The first of two featured artists for May at Thames Art Gallery, Lisa Stent is a mixed media artist living in the cradle of a beautiful valley in Puriri, near Thames.
Lisa has always been creative and in 2018 she began a three-year deep dive into workshops and online courses in painting. This inspired experimentation with techniques, styles and a variety of mediums.
Over this time she found her favourite mentors and discovered the best way to create art was to fully express herself, “the best way to find your style is to find yourself, then the creativity flows authentically”.
Lisa says she has a very visual and kinaesthetic learning style, so texture and colour is very important to her. “I love people to touch my art, to experience the textures, and discover the subtle curiosities that appear through the layers.”
Being a mixed media artist, Lisa works mostly with acrylic paints and inks and includes pastels, stamps, collage, stencils, modelling paste and pretty much anything that can be used to create a visual impression.
Several years ago Lisa created “My Intuitive Oracle Deck”, a mixed media collection of cards accompanied by a miniature easel and a leaflet containing short quotes to encourage intuitive inspiration.
The originals from the deck will be on display at the Thames Art Gallery for the month of May and the decks will be available for purchase. “My Intuitive Oracle Deck was proudly completely made in Aotearoa New Zealand and printed locally in Paeroa,” she said.
Lisa is excited to be exhibiting these and more of her amazing work at the Thames Art Gallery as the May featured artist.
“My dream is to create artwork that visually inspires and uplifts the viewer, prompting intrigue and imagination”.
Gary Nevin is the featured potter/sculptor for May. He was born in Paeroa and has travelled extensively, throughout the Coromandel Peninsula. He attended the Julian Ashton School of Art in Sydney with the intention of becoming a landscape painter. After spending six months drawing plaster busts to get his eye in, he got over it and left – so he has not become a landscape painter.
Gary discovered pottery after seeing the work of contemporary Japanese ceramicists at an exhibition in Hamilton, which blew his mind at the mastery and medium of the Japanese masters.
Around the same time, he saw an exhibition by New Zealand-born potter Chester Nealie in the Hamilton Library, which was the first time he had seen woodfired anagama pieces and they left a lasting impression on him.
Thus, an on-going affair with clay began. He enjoyed hand building work, rather than throwing on the wheel, though the wheel gets dusted off from time to time, turning out figurative pieces, birds and animals, with a whimsical and wacky approach.
He has continued along the same theme with his new found passion for incorporating concrete and steel into his pieces, which will be evident at his exhibition at the Thames Art Gallery throughout May.
Gary can often be found at the Seagulls Centre gleaning inspiration for his next masterpieces.
DETAILS: Thames Art Gallery, 604 Tararu Rd, Thames, open Monday to Friday 10am to 2pm, and weekends 10am to 4pm.
