Looking forward to the New Zealand Art Show are Owie Simpson (left), Michelle Retimana, Ronda Thompson, James Brewer and Kim Kobialko. Photo / David Haxton
Looking forward to the New Zealand Art Show are Owie Simpson (left), Michelle Retimana, Ronda Thompson, James Brewer and Kim Kobialko. Photo / David Haxton
Six Kāpiti artists will be showing and selling their works as part of the upcoming New Zealand Art Show.
The artists are James Brewer, Kim Kobialko, Michelle Retimana, Owie Simpson, Ronda Thompson and Bee Doughty-Pratt.
Brewer, who paints from his home-based studio in Raumati South, said although he’s been painting all his life, he made it his fulltime career only nine years ago and has been in six of the previous shows.
While he does paint a bit of everything, he does “a lot of monkeys, people, and aliens”, but fellow artist Kobialko said he paints amazing nature scenes too.
Brewer loves painting because of the freedom it gives him and allows him to explore ideas that might not be popular.
“That’s what’s great about the art show, you can get away with doing the more out-there, edgy stuff.”
Kobialko, who paints under the name Studio Reset and has been a fulltime artist for nearly 10 years, has a studio based in rural Te Horo and uses a variety of artistic mediums, including painting, photography, inks, and wax.
She’s a passionate beekeeper, and harvests wax from her beehives to create art.
Despite not getting selected for the show last year for the first time in five years, Kobialko will be a finalist for the show’s sculpture award with a vase she had made from beeswax.
She said being a part of the event is exciting, and she looks forward to connecting with people — both other artists and art enthusiasts.
Both Retimana and Simpson work and live in Waikanae Beach, but their artistic mediums couldn’t be more different.
Retimana, who has been a fulltime artist for more than 20 years, is primarily a clay and bronze sculptor, and is known for the long, slim girl sculptures she creates.
She makes other items too, including feathers, shells, whale tails, and faces — all out of bronze.
Retimana has been going to the New Zealand Art Show the longest out of all six of the artists, and in the 20 years since it’s been running, Retimana said she’s been to almost all of them.
Like Kobialko, Retimana enjoys the social aspects of the show, but said it’s great being able to also sell art.
“It’s always nice to meet people that like your work.”
Bee Doughty-Pratt with one of her paintings.
On the other hand, Simpson has been a fulltime artist for about three or four years, and her medium is painting.
She takes inspiration from Waikanae Beach and the people who visit it.
Simpson, who has been to the New Zealand Art Show once before, visits the beach and photographs people to paint.
“I’m a little bit obsessed with the whitebaiters at Waikanae Beach.
“I love their outfits ... and their stances.”
But she changes a lot of their features, and usually doesn’t paint faces so they aren’t recognisable, and the paintings are only semi-realistic.
Simpson does abstract work too, sometimes botanicals or only colours and shapes, and it will be her first time presenting both styles together, so she’s looking forward to seeing how people will react.
Thompson, the only artist who lives and works in Paekākāriki, started painting 50 years ago, but took a break from it when her accounting career took off.
She got back into it 20 years ago and is a self-proclaimed art enthusiast.
Not only does she have several of her own paintings around her house, but she collects artwork from other artists that is displayed in her home.
Her method is a bit different — she uses a palette knife primarily, and sometimes a small paintbrush for details the knife can’t do.
She will have a small collection in this year’s art show, with six paintings being displayed, but she’s spent a lot of time on those six and is rather proud of them.
“I just love painting.”
Doughty-Pratt is based in Peka Peka, and is known for her semi-abstract seascapes and landscapes.
She’s entering about a dozen paintings and is most looking forward to the show’s opening night.
She said it’s always good fun — and she makes a lot of her sales on this night.
The New Zealand Art Show will be running from Friday to Sunday, June 2-4, at the TSB Arena in Wellington, and with more than 200 artists in attendance, Brewer said everyone will be able to find something they like.
“You get so many thousands of people come through, that people are going to find what they love.”
Tickets for the show are available for purchase online or at the door.
