South Sea Art

Artists Whose Work We Sell

Our artists cover a wide range of media and styles. Many are local or have been in the past.

Peter Arnold

Renowned pencil sketches of historic local buildings and views.

New Zealand Scenes

Peter Arnold published a popular series of prints of his pencil sketches of NZ scenes around 20 years ago including many of Russell and the Bay of Islands. We have most of Peter's prints in stock and exclusinve rights to their reproduction.

Various sizes available - black and white or coloured.

Helena Blair

Dramatic original paintings on canvas blocks.

Iconic Landscape Images

Bom in Tilburg, Holland, I am a self-taught artist currently working with oil pastel and gouache on paper and acrylic on canvas. I have been painting, Provence, Tuscany and the NZ countryside, professionally for 11 years. I love the grandeur, starkness and natural beauty of the South Island, and the coastal contrasts of the bush and sea of the North Island.

Diane Boucher

Oil and acrylic paintings.

Whangarei Artist

Diane has been painting for five years and exhibited in several galleries.

Lesley Coleman

Northland Artist

Batchelor of Applied Arts 2000.

Based in Russell, Bay of Islands, Lesley believes strongly that she is a Northland artist. "There are shapes and contours here that you can find nowhere else". Her work considers history and how it relates to life today. She makes political statements through her work by weaving in cautionary elements about the environment and people role within it. Lesley began with 3-D Aluminium Sculpture but, having avoided painting for some time, has come home to work with oils. Lesley has been involved in

• a Northland Polytechnic Degree Graduate's exhibition in 2000;
• a solo exhibition, 'Best before 2000' in 2003,
• a mini exhibition, part of the famous Russell Art Exhibition Summer 2003-2004

Her works have been sold to people from all over New Zealand, UK, USA & Thailand

Lesley currently has an exhibition in our upstairs gallery.

Robbie Angus

Paul Deacon

Nick Fedaeff

Craig Holloway

Vjeko Nemish

Annie White

Janet Bothner-By

NZ scenic landscapes

Oil landscapes

Winner Bledisloe Landscape medal, 1985. Background in science, mathematics and botany.

Clinton Bradley

Barbara Davenport

Claire Du Bosky

Dramatic face images

Quirky Portraits

Lester Hall

Missy

Glasswork

Paul Kooy

NZ landscapes and imaginings.

Northland Artist

Paul was born in the centre of Amsterdam. He is the second eldest son out of a family of five. Paul emigrated with his family to New Zealand in 1983 to escape the overcrowded cities in Holland. Already at an ear(y age Paul demonstrated a natural talent for sketching and painting. This natural talent has been dormant in all males in the family but Paul has Been the only one to develop and nurture this to the full.

Paul never received any formal education in this field. Paul developed his skills in his spare time in addition to his other professions as laboratory technologist, industrial chemist and chemical engineer.

Paul has the ability and skills to use almost any style and medium with a natural ease although he confesses to prefer painting in oils and detailed pencil sketches. Visitors often express amazement at the variety of work on show. Paul prefers to paint his topics real, sometimes even super real, although he is not averse to stray into abstract, surreal and impressionistic creations.

The New Zealand landscapes painted by Paul are a dramatic reflection of reality with a strong atmospheric influence. Clouds and fog quite often soften the outline of hills and mountains. Paul's watercolors of the South Island are well sought after. In the last few years Paul has drawn his inspiration from the sea in the Bay of Islands which resulted in some very lively sea scenes. It has to be dynamic Paul explains.

Recently Paul has published a series of limited edition lithographs of pencil sketches of native New Zealand trees. The gnarled trunks and branches of the New Zealand native trees triggered his imagination and inspired him to the partial metamorphosis into human shapes and forms.

Space-time and multiple dimensions is the realm of Paul's boundless imagination, which he explores whenever time allows. A number of paintings are dedicated to these subjects some of which are exhibited in the gallery in Russell. Key features of these paintings are the dramatic landscapes in which the subjects and objects materialise.

