Talented creator, and hand-made enthusiast, Pip Pottage has developed a successful design business inspired by her love of bold pattern and a commitment to a more sustainable way-of-life. Pip Pottage Designs, which combine high-quality design and construction with natural and environmental materials, is rapidly expanding it’s collection of products that are being snapped up by customers all over the world.

Pottage, who calls both New Zealand and Canada home, has always been conscious of the way that our consumer society impacts the world around us. Initially astonished that New Zealand had a gaping hole in the market when it came to organic, eco-friendly and ethical lifestyle products, she took it upon herself to right this wrong.

“I was creating handmade items and I figured it would be a truer representation of my own lifestyle commitment if my products reflected my sustainable beliefs too. So slowly I started switching everything over to organic cotton.  But, there is a catch… Organic cotton is not really super readily available for the small scale maker”

Pottage approached fabric distributors across New Zealand to find out if she could buy eco-friendly, sustainable or fair-trade products from them.

Growing up in Whangamata, about an hour north of Tauranga, provided a young Kane Facey with opportunities to explore two great loves: painting and surfing. At the local area school, a wave features prominently in the logo design and gives, perhaps, some indication of the lifestyle that is to be enjoyed in this part of the world.

Spending a great deal of time in the art room at school is regarded by Facey as a catalyst to his love of painting. Many hours every day were spent exploring different approaches to working with paint and other mediums. It was no surprise that when he left school Facey went on to study art at The Learning Connexion in Wellington.

From Dali-inspired scenes to vivid pop-art works, Facey’s painting style is diverse, but his landscapes have been his staple genre and photos from many surfing road trips provide endless inspiration.

Working on hand-made canvases, Facey works from photographs and finds the initial pencil lines to be the most satisfying part of the art-making process.

“I choose to not copy the image in its entirety. Instead, using it as a guide, I take elements from it and put in my own style.”

Currently living in New Plymouth, Facey has exhibited work in group shows and is now turning his attention towards solo exhibitions, but, as with many artists, balancing a range of commitments sometimes proves challenging.

Studies towards her doctorate in biochemistry brought Akshita Wason to New Zealand in 2010. Originally from India and a keen environmentalist, her artwork combines themes of adventure, environmental issues and the ever-shifting nature of the world around us.

A self-professed wanderer, Wason sees this as a consistent storyline in her work.

“I guess a wanderer is also synonymous with an explorer and an adventure; someone who experiments and moves on to a new realm. The theme also encompasses the transient nature of my work, always evolving at its own pace, much like the earthy elements. So, you will observe representations of mounds, hills, arborescent patterns and geological formations.”

Wason also views her work as a way to highlight present-day problems that face our natural environment.

“The present generation is facing a tremendous task of alleviating the long-term effects of human interruption in the natural order. My work aims to start a dialogue to discuss this issue and that is why there is a lot of influence from earthy-elements and forms.”

Since launching into her artwork, Wason has experimented with wide ranging themes, compositional elements, and ideas. Her work is tied together by consistent use of ink.

“It has taken me a few years, many trials, to understand how the ink or pigments interact with paper. I have had no official art training, and am mostly self-taught. I attend workshops whenever possible to learn new techniques and meet people.”

Considering the future direction for her art, Wason hopes to work in a larger scale but will continue interpreting her themes through abstract forms that allow her greater expression.

For Florence Egasse, the museums and galleries of Paris were “playgrounds for the eyes” and the artist considers childhood visits and hours spent enjoying works by the modern masters to be a major catalyst in developing her lifelong passion for art. 

After studying in Normandy, Egasse spent time in London and began to paint. Immediately drawn to abstracts, her work explored shapes and colour inspired by nature and her surroundings.

As her corporate career as a knowledge manager developed, Egasse found it difficult to find time for her art and any possibility of swapping her corporate life for a potential career as an artist was well-and-truly thwarted when when her first child was born. Now, after almost 15 years, with two children at primary school and her corporate career behind her, Egasse has once again thrown herself into art.

Egasse’s more recent work is a combination of landscapes and abstract works, often juxtaposing fluidity in shape and colour with geometric shapes that create a sense of energy and movement. Evidence of many hours spent enjoying the works of artists such as Henri Matisse are evident here.

“Matisse is a big influence in my work as he conveyed emotions through an expressive synthesis of colours and simple dynamic shapes.”

In much of her abstract work, Egasse focuses on working in a way that allows for spontaneity and freedom in the process of bringing her creations to life.

“The composition of some my work is kind of planned but can differ when the painting is finished. I like the idea that ‘less is more’, but, at times, this is difficult to achieve. I can struggle to decide when to stop but I eventually solve my own puzzle.”

