Capital show for Warkworth artist

Warkworth artist Sonia Fraser is heading to Wellington to put her work on show along with hundreds of other artists at the NZ Art Show next month.

The three-day show is held in the waterfront TSB Bank Arena and is the largest art show in New Zealand, attracting thousands of people.

Sonia has been painting in Mahurangi for about 20 years, first training under Robin Midgley in Orewa before enrolling in a diploma course at Hungry Creek Art School.

She graduated in 2006 and continued to paint part-time, before going back to study an advance diploma at Hungry Creek in 2013.

“You can become quite isolated working as an artist,” Sonia says. “The art school had a great community with so many other supportive artists. It’s a loss for the area now it’s gone.”

She has concentrated on landscape realism, painting from photographs taken on holidays in the South Island and at Northland beaches, but adapts compositions and styles to achieve a more expressive vision.

She held a successful exhibition at Art Matakana last year and has work in other Auckland galleries.

“I did a series of paintings focused on twisted trees silhouetted on stormy skies last year.

I’m interested in exploring different perspectives in landscapes – some of my paintings have been taken from photographs my husband took while dangling out of trees, looking down a cliff at the ocean.”

Sonia credits her grandmother, who attended art school in the 1930’s, as one of her earliest art influences.

“She always encouraged me to explore my creative side.”