January at Art Matakana

From Art Matakana: To start the year off we would like to showcase some of our well established artists work. Many of you would recognise the name 'Helena Blair' if not be familiar with her work. We recently received some new works from her, paintings from her Tuscan/Provence range. Another name one may know is that of Christian Nicolson, who by his own admission is a sculptor, painter, videomaker who makes large installations in the landscape and uses photography, printmaking and other methods to capture his work' Blair's work is vibrant & cheerful. She currently uses oil pastel & gouache on paper to create her artworks, as well as acrylic on canvas. Provence, Tuscany & the NZ landscape are her main themes. 'Inspired by nature, her vivid palette, her distinctive styles bring her paintings to life , with a selection of realism and impressionism. "Most of my work has be painted with a Painting Knife, creating textural type work. Some of my work is directly inspired by this environment, while other pieces depict my travels". More of Helena's work can be viewed online at our website.

Village of Provence © Helena Blair

Nicolson is a different fish entirely. Initially studying design, Christian soon decided making logos and creating ads and being a all round 'frustrated designer' wasn't good enough, so he then set out to follow his dream of creating his own work, for himself. "Some artists stick to one thing. I do not. I like to be creative in as many ways as possible. Whatever it is to get across my idea and explore what I am doing. I pride my self in doing different things. I act for myself but usually always like to relate to other people. I want people to get my work. I make sculptures. I do large installations in the landscape. I use photography, paint, screen printing, have a rock band and make videos. That is what I do - focus on the idea not the medium" A large range of Christian's work can be viewed on his artist page.

Evening Storm Brewing © Christopher Nicholson

  
We also have some amazing ceramic work by John Phillips. "A few years ago I developed a new material to make large lightweight wall tiles that I found out later had advantages as a medium for art. I call it Artis Fiberclay. It feels like stone in texture and looks like terracotta except it is light and a kiln is not needed. Exploring its creative boundaries has been the foundation of a my art career. In my sculptures I use simple natural and sometimes ambiguous forms. More recently I have been using my finishing techniques on canvas and on fiberclay shapes. The discoveries I make contribute to my 3D work. I like that continual sense of moving forward and stretching my creativity" More of Johns work can be viewed on our website.

The Cloud © John Philips

Art Matakana
1151 Leigh Road
RD 5
Matakana
New Zealand
Ph: 09 422 9790
Email: info@artmatakana.com