Although some works are more carefully planned and executed, often Egasse prefers to see where the work takes her; often opting to be guided by the paint rather than beginning with a sketch. This open-ended approach to art-making allows for broad interpretations of her work.

Self proclaimed “accidental traveller” Santie Cronje, was born in South Africa and travelled through Europe before meeting her partner in the UK and moving to New Zealand.

“Travelling was never something I thought I would do a lot of; but I am an opportunist and I enjoy adventures”, Cronje explains.

One such adventure saw her travel by yacht from Cape Town to Gibraltar in 1998. A lover of the ocean, alongside travel, boats and the water have since become common themes in many of her artworks.

“Spending time in different countries has had a huge influence on my work. My sailing journey has become a symbol of the journey of life: how choices we make and take determine the next stages in our lives. If you stay or go are both equally big decisions.”

Birds were common visitors on Cronje’s sailing journey, often becoming the first to greet them before arriving at a new destination or calling the yacht home for a brief while before carrying on with their own journeys. This wildlife, too, has become a key subject in the artist’s work, symbolising journeys taken and migratory themes.

Cronje’s first New Zealand exhibition, in 2008, was titled ‘Creative Journeys’ and used birds as a symbol for her own migration. A similar show in 2009, ‘If Godwits Couldn’t Fly’ explored displacement and a sense of being torn between two countries.

Native to New Zealand, the godwit holds the record for the longest non-stop flight of any land-based, migratory bird.

“They fly to Alaska every year to breed and return again the following year”. If they can do that, I could be from two countries as well.”

Basing her work on a deep pool of experiences, it took several years in New Zealand for Cronje to gather the material and ideas to begin painting.

“The birth of my daughter became a way back in. I had painted for friends and family before, but becoming a mother made me braver. I set up my art business in New Zealand as a company and I was ‘The Sleepy Kiwi’, creating children’s art and Kiwi-themed ABC posters. It grew organically from there, and looking back over 10 years of exhibiting in galleries across New Zealand, it has been a continuous motion of growth and progress”.

This year, Cronje and her horticulturalist partner have combined their love of Art and Plants and opened Deciduus; a gallery and plant boutique. The space hosts a small number of artists for a three month period before changing artists and themes.

The gallery is currently hosting the works of seven female, New Zealand artists all working with botanical themes.

You can see more of Cronje’s work on her website www.santie.co.nz, and artists interested in learning more about Deciduus can follow the gallery on Facebook, www.facebook.com/deciduus.

Spending half an hour with self-taught, Nelson-based artist Anicë Doel highlights the sort of modesty that New Zealanders are often known for. Her first exhibition, ‘Visual Sensation’ is a bold collection of colourful, acrylic works focused on local architecture.

Doel enjoys painting local buildings and reimagines well-known locations with a colourful, pop-art-inspired twist. Her painting of Nelson’s Civic House, a work inspired by a challenge from her husband to portray the oft criticised building in a creative way, is testament to her ability to shed new light on her architectural subject matter.

“I like challenging myself with buildings that are not usually considered aesthetically pleasing and try to make them so on canvas,” she explains.

Doel, who has been painting for about five years, has always had an interest in art, but struggled in the past to make the time for her art.

“My dad died a couple of years ago in an accident. It was so sudden and unexpected that it made me think about my life. I realised that life is short and I’d hate to think that I didn’t do something I’m interested in and passionate about just because I was always busy doing mundane things.”

Balancing painting with other work and a family, Doel relies on setting aside time in the evenings to complete her works and has been preparing for this exhibition for over a year, with larger works taking upwards of 60 hours of painting time.

The exhibition, which explores a range of other subjects alongside her large architectural works, has been well received, with people commenting on the variety and boldness in the work.

“I would predominantly say I’m inspired by pop art and I’m still trying to find my style. I’ve settled in comfortably here, but I think there’s more to test out. I’ve got all these ideas buzzing around in my head, but because the way that I work is very slow and methodical it’s a matter of finding the time to do it all.”

As this exhibition comes to a close, Doel is now looking ahead to Art Expo Nelson, which she describes as a real highlight.

“Every year I go [to the Expo] and look at all the artwork and I’m always amazed by it. I’ve never had enough work to show, and I felt like it was a distant dream. But, part of doing this exhibition was gearing up mentally to apply for that.”

Being a self-taught artist is no problem for Doel, who finds Nelson to be a great community in which to work.

Looking ahead, Doel has no shortage of inspiration for future work.

“I’m still trying different things. I feel like there’s a lot more to explore in the floral works, and I have an idea for a feminist series that has been bubbling away in the background. And, of course there’s always great buildings to paint.

“A lot of the different things that I’m trying is purely me saying “I wonder if I can do that”.