Debbie Lomas

Acrylic nature paintings

Northland Artist

Debbie is a forty 'something' Northland woman who has worked for the past 20 years as a sign writer and is an outdoors person with a passion for painting. She studied Textiles & Craft Design for one year at the Polytechnic in Whangarei, and then studied with Lawrence Berry, David Sarich, Alan Charlton, known NZ Artists. Debbie likes to explore various mediums creating vibrant colours combined with iconic New Zealand scenes.

Evelyn Page

Watercolour, Bay of Islands and elsewhere.

NZ Artist (1899-1988)

Evelyn Page's richly atmospheric paintings, characterised by their luscious surfaces and vivid colour, have firmly established her as one of New Zealand's most celebrated artists. Her unique adaptation ofthe Post-Impressionist style, applied to landscapes, portraits, nudes and still lifes, was developed over a long and fruitful career spanning more than seven decades. The enduring popularity of the work owes much to its uplifting vibrancy, a direct , reflection of the extraordinary zest for life that typified the artist herself. Many of Evelyn Page's paintings reflect and extol the people and places she loved.

Janie Perrin

Watercolour and oil paintings.

Canadian and Russell Artist

Janie is Canadian born but lives in Russell, which is dear to her heart, for four months every year. She began painting in oils in 1969 and now is equally accomplished in watercolour.

Her first showing at an art exhibition was in 1971 when she entered four paintings and resulted in all four winning awards including The Best of Show'.

Janie hung up her brushes for a period of twenty years while busy working and raising a family. She picked her brushes up again after being inspired by the beauty of New Zealand while holidaying here in the Bay of Islands.

Commissioned works in oil and watercolour take up much of her time. Janie has paintings in galleries and libraries as well as private collections in Canada, the United States and New Zealand

Lynda Shephard

Watercolour landscapes, Bay of Islands and elsewhere.

Northland Artist

British. Born 1956

Trained in the U.K. and studied History of Art at Cambridge University, she has travelled extensively holding several exhibitions in England, Austria and the Middle East where she currently has her own successful art gallery in Dubai. She works in a variety of media but her favourite is watercolour, which allows her to develop detailed studies as well as more inspirational abstract paintings. Lynda is a new resident in New Zealand and lives on Te Wahapu in Russell where she has a studio overlooking the water.

Murphy Shortland

Ipipiri - Map showing traditional Maori place names of the Bay of Islands.

Ipipiri Researcher and Map Maker

Murphy Shortland's life took a turn on the day when he went fishing with a cousin. It happened in 1991. This cousin paid a visit at Manawaora with a second cousin, and the three of them rowed out in a dinghy into the bay to catch snapper and net for mullet. When they settled down waiting for a bite, the cousin pointed at a hill, on the neighbouring Gordon Farm and asked Murphy what it was called.

" I don't know," Murphy said. And he didn't know the name of the next headland, or any of the other hills, nor the creek that flows through the valley on Croydon Farm which he had been managing for years. This visiting cousin is firmly planted in tikanga Maori and he wasn't backward expressing his opinion about Murphy's ignorance. The two cousins spoke Maori and, although Murphy doesn't speak the language, he understood enough to know that they were commenting on his lack of Maori education.

Because traditionally the language and the culture are passed on by the mother. Murphy felt that their words were casting aspersions on his mother. 'They were saying that she didn't teach me enough. So I decided to find the name of that hill and show them." As he started looking, he soon developed a taste for the hunt. "I enjoyed it. Meeting people. Digging for sources, burrowing into books." Slowly, the giant jigsaw of half-forgotten history has come together gathered in binders, laid out on tables and tagged on the walls of a sunny house in Clendon Cove.

After three years of sifting through all the sources he could find, Murphy has come up with a map that recreates the pre-European picture of the Bay of Islands. As he continues to collect and organize pieces of information, the map gains more and more entries. The landforms remain unaltered but the names have changed. As hitherto unnamed places are given historical distinction, the original Maori names of such well-known landmarks as Piercy Island and Ninepin are resurrected. The sheer density of names and their meanings speak of the intensive settlement and use of the bay before the arrival of Europeans.

