“Morley’s colourful and bold landscape painting scenes draw the viewer in and can leave them staring for hours as their imagination fills in the gaps to whatever kind of picture they want to see”.
By participating in the Coromandel Open Studios Arts Tour and interacting and conversing with approximately 200 people, I discovered a few new ‘themes’ about art. I would like to take this opportunity to share these experiences.
Colour and a blank canvas of the mind are the two prerequisites I need to create, and from that beginning, a range of decisions start to unfold. Which colour is ‘there’, and what to do ‘here’? Each painting is individual and comes from the unconscious. It represents a memory or a theme. As I paint, I can often be transported to another world of my imagination. It then becomes my challenge to depict this on the canvas. Not ‘usual’, my work seeks to provoke against what I consider mainstream, repeated and ‘acceptable’ art. It offers a unique expression, reincarnating my memories and hidden worlds.
Currently working with gouache paints, I look forward to returning to painting with oil. I enjoy how oil paint bounces off the canvas when compared to acrylics (however, I was told by an experienced artist that with high-quality acrylic paint as well as a quality acrylic sealer, the colour is just as good as oil paint and the surface hardens to a similar durability).
“Not ‘usual’, my work seeks to provoke against what I consider mainstream, repeated and ‘acceptable’ art. It offers a unique expression, reincarnating my memories and hidden worlds”.
Selling art takes real perseverance; just because a piece of art has been exhibited and not sold does not mean it will not sell one day. I don’t have thick skin, but I do have incredible endurance which is its own kind of strength. Also, conservation values and the state of the world have always been close to my heart and a constant inspiration over the years.
When I was 17 years old, I had my first art exhibition in Hauraki House, Coromandel. I organised and curated an exhibition featuring a range of beautiful work from Coromandel artists, including my art mentors Tony Calsaferri and Tāme Iti.
The exhibition was titled ‘No Mill’, and it was all about raising awareness about the proposed sawmill that a multinational company wanted to build in Whangapoua. This would have been the year of 2004. It was commented that to do something like that at the age of 17 shows a certain degree of bravery and guts. What better endeavour for a young person.
This summer, I will be exhibiting alongside master potter Ashley Thor at Christine Rabart’s ‘CR’ Exhibit Space in Coromandel Town. I am privileged to be able to share my paintings from the 26th of December to the 8th of January.
I look forward to meeting those who come to the gallery, as Ashley and I will be minding the gallery for the majority of the show. I will also be exhibiting at Coromind ArtWorks alongside Tony Calsaferri and Caitlin Moloney from 21st to 31st January. To see more about me, check out my Instagram page.
Words by Genevieve Morley
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