'See Me Out' memorial art exhibition

Sue Philips with her artwork.

Pic: BTG251021PHILIPS2 Caption: Artwork by Sue Philips.

Pic: BTG251021PHILIPS3 Caption: Sue Philips with her artwork.

Pic: BTG251021GALLERY1 Caption: Art & History Galleries in Vogel Street, Woodville.

By Steve Carle

Advertorial
An exhibition of the artwork of the late Sue Philips (formerly from Woodville) will be held at the Woodville Art & History Galleries from Saturday, October 30-Friday, November 26.

Wellington born and bred, Sue was drawn to the performing arts at a young age, first stepping on the boards at 15 years old - which led to performances in many Wellington theatres.

An interesting work by artist Sue Philips.

As a young mother of five children, Sue moved to Woodville, where she quickly realised a lack of cultural stimulation that could be easily addressed by establishing a theatre.

So, with her friends Rose, Sally and Lorraine, Sue set about gaining interest and support to create the Woodville Little Theatre, which over the ensuing years brought many plays and fun musicals to brighten the town's quiet evenings.

Sue later became a lead performer on Palmerston North stages with roles as diverse as Mrs Potts in Beauty and the Beast at the Regent Theatre in 2008, Val in Footloose, the bag lady in Little Shop of Horrors, Nancy in Feilding Little Theatre's Oliver and one of her more memorable roles as Mari Hoff in Manawatu Theatre Society's The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, made extra special because she starred alongside her own daughter (Anna Krakosky) who played Little Voice.

Her total list of acting credits well exceeds 35 shows, many of which she had lead roles and sang in.

During those years in Woodville, as she raised her five children, participated in the Little theatre, worked at the Pahiatua Hospital and volunteered on the Woodville Ambulance, Sue also studied to become a qualified nurse, her life-long passion.

From early childhood, Sue wanted only two things in her future: one was acting and the other was nursing. Creativity and study were Sue's driving forces throughout her very busy life.

The art came later, in the late 1980s. Along with everything she did for her family and community, Sue found peace in her art studio, which was the one place where she was able to let her creative energy flow and over the years she was a prolific artist.

Painting using acrylics, oils, pastels, even test pot house paints, Sue let her imagination run free, no surface was left plain: coffee tables, walls, even her garden shed became a canvas.

"Sue worked all through the Covid-19 lockdowns last year: being a public health nurse she didn't get to rest up like so many of us did," said her sister Joanne. "Her life was even busier than usual with all the extra workload that being an essential worker in the health sector entails and it may possibly have been that undue stress that took a fatal toll on her otherwise robust health.

"Sue loved nursing and was a staunch vaccination advocate, never losing an opportunity to encourage people to 'do the right thing and get vaccinated'.

"The move to Palmerston North from Woodville in the early 1990s allowed Sue to open up her garage studio to 'have a go' at art lessons, simply by making up a sandwich board and putting it out on the curb each Saturday.

"She was able to share her passion and many passersby took up the chance to learn basic art techniques and loved Sue's generosity of artisic knowledge, often shared with a glass of wine and a few laughs.

"Sue left us on December 20 last year after a brief, unexpected health episode, which shocked us all. It was as we were sorting out her house that we found a large stack of her art that had been in storage and realised that it was too wonderful not to share, which is why we decided to stage this exhibition.

"The title came about because whenever Sue bought a car or bed, or in fact anything - she would call it her 'see me out car' or 'see me out bed' - so naturally this became her 'See Me Out' exhibition. I said to my children 'we need to do something'.

"During lockdown last year, Sue didn't get a break, so we did a makeover of her back yard, which was really nice, because she lived on her own. she got four weeks to enjoy her new garden before she passed away. It was wonderful," Joanne said.