"To do this project, I needed the whakapapa (genealogy) on my father's and mother's side. I had a lot to learn, but it was easier than I thought it would be. If you are meant to do this, the old people will allow you to do it. If you are not, they soon stop you. And I don't mean only the the dead when I say the old people. Things would go wrong, information would dry up, nothing would come your way if that's what they wanted. But ever since I got started, information kept coming. All has gone well."

Murphy Allan Shortland was bom in 1945, one of ten children to Miria Hau and Hare Heihei Hoterene (well known in Russell as Charlie). Five of the ten children are still alive. His father Hare belonged to the Ngati Hine tribe and it was his grandfather, Te Rangaihi Hoterene, who had the distinction of being the last Ngati Hine chief to receive the chief's cloak in the traditional manner from a dying chief, his uncle Maihi, son of the great chief, Kawiti.

On his mother's side, his grandfather's line connects him to the Ngare Raumati tribe and his grandmother's line to the Ngati Wai subtribe of the Ngapuhi. The family tree is traced back to the 12th century.

Murphy started reading maps when he had to set up jobs as a bulldozer operator. He did that work for 15 years covering a lot of land. He has been farming since 1976. He met his wife Barbara, a teacher, at a dance in Whangarei when the town was celebrating its new designation as a city. "There were bands playing on the backs of trucks, and the city danced all night," says Barbara. They have been married for 25 years. She moved to teach at Russell Primary School in 1969 and returned at intervals afterward, teaching in between at Opua, Kawakawa and Waikare until retiring from Russell last year.

"Barbara has been helping me a lot," Murphy says. "She went to the Turnbull Library in Wellington, for instance, and did research in the mapping department there. She was the one who drew up the original map. Her assistance at every stage has been invaluable." The principal sources were land claim deeds and old Lands and Survey maps. The Shortlands scoured information from the Department of Lands and Survey from district surveyors, from the Department of Conservation and from archaeologists. "They couldn't help me enough," he says.

Murphy thinks that finally he may have got 60 per cent of the names. "There must be another 40 per cent out there still waiting for discovery. Every bay and every point had a name once. once.

He became a frequent visitor to the Auckland museum and institute libraries. "At first I didn't know what I was looking for, but I soon found out." He studied the minutes of Maori Land Court sittings at Kororareka. "When they decided who owns what, they used the traditional names to describe the properties. Most land deeds name all the landmarks in succession as the eye moved. They needed a starting point and a finishing point. It is interesting that this naming was mostly done from a boat out in the bay. "I'd say that nine times out of ten, Maori would sell the land from a boat, pointing at peaks, valleys and waterways."

By going out in the bay and seeing what is visible from the water. Murphy Shortland could read the land deed designations by moving his eye along the landmarks. That is how he learned the name of the creek that flows through the Manawaora farm he is managing: Waiwhakawhiti. The name of the hill on the Gordon Farm that triggered his research is Waiparuparu. The pa site nearby is Mokonuiarangi.

"That's what happened. I started looking up the name of Waiparuparu. But I couldn't stop there. One thing led to another. I don t know why I do it. I just enjoy it. Meeting people, sharing what I learn. I like the idea of going back to the old names so that people can use them again. If I hadn t started, if I waited another 30 years, a lot of the old people who could help wouldn t be around any more. I learned a lot of history. About tribes, chiefs. Missionary diaries and records were especially rich in information."

He browses in second-hand bookshops and buys anything he finds on the Bay of Islands. "I was standing in a shop in Dominion Road and a guy came in with 'Extracts from the Journals of the Ships St. Jean Baptiste 1769' (Volume I), 'Mascarin and Marquis de Castries 1772' (Volume 2), and 'Recherche and Coquille, 1793 and 1824' (Volumes 3 and 4). These were published by the Alexander Turbull Library. I bought them on the spot. The French had taken accurate bearings wherever they went. They name the place and give the location. All I had to do is transfer their figures to a modern map. I rang a retired sea captain to get confirmation. It was spot on."

