During the Covid-19 lockdowns last year, many people experienced a heightened awareness of and pleasure in the natural world. Their immediate neighbourhoods became temporarily, less-trafficked, quieter. The natural world seemed to breathe more deeply.
Some contemporary artists’ work is rooted in their sensitivity to the natural world. This means applying a kind of visual mindfulness and paying extra attention to it. Their observations enrich our daily experience and open up the world of the imagination.
Sophie Saunders comments: ‘It seems to me that it is possible to see our surroundings freshly only when we make the effort to take time to pause and be present. I am learning more and more that this takes conscious, repeated effort.’
Gerda Leenards
Dutch-born painter Gerda Leenards lives in Paekākāriki. After a career as a draughtswoman and graphic design assistant, she completed a Diploma of Fine Arts from Ilam School of Fine Arts, Canterbury, in 1970. Her recent series based on Kāpiti island was inspired by the novel Wulf, by Hamish Clayton, exploring the history of Kāpiti Island and Māori chief Te Rauparaha, were painted at nightfall when the weather patterns around the island create unique and dramatic light effects.
While influenced by European landscape painting traditions, Gerda’s love of the New Zealand landscape had led to nine trips to Fiordland, often working in partnership with DOC. Her last trip in 2019 explored the historic first meeting between Ngāi Tahu and Captain Cook in Tamatea (Dusky Sound).
Frances Jill Studd
Frances Jill Studd is an artist who works across several mediums. She graduated from Ilam School of Fine Arts in 1972 and has shown widely in New Zealand and exhibited in the U.K. She has received five grants from Creative NZ and worked in many residencies, most recently at Caselberg in Dunedin and at Gallery 85 in Whanganui. She has been based on the Kāpiti Coast since 2004.
Sophie Saunders
Sophie Saunders was born in 1968, is of NZ–Luxembourg descent, and is Kāpiti-based. Her main interest has always been colour, light and shape and the communication of a sense of the ineffable, when she is lucky enough to get a taste of it.
While studying at Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, she received a Graduate Scholarship and the Rothmans Award. Sophie graduated with a MFA (First Class Honours in Painting) in 1992 and has been a finalist in the James Wallace Art Award (four times), the Visa Gold Art Award (twice), the Waikato Art Award and the Wellington Regional Art Award. She has taught painting at Elam School of Fine Arts; the School of Fine Arts and the School of Art & Design Studies, both in Massey University, and tutored at The Learning Connexion since 2004. In 1998–89 Sophie took up the Rita Angus Cottage Residency, Wellington. She has travelled in the USA, and Asia and lived and worked in Japan for two years. On a recent trip to Europe (2019) she reconnected with her Luxembourg roots. This has been very meaningful, and has caused her to call into question her entire art practice.
Janet Bayly
The moving image, painting and art history have influenced Janet Bayly’s approach to making photographic images since the late 1970s when she started using polaroid cameras and exploring alternative approaches to ‘straight’ photography. She graduated with a Master of Fine Arts from Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland in 1980 and studied and worked in the United States with the support of the Anne C. Martindell Award for Young Artists and a Creative NZ grant. Her work is held in New Zealand public collections including Te Papa Tongarewa, Govett Brewster Art Gallery, Christchurch Art Gallery, Te Manawa, the Dowse Art Museum, the Parliamentary Art Collection, Wellington City Art Collection and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and private collections in NZ, the U.S.A., Australia and the U.K.