To see more of Doel’s work, you can follow her on Instagram where she regularly shares her creative process.

Lucy (Lucis) Melville was initially taught to paint by her grandmother, but, focused on her busy corporate career, she struggled for years to find inspiration. In 2016, after a sport-related head injury motivated her to slow down and find a sense of balance in her life, Melville found that the creative block disappeared and returned to painting to share her story and her positive outlook.

Melville’s work is all about exploring light, bright, positive energy. Her often large, usually circular works employ strong geometry and subtle changes in tone to establish depth. The bold use of colour is largely driven by the artist’s mood.

“I love the simplicity of shape and colour, but the intense impact it can have when combined. For me, colour is very emotive and I often find I'm driven to use specific colours when I'm in certain moods. 'Disappearing Kisses' was a work inspired by a new relationship being there one minute but gone the next. The purple and emerald colours resonate warmth and the feeling of lust and the simplicity of a kiss is represented by a cross made up of small triangles, getting ever smaller and darker as they disappear.”

For Melville, the colours she chooses to use are a form of self expression and different bodies of work become her visual diaries. These visual stories twist and turn through times of change and challenge, but always capture the artist’s sense of positivity.

Currently working towards her next exhibition, Melville hasn’t quite settled on the exact direction, but intends to explore some softer elements within her distinctive style. Continuing with the story of changes and her life’s journey, this next body of work will include a piece to be auctioned for the Laura Fergusson Trust; a non-profit organisation that helped Melville to recover following her head injury.

“My injury turned my life upside-down so far as losing the ability for me to easily communicate, socialise and move. The Laura Fergusson Trust was integral in my recovery at a time when I wasn't sure if or when I would get my full health back.”

“I started painting about eight months after my injury, following the decision to start making changes in order to take back control of my happiness. I decided to focus on the simple things that made me content and feed my soul.”

In her search for these simple pleasures, Melville remembers the starting point for her painting and that creative work can’t be forced to happen.

"I still struggle now at times so far as trying to make new ideas come together, but I think acknowledging that nothing is ever a 'wrong' decision is important. I have several paintings that will never see the light of day, but they helped me get to the pieces that did work.

“I try to just be when I work, rather than force anything. If I’m not feeling it, I walk away and try not to beat myself up for not being as productive as I hope on some days. As with anything in life, I find that when you have to force something it doesn’t really end up working.

​You can see more of Melville's art on her website, lucisartnz.com.

​In 1995 I  was the president of the Noah's Ark Playgroup which was held in an old Convent. Each of the groups that used the place was required to contribute to a fundraiser for it. They asked me to be in charge of a creche and candy floss machine. With a  boisterous 7 year old, a 3 year old who rarely slept and a new born the prospect sounded like my worst nightmare so it came to me that the building would be great for a murder mystery night.

I wrote the show for it in collaboration, the shows were very successful, other organisations asked for the script and then I got going on writing more and selling more.

We had one of the few websites in 1997 and I mostly sold these interactive dinner theatre shows to the USA.

In 2001 I collaborated with my very good friend Debbie Wright and we wrote a kids musical and I directed it at the St James Theatre in Gore. This came about out of frustration at trying to find a decent kids show that extended and showcased their immense talent and freedom to create. It was very successful and things progressed from there.

Monica Moore Productions didn't get started until 2001, previously it was called other names but a marketing advisor told me to use it as 'Monica Moore" had a memorable ring to it. Many of my friends have commented that I'm certainly not forgettable.
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That's a tricky one. A couple of my Dinner Theatre shows are still running after 20 plus years... One is in the middle of the United States and one in a restaurant in New York. At the time I sold them for a one-off cost of $250, never thinking that they'd do more than a couple of shows.

Noah, the first show I ever wrote, was re-written so that a community theatre group in London could put it on. They asked me if I had a full-length version of it, I said yes and then spent the next 48 hours writing it. My friend Debbie arranged some extra music and the script got sent off in time.

I was in an airport in Sydney a few years axgo and got chatting to a couple from England. They'd come over to see their granddaughter in her school production in Melbourne. I asked the name of the school. They show they'd gone to see was written by me.

Recently, I was in Samoa and met a couple from Gore. I asked them if they'd seen Mamma Mia down there. They had and the woman said "Monica Moore directed it. She's from Auckland" It's probably the only time in my life that I'll get to say, "I am Monica Moore." It was very funny.

