New Artist Residency on Wellington’s South Coast

New Artist Residency on Wellington’s South Coast

The New Zealand Affordable Art Trust has launched a new Artist in Residence programme in Lyall Bay, Wellington, in the historic building formerly occupied by Plunket NZ.

Wellington painter Catherine Roberts is the first artist to take up residency, where she will paint, exhibit and sell her art up until March 2011.

Located immediately on the waterfront the newly opened Maranui Galleryis flanked by Wellington’s iconic Maranui Surf Life Saving Club and Lyall Bay Surf Life Saving Club buildings. The premises were previously occupied by the Maranui Surf Life Saving Club while they awaited the reconstruction of their building after it was devastated by fire in August 2009.

The residency is just one of a string of initiatives devised by the NZ Affordable Art Trust to assist emerging artists. Other projects to their credit include the New Zealand Art Show, $15,000 NZAAT Artist Grant, $5,000 Signature Piece Art Award, Winesale.co.nz wine label commission and the ASB Children’s Art Competition.

For Catherine this opportunity comes at a crucial stage of her artistic development. The Miramar based artist has been painting part-time for 17 years but never had the confidence to pursue art as a viable full-time occupation.

However, two successful years showing with the NZ Art Show (formerly the NZ Affordable Art Show) gave her a much-needed boost of confidence, compelling her to follow her passion seriously.

Catherine works mainly in acrylics on canvas and paints semi-abstract landscapes that reference William Turner skies. Occasionally she adopts a more representational style and inserts stylized Oceanic iconography into her works. Her paintings have a rich and luminous quality that has proved to be very popular with the NZ Art Show public. At the 2010 show she sold 20 pieces with prices ranging from $200 to $1,500. Her piece ‘Appreciate and Preserve’was a finalist in the NZ Art Show 2010 Signature Piece Art Award.

Catherine’s residency ends in March 2011 when New Plymouth artist Jordan Barnes takes over as part of his New Zealand Affordable Art Trust Artist Grant tenure. Barnes was recently selected as the inaugural winner of the NZAAT Artist Grant, which provides studio space, business and artistic mentoring and a $15,000 salary over a six-month period.

Maranui Gallery, 5 Lyall Bay Parade, Wellington.

http://www.maranuigallery.com/

Opening Hours: Wednesday – Sunday, 10am – 2pm

NZ Art Show http://www.artshow.co.nz/

ENDS

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