The French also gave the names of Maori chiefs at the time. Murphy matches these to whakapapa and this way he knows which chief was living in which area. Other books he has found particularly helpful include Elsdon Best's Dominion Museum Bulletin to learn about Maori agriculture, fishing, pa sites, and forest lore; Augustus Earle "Nine Months' Residence in New Zealand" written in 1827; "Duperrey's Visit to New Zealand in 1824", edited by Andrew Sharp, Alexander Tumbull Library; "The Legacy of Guilt: A Life of Thomas Kendall" by Judith Binney (1968); "I Have Named It the Bay of Islands" by Jack Lee; and The Story of Northland" by A.H. Reed, "From this I learned that the first kauri cut by a European was at the top of Whakawhiti Stream, right here!"

For Ngapuhi history and that of the Kahuwera Pa he recommends Volume 42 of "The Journal of the Polynesian Society", 1933.

The Auckland Museum Library and the Department of Conservation have been very helpful with their indexes of maps, books, photos, journals and charts. Ted Jones of DOC and archaeologist James Robinson gave strong support. Alex Clifford of Russell assisted with maps and books, George Hakaraia was generous with information and confirmation of place names and so was Heather Lindauer of the Russell Museum; Rangi Higginson provided backing and so did Karani Rewha of Rawhiti. Noel Proebstel gave newspaper clippings and countless others offered information and encouragement.

The finished map, drawn and painted by Denis Brown, will be on a long term loan to the Russell Museum. It will be displayed in a stunning kauri frame of 1200mm by 1600inm hand-carved by Anita Jones of Motutau. "When I first saw this frame, I was astonished," Murphy says. "It really spells out the meaning of the map. On the left is the past, the or iginal tangata whenua, the Ngare Raumati. On the right is the present: the Ngapuhi. On the top are the spirals depicting ancestors past and present and between these are two intertwined figures symbolizing intermarriage and the sharing of the food source. On the bottom are the fish, the ancient resource of the Bay of Islands."

"When I asked Anita how did it happen to come out so beautifully, she said 'It's in the wood. I just let it out. And I believe her. She is an excellent carver." The map encompasses Taupiri Bay in the south, it reaches Ngaiotonga and includes part of the Waikare Inlet, all of Te Wahapu, Kororareka, Okahu Island and Motukokako (Piercy Island) in the north. With the conclusion of his research and the map safely deposited in the museum the Shortlands are discussing the next task. It will be a pamphlet to accompany the map, giving the history behind the place names. And after that?

"I am studying the meaning of Northland mokos. I am more and more interested in- learning about their meaning.ce, they describe the mother's ancestry, and on the right the father's." And there are the reporters, archaeologists, curious visitors and telephone calls to field and all the while a thriving farm to run. The Shortlands will never be bored.

- Eva Brown

Stephen Western

Photography, Bay of Islands and elsewhere.

"Blooming Photography"

Stephen Western has taken up residence recently in Russell in one of two substantial villas built in the township in 1910. He is an avid sailor and yachtsman, thus an interest in all things nautical is evident in his photography. His other passion is with flowers, as he spent some time in the Marlborough Sounds one of New Zealand's most picturesque corners. He has thousands of images from all parts of the country and is prepared to personalize images on request. Prints are available in various sizes and styles.

Pat Wilkinson

Watercolour landscapes, Bay of Islands and elsewhere. As well as local scenes she has also painted the Australian outback and the Cook Islands from a number of visits.

Northland Artist

Pat Wilkinson paints landscapes and seascapes with watercolours as she finds the medium gives limitless scope for experimenting. She came to Northland originally from Chrlstchurch via Devonport, a seaside suburb of Auckland. Earlier, she taught pre-school children whose free and spontaneous artistic efforts reinforced her love of Impressionist artists like Raoul Dufy.