LocArt Visits
LocArt visits are for Friends only and cost $5.00.
To register for LocArt please book using the form [PDF 20KB] or write to: FOCAG, P O Box 2626 Christchurch, including your name, address and phone number, the event and date you wish to attend, along with your payment. The address details for each visit are printed in Bulletin.
STUDIO VISIT: Elfie Spiewack & Mary Buckett
Wednesday 18 June 2008, 10.30am
 Contemporary jeweller, Elfie Spiewack immigrated to New Zealand from Germany in 1999 and has exhibited in group and solo shows since 2003. Her finely crafted pieces of art, in gold, silver and semi-precious stones, testify to the four years she spent as an apprentice in Germany in addition to gaining a University degree in Design, before embarking on a freelance career. Elfi has exhibited through New Zealand, Germany, the Netherlands and the USA.
Elfi shares a High St. Studio with a colleague, Mary Buckett who left behind a successful career in nursing and then counselling after a metal work course, undertaken at Hagley College, provided her with the impetus to pursue a career in the arts. Mary attained a diploma in Jewellery techniques from the MIT, Auckland, where she mastered the skills of casting, stone-setting, engraving and enamelling. Mary works predominantly with silver and casts directly from organic plant materials which lend her unique pieces a rustic and tactile quality.
STUDIO VISIT: Tim Main
Saturday 21 June 2008, 10.30am
 Christchurch printmaker and sculptor Tim Main takes his design inspiration straight from the naturally occurring forms of nature, particularly native New Zealand plants, to create contemporary gothic works in wood and clay that echo medieval decorative art traditions.
Main graduated with a Bachelor of Craft Arts majoring in Sculpture and Textile printing from C.P.I.T. School of Art and Design to which he later returned to teach textile printing. He was awarded the Dowse Student Study Award in 1999 for excellence in craft and design. In 2003 he collaborated with fashion designer Sharon Ng. Main was the artist in residence at The Arts Centre, Christchurch in 2005. He has participated in both group and solo shows and has work in both private and public collections throughout New Zealand, including the Canterbury Museum, the Christchurch Art Gallery and the James Wallace Trust.
Artist’s statement: "The broad theme of my work is based around observing the sense of order and purpose in nature, and finding ways to visually express that. I start with pattern, and the idea that the pleasure of the aesthetic experience lies in finding a balance between a guiding structure and a variety of flourishes, a harmony of order and movement."
"I like the idea that we can observe the medley of forms in a plant and select from that a few characteristics or expressive elements that will function as a stylistic motif. When this is taken into pattern, the result can function as a generalized symbol of nature. Traditionally in the decorative arts, laying plant motifs in a repeating pattern symbolizes the regenerative quality of nature and embodies the sense of order that comes from the perception of pattern in our environment. There is a yearning for perpetuity embodied in pattern, and a desire to understand nature’s sublime secret of creation."
STUDIO VISIT: Liz Walker
Saturday 19 July 2008, 10.30am
 Teddington based Ceramicist Liz Walker, whose work featured in the recent Form and Fire Exhibition, has been working with clay for over 20 years, revelling in the creative and cathartic process of creating new and tactile forms out of the natural medium of clay.
Her unique pieces include urns, sacred vessels, orbs, and other highly personal memory-keepers. To ensure uniqueness, Liz experiments with alternative firing methods, such as raku, naked raku, pit and barrel firing, and employs a horsehair markings technique.
Her tactile pieces are inspired by nature and the environment around her home and bear testament to the highly personal nature of her craft.
See more of her works at www.craterrimceramics.co.nz and www.sacredvessels.co.nz.
STUDIO VISIT: Riduan Tomkins
Thursday 31 July 2008, 10am
 Riduan Tomkins studied at the Royal College of Art in London in the 1960s before moving to New Zealand to take up a position as senior lecturer in painting at the University of Canterbury from 1985 to 1995.
Here, his painterly approach coupled with the intellectual rigour of his work left an indelible impression upon Ilam’s next generation of emerging artists, including Séraphine Pick and Shane Cotton.
Riduan is represented by Betty Parsons in New York and London, and his work features in public and private collections in throughout America, Europe, South East Asia and New Zealand. His latest exhibition at SoFA features recent works that continue to embody his preoccupation with fragmentary narrative and formal invention.
See more of Riduan’s works.
STUDIO VISIT: Simon Edwards
Saturday 23 August 2008, 10.30am
 Instantly recognisable and eminently desirable, Simon Edwards’ immaculately executed landscapes in oil and charcoal pay tribute to 19th Century landscape traditions and yet remain utterly modern often due to his subtle urban motifs that exist either between the layers of oil or emerge from the smoky depths of his charcoal.
Since graduating from the University of Canterbury’s School of Fine Arts in 1997, Edwards has held solo exhibitions – most recently at Milford Galleries, Dunedin – and has participated in group shows on a regular basis – annually since 2003 – at which his atmospheric vistas have continued to impress his fans and critics alike.
Christchurch born Edwards was a finalist in the 1997 Cranleigh Barton Drawing Award. Further accolades include the “People’s Choice Award” at the prestigious Anthony Harper Award for Contemporary Art in 2005. His work is represented in private and public collections both in New Zealand and internationally.
Edwards prepares his own stretchers from Canadian cedar and uses the finest canvas and Belgian linens, which he first undercoats with gesso. Art broker, Malcolm McNeill describes Edwards’ oil paintings as “veils of colour painstakingly applied layer by layer ... [culminating in an] harmonious pictorial whole.”
See more of Simon’s works.
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