Creative ID: 787
I live in Mount Albert, Auckland and would prefer to work as locally as possible due to cost and time constraints.
My arts or creative practice (including details about my specific focus within that art form/practice and my strengths)
I am an exhibiting artist having graduated from Ilam School of Art in 1998. I work across various media; primarily working in oil paint, ink drawing and printmaking. My work is focused on the natural world with a special interest in the sublime and our human connection to nature. Stylistically my work ranges from realistic to abstract. I paint with oil paints on canvas in the style of 17th century Western masters and make large scale ink drawings on paper which emulate Japanese masters. Having attended an arts high school I have a rigorous, classical training in fine arts and the history of art and am comfortable moving across disciplines. You may view my work online (link available on request).
My track record of experience and success - or the track record of experience and success of the creative or artist that I will partner
I have been an exhibiting artist since I graduated with an honours degree in Fine arts from Canterbury University in 1998. I have been a finalist in several prestigious art awards (most recently the Parkin Drawing award 2022) and the recipient of the Ampersand Art fellowship (New York) and art residencies; most recently a printmaking residency to Belgium at the Frans Masereel Centrum. My work is held in several private, corporate and institutional collections, most notably in the V&A, London and The Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C.
Describe the experience you have had working with children or young people, teaching or facilitating creative processes
I have been teaching fine arts classes to children and adults for over 25 years. I have taught in a private capacity, in schools, galleries, museums, art fairs, polytechnics and universities. In 2022 I was a tutor for the Creatives in Schools programme for The good Shepherd School where we designed and made a ceramic tile mural with over 300 pupils. I developed and executed art programmes for children at the University of the Witwatersrand Art Museum and for art fairs in South Africa.
Why I want to be part of the Creatives in Schools programme and how my involvement will link to my creative practice
I love working with children and firmly believe that the arts form a vital component in the positive growth of every child. An art education provides so much more than the ability to make aesthetically pleasing pictures; it focuses our minds on problem solving, thinking “outside the square”, and becoming more aware through looking and generally awaking all our senses allowing us to understand and appreciate the world from a sensitive and emotional perspective. In my experience, art stimulates the creative mind and unleashes multi-dimensional thinking that reinforces the experience and in so doing are taught to think critically and formulate our own opinions about the world we live in; we are taught how to think, not what to think. This is a fundamental concept in my approach to teaching art. The Creatives in Schools programme is a wonderful initiative bringing creativity to schools and I am excited to be a part of it. In addition to my arts education and experience I have read for a Bachelors in Psychology.