South Canterbury Arts Society 57th Annual Exhibition - Invitation

Prayer for a Friend (I)
Elizabeth Love
October 2009
Mixed media on canvas
1020x1020x35mm
$2500


Prayer for a Friend (I) detail

South Canterbury Arts Society 57th Annual Exhibition
Opening Night Preview
Friday 16 October 2009
7.30pm

d gr8 sth cantabury yth art expo 2k9

The Great South Canterbury
Youth Art Expo 2009

invitation

Please join us in celebrating
the work of youth artists -
20%+ sales to benefit community group
Victim Support South Canterbury

One day only Art Exhibition

Sales of non-sponsored art from 11am

Collaborative art sold by
Silent Auction (last bid 4.30pm)
followed by closing speeches

Project supported by:
Aoraki Alternative Education, Barnabas Trust, Christeena MacDonald,
Creative NZ, Debbie Templeton-Page: York Street Art Gallery, Elizabeth Love,
Jan Robertson, Polly Rowe, Resene, Sandie Davies, SC Textiles Ltd,
SC Young Professionals, Warehouse Stationery, Youth Advocates, Youth Alley

Saturday 17 October 2009
11am – 5pm
York Street Art Gallery
21 York Street, TIMARU

Question 5

Mother's Legacy (XVIII): Mia
March 2007/Reworked April 2007
Mixed media on canvas
610x910x35mm

Do you have some of your paintings in exhibitions in other places around New Zealand?

Sometimes I will send work away to exhibitions in other parts of New Zealand. There are lots of opportunities for artists to exhibit. One day I would also like to exhibit outside of New Zealand. One place in particular would be in Belfast, Northern Ireland, due to my parents setting off for life in New Zealand from there…

Question 4

Work in progress

A lot of your artwork on the website is Mixed Media. What does that mean?

Mixed media is the term given to work that just doesn’t use one medium – other than paint I use things like tissue paper patterns, oil sticks, graphite, shellac, water-colour pencils, ink, pieces of my dried up paint (paint-skins), torn hand-coloured ‘scraps’…

Eric Carle is an artist I admire. He hand paints tissue papers for his collages. I like to study his illustrations & see how he has put them together.

Question 3

The Quilting (XXXI): All My Delight is in You, Lord (detail)
Dec 2006
Mixed media on canvas
510x510x35mm

How long have you been an artist for?

I believe we all are artists from birth...creativity takes many forms.

Question 2

detail
Soft is the Heart of a Child (III)
June 2007

What makes you enjoy being an artist? What makes your artwork so special?

I believe we are all created for a wonderful purpose, as written in Psalm 139.

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

I enjoy working as an artist because it feels like my perfect job-fit. When I’m working, sometimes I will jump around because I’m s-o happy with the way the colours are! I’ve never felt that way about any other work I’ve done…

5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.

I think what makes an artwork special is when people connect with it. Like when people buy a painting. There will be something about the painting that made them remember a time that has passed…


Psalm 139.
Today's New International Version
International Bible Society
© Copyright 2001, 2005

Question 1

detail
Soft is the Heart of a Child (I)
Mar 2007

How did you get into art and what made you interested? (Did someone influence you?)

I’ve always enjoyed the process of making art. I remember the first drawing I did at school. It was of a bus. I didn’t have to catch a bus to school, because I just lived up the street, but perhaps I had been read stories about children catching buses to school! That is how my art works...I read a story or a poem, I listen to someone speaking, I see something...I think about it & the thoughts come out as symbolic images. In my studio I still have one of my childhood books: Mother Goose – A Collection of Nursery Rhymes by Brian Wildsmith. Sometimes I look at the colours for inspiration.

My mother especially influenced me when I was young. She worked as an embroiderer so always had lovely fabrics around & hung out with other ladies who also liked to create. We had art in our house – I liked looking at it, thinking that an actual person had made it. It’s the same way I look at art now – I look closely for the brush marks of the artist, I think about the materials that have been used...

My mother encouraged me with my art-making & took me to see exhibitions. I remember one exhibition in particular...the artist had made some large abstracts using a series of dots. I don't think I had seen work like that before. My mother didn't like them, but I sure did!