Creating art has always been a part of my life; my earliest memories were of drawing.
The other constant throughout my life has been the Coromandel. On my first visit to Hahei, I was bathed in a bucket at the camp; until Dad died, we had a family bach there. Thirteen years ago, my partner Lance and I moved to Whenuakite to be closer to him.
We bought a 25 acre bare block of land with a neglected avocado orchard on it. I spent eight months off-grid in the Donovan’s old caravan and Lance commuted from Auckland for almost three years, until he got a job at the same camp we spent holidays in growing up, now Hahei Beach Resort.
We built our house, added an American barn and water tanks, stretched loads of fencing and shared our land with a couple of cows, a flock of Pitt Island x sheep, chickens and a couple of huntaways. As well as farming, we exported avocados to Australia and I painted for Bread and Butter Gallery owned by Christine Rabarts in Whitianga. This was a far cry from living in Auckland and painting solo exhibitions for my dealer gallery Studio of Contemporary Arts in Newmarket.
Two years ago, we made the hard call to sell up and move to Tairua, partly to be closer to my artistically talented granddaughter Lucy in Auckland, although Cyclone Gabrielle didn’t help us there. We are now the custodians of almost an acre of beautiful gardens, including specimen trees planted 40 years ago and a potager garden complete with topiaries. So I now have two canvases to create on … my garden and my artwork.
I paint on loose canvas and my medium is acrylic.
The paintings are then stretched locally by the talented Trevor of The Frame Place in Whitianga – often on the kitchen table, as they are way too big for his workspace.
I grew up a huge fan of the ‘Blue Rider Artists’ of Europe as well as the Expressionists and Cubists. Mum rented framed posters from the library in Mangere Bridge, so we had constantly revolving art from Van Gogh and Kandinsky to Cezanne and Frans Marc. The library also had a few NZ art books to relish, such as Rita Angus, Don Binney, Robin White, Michael Smither and Claudia Pond Eley to name a few. Back then, there were no personal computers or Dr Google!
Mix all of that up with seven years as a photolithographer surrounded by graphic shapes with sharp edges in both negative and positive form and my unique geometric style evolved.
Being quite dyslexic, like many other creatives, has also had an impact on my work. The faceted spaces are constantly being reshaped. The texture, glazes, putting paint on then rubbing paint off, scumbling techniques, and constant rebalancing of the colour on each individual piece – these all feel very natural and relaxing; the faceted spaces start to form cohesive patterns, which in turn changes the image until it develops into the finished painting. I never actually know how it will look until it’s finished.
Most of my works are quite large, so it feels like you can almost step into them. I also have a range of top quality digital limited edition prints stretched onto canvas that I get from PCL who scan them the same size, so they show every brush stroke and the textured underpainting.
Currently my work can be viewed at: The Lawnmowers Son Gallery in Hahei, Inspirit Gallery in Tamahere, as well as my Studio/Gallery and Garden in Tairua. You can see others Suzie’s artworks here: Suzie’s Facebook page and Mercury Bay Art Scape
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