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Love of colour and joy for life are the inspirations for a new exhibition by two artists at the Mangawhai Artists Gallery that opens this month.
Colour Dance features works in oils and mixed media by Marion Stutz and Mel Juer, which the gallery describes as “joyful, festive and evocative” and an ideal show for the holiday period.
Stutz says she chooses colours intuitively to reflect the atmosphere she wants to project.
“Colour is important to me because of the impact it has on both artist and viewer, through the enormous range of emotions it can inspire in us – from grief, melancholy and sadness through to contemplation, gentle appreciation and unadulterated joy,” she says.
“I love working in oil paints as the oil medium allows me interesting textures in rich opaque tints and translucent glazes, and the ability to manipulate the paint with its slower drying time.”
Juer works in oils as well, but also uses reductive charcoal or pen and Indian ink.
“The change in colour hue and tone during the seasons is one of the ways I connect with the earth and energies around us,” she says.
“This helps me to live in a way that is in tune with nature around me, and to stay connected to the land and the sky. I also like to work in black and white, which is also a wonderful way to simplify things.”
Both artists take inspiration from the Kaipara landscape and the beauty of the natural world.“My work examines the qualities of the world that surrounds us,” says Stutz. “I reveal the beauty in landforms, sky and cloud patterns, the incredible light and depth in water, the singular nature of what people love in the things they consider beautiful.”
Juer agrees.
“I am inspired by my life and emotions, the landscape of Te Tai Tokerau and by the growth I am experiencing at this stage in my life,” she says.
Colour Dance opens at 6pm on Friday, December 23 at the gallery at 45 Moir Street, Mangawhai, with music as well as art from Juer, who sings with a local band.
The exhibition will be open daily 10am to 3pm (except Christmas Day) until 12 noon on Wednesday, January 4.
