Judy Thaisen-Bird At Toi O Tahuna Fine Art Gallery

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 9 April 2007

Judy Thaisen-Bird At Toi O Tahuna Fine Art Gallery

Toi o Tahuna fine art gallery will be holding an exhibition in their Church Lane gallery showcasing Judy Thaisen-Bird. The exhibition is a reflection of Judy’s first visit to Queenstown last year and includes a series from her Crown Range crossing.

Judy started her formal art education after marrying young and raising a family of six children. She had always been involved with art clubs and societies but then enrolled to study Art history at Auckland University and Fine arts at Whitecliffe College. She subsequently continued her studies including subjects such as typography, printing and social anthropology.

Judy was raised in an atmosphere were she came to appreciate and admire Maori culture at a time when it wasn’t popular or common to do so. Her great great grandfather married a chief’s daughter and her family have been honoured as relatives ever since, including being invited to the marae for a recent family reunion. This affinity to the Māori culture blends with her passion for art and comes together in her paintings.

Judy’s paintings are closely linked to Maori legends and heritage and include many of the sacred native New Zealand birds and plant. Ecology, history and conservation all appear as themes throughout her work. She describes her most recent paintings as contextual using light, movement and colour to create visual sounds. These paintings are result of her first impression of Queenstown when she visited for the first time a year ago and include a series from her Crown Range crossing. She was especially fascinated by the changing light that she says you could never catch with a camera, “It flattens the scene, detracting from the light and takes something away by photographing it”. It is for this reason that she works from memory. After building up layers of colour Judy adds textures to her paintings by scraping on the paint with her palette knife, dabbing it on with a sponge or anything else that comes to hand that motivates her.

The exhibition will run from 13 April untill 20 April 2007 with a preview on the evening of Thursday 12 April, 5.30pm - 7.30pm.

ENDS#

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