school, I ran drawing sessions with classes, using reference material of native trees and animals, and collected drawings from every child in the school. These drawings were projected onto one of the school's walls, creating a forest traced in vivid marker. Some supervised child painting sessions and some adults 'painting a colouring book drawn by children' sessions, saw the mural finished in 2001... and me a bit wiser about facilitating children's art. I have since facilitated murals with school children (primary age to young adults), WCC tenants (children to elderly), and adults in the mental health system, in a variety of ways. Community input about the content/design of an artist-painted artwork, arranging other people's art into an overall design for them to paint, leaving spaces in a design for the art of others, helping others paint their own design by providing gear/supervision, and doing the painting from a co-designed plan are some, depends on the requirements of the project.
Why I want to be part of the Creatives in Schools programme and how my involvement will link to my creative practice
Really enjoy making art projects with schools and other community groups, and while I've continued to take the opportunities presented to me, in recent years the paid private commissions have come to dominate my practice. I see this programme as a means to make my skills known to a wider group of possible clients and make it viable for me to do more facilitated projects with schools around my region.