REimagine 

Sue Preston, Sarah Lee, Heather Russell Willison, Andrea Best, Jenni Baylis

Seventy plus people attended a very enjoyable opening event Sunday 12th of October. We are excited to report that all three community space exhibitions attaining artwork sales, very auspicious start!

A gathering of artists from Te Aroha who have come together to explore different art forms.
We are escaping the isolation of our solitary practices in this joint endeavour. 

Sue Preston
Sue took a printmaking course at the Waikato Society of Arts in 2014 and has been hooked on printmaking ever since. She enjoys the process of designing and producing plates, then inking and printing them, and the unpredictability of the end result.  She is inspired by the form of plants, fish, beach finds and birds. Sue enjoys experimenting with a variety of printing methods, and has recently moved into presenting her work as a freestanding piece, or as an artist book.  Sue loves to share her passion for printmaking and runs printmaking workshops from her studio in Te Aroha.

Sarah Lee
Sarah is a ceramic artist that works from her home studio in Te Aroha. She enjoys the process of playing with clay and even appreciates the brutal lessons in letting go when the fragility of the medium clashes with her naturally uncoordinated limbs. This selection of work began as an experiment, revisiting and reimagining with slip cast porcelain. some of the first ceramic works she ever made and trying to merge them with some of the hand built sculptural ideas that she is currently playing with.  

Heather Russell Willison
As an artist I am a sponge, absorbing the images of the amazing landscapes that I have inhabited. I find that through the process of playing and experimenting with paint, these images emerge or are re-imagined in a spontaneous and varied way.

Andrea Best
I like to use a combination of printing, collage, painting and stitch to explore the aesthetic of
book making. 

My work investigates non-traditional materials and a playful approach to achieve a layered weathered appearance.

Having lived and studied both in New Zealand and Australia I like to use my varied experiences and studies in the artist expression I bring to each piece.

How we are together Jenni Baylis Mixed media drawings
These drawings explore my interest in people and the idea that it is how we are together that is important. The drawings seem to show the inward focus of the subjects. They are together but also alone. Through the process of drawing from photos I have re-imagined these fleeting moments and decided that they have some significance. Photos are connected with memory - fixing some moments while others pass by forgotten. My interpretation of these specific photos into drawings will in turn add a new layer to how I remember that day. Even so the record is partial. Something about how the moment looked, but missing the temperature, smells and sensations of the day.