Artist Profile
Esther Smith
I graduated with a bachelor of Visual Art and Design from EIT Hawkes Bay in 2001.
From 2000 to 2010 I participated in many group exhibitions and regularly supplying work to Statements gallery in Napier first, then Tamarillo gallery in Wellington and finally Parnell gallery Auckland.
Primarily working in Acrylic on board for my abstract paintings and acrylic and oils on canvas for my realistic paintings.
In 2006 I met Guillaume, a French winemaker working a vintage in NZ; we married in 2009. The following year I said to him ‘I am living my dream of being an artist, what is your dream’. His reply was to plant a small vineyard and to create his own wine label.
So that’s what we did – in 2010 we bought a padlock on the Waimarama road Hawkes Bay, planted the gardens (I am an avid gardener, I love my flowers), built a cottage; in 2012 our daughter Lilly was born, we planted our vineyard, built the main house, established our wine label – Maison Noire ( click link maisonnoire.nz ).
In 2019 I tried to make space for art in my life once again, producing just 2 small paintings for an exhibition at Muse.
In 2020 I decided it was time for me to commit to paint again. I have a wonderfull studio in the cottage, surrounded by gardens, trees and birdsong. It is good to be painting again.
Treasures of the Deep'
Artist: Esther Smith
Description: [Mixed Media on Board]
A lover of colour, a seductive iridescent shimmer, a flash of metallic.
Since graduating with a Bachelor of Visual Art and Design from EIT Hawkes Bay in 2001, I have participated in many group exhibitions and regularly supplying work to galleries in Hawkes Bay, Wellington and Auckland.
I have a wonderful studio, surrounded by gardens, trees and birdsong.
I have always been experimental with the material I use, adding textured papers, thread, fabric, gold leaf, inks and paint to create a tactile and alluring surface.
Recently I have been exploring the possibilities of resin: the sometimes-unexpected chemical reactions between pigments, room temperature and resin temperature can have a magical outcome - or not! Exciting and terrifying all at once.
Echoes of another time, another place, another life. A whisper of unease of mystery, evoking feelings - stirring memories. Spaces that are unknown yet familiar.
Reoccurring Theme: Transience, the human construct of time: linear, cyclical etc, duality: microcosm/macrocosm, Dionysian/Apollonian and utopian/dystopian.
Connection to Roy: Roy (Mr Dunningham) was my 7th form art teacher at Havelock North High School.
He taught me to see that painting didn’t need to be an exact copy of what I saw but could be played with manipulated, broken up and cropped.
He opened the door of abstraction for me, a new way of seeing.
Size / dimentions: 794mm x 794mm
Media Type: Mixed Media, Painting
