Sonia Frimmel talks about her brilliant paintings of New Zealand. I’m a Waikato-based artist who simply enjoys bringing the natural environment into people’s homes and offices with bright, colourful renditions of native plants and animals set in a wild mix of environments. I like making artworks that make people feel happy and positive, but do want to remind people that the habitats and animals depicted in my paintings and drawings are fragile and many may not survive without our help. I always liked drawing when I was a kid, but moved away from art for a time after I left school. In those years I was nursing but spent every spare moment in the hills before setting off on the inevitable OE. On my return I decided I should follow my heart not my head, and set off to Lincoln with the idea that I would become a ranger. But, while at university, I discovered ‘interpretation’ – that’s using guides or well-crafted signs to bring heritage stories to life for those visiting our natural places and historic sites. I was hooked. It combined everything I enjoyed, everything important to me: words, art, history, nature, conservation and people. The fact that I could make a living doing it – unbelievable, amazing! And so I have spent the last 20 years in the field, working initially for the Auckland Regional Council, then the Department of Conservation (DOC), before setting up my own business in 1998. My time in DOC was wonderful – I worked with dedicated and enthusiastic people, I saw some fantastic places and I felt like the work we were doing mattered. I think my favourite artistic moment came several years after I had done a painting as a farewell gift for someone who had given many years of service as a scientist to the Wildlife Service and DOC. The recipient came up to me at a function and told me how he looks at the painting every day and is reminded not just of the beautiful places he has seen and the birds he has worked to protect, but the amazing people he has worked with – the ones who had commissioned the painting. I would like for my illustrations, paintings and signs to be a link between art and conservation, science and storytelling – but maybe they are just something bright and cheerful to hang on a wall.
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 19:31:20 +0000
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