I'm sure I've got a good dollop of ADD as ideas are always pinging around. I'm very slowly writing a show based on NZ theme and real experiences.
​
I'm hoping to collaborate on the music and have it ready for fringe festivals somewhere in 2019. I've written a children's book that goes with one of my shows and it's about the environment as well as friendships and self-belief. It's a chapter book with headphones to sing along to the songs. I think it will be useful to engage kids who are not big on reading but love adventures and to sing.
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The 'key' is to never take yourself too seriously, but believe in what you're doing. Theatre is dramatic so expect to work with 'dramatic' people from time to time. Have a good laugh, work really hard and keep going. The only way forward is forward.
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Influenced by the simplicity of Scandinavian design and inspired by the melancholy, darkness and romance of Swedish fairytales, Tamara Rookes creates a diverse range of ceramic sculptures, vessels and beads from her home studio in Christchurch.

Born in Gothenburg to a Swedish mother and New Zealand father, Rookes credits her artistic family with instilling a deep love of art. From a young age, much time was spent visiting galleries and discussing artwork and artists.

“My mother always had a great appreciation for handmade and beautiful objects. Our home was filled with ceramics, art, books and music.”

At the age of 17, Rookes visited her New Zealand family for the first time and eventually settled here with her husband. In 2000, a career in fashion beckoned and Rookes enrolled in a Diploma in Fashion Design and Technology.

Shortly after graduating, her first child, Leon, was born and for a while Rookes juggled motherhood with working part-time at a high-end boutique and running a children’s-wear label. However, her interest in fashion faded slightly over the years, and she began to feel somewhat detached to the industry with three you children in tow.

Ever the creative, it wasn’t long before Rookes stumbled into her next artistic venture, and began attending a pottery night class.

“I had not touched clay since I was 11, but it was an instant love affair. I was very lucky to be taught by the very talented Tatyanna Meharry.”

Two-and-a-half years of night classes gave Rookes the foundation that she required to begin working from home, and joining the Halswell Pottery group meant that she could do her own firing with the club’s kilns. Being a part of a group with many experienced members, all of whom were generous with their knowledge, was valuable to someone just starting out.

It wasn’t long before a commission to make plates for the Waipara Winery, Black Estate, required Rookes to purchase more of her own equipment. Now completely self-sufficient, Rookes enjoys the solitude of working from home and finds Instagram to be an indispensable avenue for networking with other creatives and sharing her works.

In 2013, when her husband received a visual effects job offer from Weta Workshops, Poppy Dodge made the move from Los Angeles to Wellington. What was initially a 10-month visa turned into four-and-a-half years and permanent residency for the couple and their two boys. Calling both the American Southwest and Wellington home, Dodge’s work is a visual presentation of her search for belonging and explores themes of family and finding her place in the world.

“It’s not easy to be so far from our friends, family and the sunny weather of California, but we feel like the slower pace, smaller city, great public education, access to medical care, and a good work/life balance is worth the distance,” explains Dodge.

Already establishing herself as an artist in Los Angeles, Dodge, who initially found it hard to secure work in New Zealand, turned to rely on her artwork soon after her move to New Zealand. Faced with the recent loss of her mother, and a sudden search for identity in a new place that she hadn’t felt before, Dodge’s art became a way of finding her place in a new home.

“I started posting pics of my art on Instagram in 2014, and started sharing my process and then my first collective series, ‘Scratches, Marks and Makings’”. This body of work deployed various blocks of colour inspired by maps and dreamlands combined with lines representing distance, connection and travels, and spanned two years.

Dodge’s works tend towards large-scale abstracts; incorporating painting, which has the focus of her BFA from California State University, weaving and a variety of other mediums. Contrast is established in the works through a varied palette that plays with the warm, rich colours of the American Southwest and the cool, temperate colours of the rugged, coastal city in which she now lives.

Exhibiting works in a range of group shows including the NZ Art Show in 2016 has been a great way for Dodge to make connections with other artists, but already kept busy with commissions, she has not reached out to galleries for representation at this stage.

Dodge describes creating custom commission pieces as one of her greatest joys. “It’s such an honour to be trusted to make a piece of art! Every collector has a special place or story for the piece and it humbles and inspires me at the same time.”
A stand out work was created last year for a family in Los Angeles who commissioned a vibrant piece for their new home in Silver Lake. The brief was to create three large paintings as a triptych utilising specific colours to represent the family. “Each family member chose a colour based on a personal reason and I needed to incorporate that for them. They were totally open to the style.” Also commissioning a tapestry for each of their three daughters at the same time, the works took almost three months to complete, and completely took over the artist’s home. “It was chaotic but so fun and incredibly inspiring”.

In 2018, Dodge will be working on a new series that deals with legacy and her relationship with her mother who was a full time painter and potter. She also plans to continue developing weaving into her painting practice as she creates a series of large-scale three-dimensional abstract works.

You can see more of Dodge’s work on her website, poppydodge.com, and, for insights into her process and her beautiful sketchbook, her Instagram account is well worth a follow.