Biography
By Theresa Sjoquist, Author.
“Painting,” says Arwen Flowers, “is for me about capturing the transient moment between states, the border between one moment and the next, one place and another.”
Her intense examination of life and the environment draws her to respond to edges, to in-between places, and to changes in state, both evanescent and physical. Until 2015 she explored these concepts using colour and texture represented by layers of torn canvas, each individually painted, and then reassembled so the flat, pristine original was reconstituted in a new form. She says, “The act of reformation was controlled, yet mishap and chance were welcome parts of the process. Layering torn canvas evoked a sense of weathering, of degradation, but also a falling away, and thereby, eventual transformation. Human beings and the natural world are both subject to the effects of time. The stripping away and fraying of edges lifted the cover on insistent and temporal nature which was documented by the canvas itself. Sometimes, the opposite occurred through the construction of tangible layers, building up a new, but imperfect vista suggestive of growth and a future.”
This internal dialogue has found form in the shape of landscapes on the canvas rather than made from it. The topic continues to exert a fascinating pull on Flowers’ consciousness and in her landscapes, is perhaps even more obvious. The juxtaposition of a small sky reflected large in water; the margins between tide and sand; rock and running river. “I see metaphors in both urban and rural landscapes,” she says. “The movement from one location to another site, or one feeling morphing into a new one, the transition through that magical point of change – it’s a difficult thing to capture.”
Auckland’s magnificent West Coast beaches and the Waitakere Ranges where Flowers grew up have marked her creative work with strong visual influences. Artistic influences certainly include Flowers’ parents, but she thrilled to Tony Fomison’s use of light and dark, to McCahon’s abstraction, Robert Ellis’ complex aerial urbanscapes, and Don Peebles canvas constructions. Another strong influence these days is the internet which enables her research in poetry, music, science, and technology, all feeding her hungry art and mind.
Encouraged at high school by her teachers for the most part, when it came to the establishment, Flowers found it difficult to get through.
“In the university environment I’d expected to be taught as I had been at high school. I lacked self-esteem and confidence, and didn’t know what I hoped to achieve, so did badly, and wanted to leave. I completed the degree though, which ultimately taught me perseverance.”
Graduating in 1995 from University of Auckland’s Elam School of Fine Arts with a BFA, her studies included an initial two years of photography under John Turner and Megan Jenkinson, followed by arts tutoring under Don Binney, Robert Ellis, Dick Frizzell and Philippa Blair.
Photography is an important resource for Flowers because it allows her the time to work with an image. Having never painted outside a studio she often uses her photographs to ensnare the muse. “A photo is a photo,” she says. “A painting is a painting; they’re different. I love the natural environment and the camera captures the way I see light and motion, but that’s not enough. I want to use my hands to make it part of me. Painting changes a photo into something more personal, something imbued with who I am. Using marks and colour to change the details, a painting developed from a photo can be altered to focus the meaning of the image.”
Flower’s father was a Post Office telephone technician when she was born in Auckland in 1973. Her mother stayed at home, working part-time while her children were at primary school, and then trained as a teacher. “In the bottom of our hallway cupboard Mum kept a huge box full of little wooden print blocks, brushes, paints, inks, mediums, pencils and pastels. To me it was a fragrant magic treasure. “Mum was a painter and very creative. She knitted dolls which she sold, did macramé, went on to do printmaking, took poster-art classes, and worked as a photo-colourist for well-known photographer, Christopher Bede. She was always painting, predominantly landscapes in oils. She hadn’t been encouraged to view art as a career choice, and because she understood how important it was, she was supportive of my art education and practice.”
Critical encouragement came from Flowers’ father who persuaded her to step back and observe perspective. “Dad showed me that things had balance and structure. He taught me to question life, and not to accept everything at face value. Music was part of our conversations too, and has long featured in my creative process.”
Often naming works after lyrics or songs, Flowers once completed a painting to a single repeatedly played song to embed the mood and lyrics in the work. Painting work is often broken up by spells at the piano, or on bass guitar, or listening to music. “Music impacts my mood and helps me focus.”
By the time Flowers was almost through art school, she realised that talent was useless unless art-making was continual, and that over time if she kept at it, she’d be successful.
Up until 2014 she worked almost exclusively with acrylics but then made the shift to oils. They provided the texture and a vibrancy of colour she had missed, and allow her time to move the paint around. The discovery of oils led to a progression in her work. Initially used to combat the flatness and quick-drying problems of acrylics, they also provided a solution to issues of the torn canvas texture becoming a too dominant force. Because oils have a variable consistency, she can choose whether to let the subject, or the medium dominate.
Art is a safeguard, and a bolt-hole for Flowers who is a busy, part-time working mother of three to Griffin (17), Sara (9), and William (8). “I don’t need the muse to work at art, so I don’t wait for inspiration to strike. I structure my art hours, whether it’s photography, printmaking, collecting materials, planning an artwork or actually painting. If I want to show work or sell, I think about where to sell, and a lot of time goes into filling out forms, dropping work off and picking it up, as well as marketing.”
Because she only has one day a week and weekends in which to forge ahead with art she is obliged to work within the time available (usually 6-8 hours a week). Never short of ideas or knowing where she wants to go next, she says, “It’s all about when I can get the time!”
In 2011 in Helensville, northwest of Auckland, Flowers opened a collaborative art gallery. The idea came out of the enjoyment of having the space to display her work during an earlier exhibition. “It’s desirable for artists to find good exhibition spaces at low cost. I wanted to be able to keep my work up on the walls and realised that if I collaborated with other artists, we could manage it. It certainly wasn’t a money-making exercise. After 18 months of rosters, organising people, marketing, and manning the gallery in weekends, it was time to step back and use the energy to paint at home again. It had been an extroverted thing to do, an outward focused exercise, and I needed to return to my own private space, but I loved meeting other artists, and the public – it nurtured me in many ways.”
Artistic challenge is connected with the notion of success for Flowers who admits she’s still trying to work out what that means to her. She paints for herself as a palpable need, but doesn’t want to waste the effort, to have the work stacked around the studio. From the perspective of the work itself, the challenge is in conveying that thing, the eye-gripping wow factor. “Artists are gatherers, of information and experiences, who then translate them into their own creations. I love the meditative quality that a long painting session brings, where one foot is in the now and the other in the subconscious. I’m aware of what I’m doing, but free to let the image flow. It’s an in-between space which, if I go into it feeling scattered, I come out of feeling wholly connected. If I’m not able to paint for a while, I can get pretty crabby."
“I’m aware of strong pressure to be consistent in my approach and in the look of what I produce if I want to maintain success in the market place. That can feel like detrimental pressure sometimes, because if I let it, it can rob my freedom to explore and learn and squashes the joy in what I do. Essentially I’m a painter, but I’d like to have a go at including, or working in other media if it seemed right at the time, and not have it sacrifice the credibility of my previous work. Since a residency in March 2016, Arwen has been working with a mixed media approach based in printmaking, while also continuing to paint.
Arwen Flowers lives and paints in Helensville, in northwestern Auckland, New Zealand.
“Painting,” says Arwen Flowers, “is for me about capturing the transient moment between states, the border between one moment and the next, one place and another.”
Her intense examination of life and the environment draws her to respond to edges, to in-between places, and to changes in state, both evanescent and physical. Until 2015 she explored these concepts using colour and texture represented by layers of torn canvas, each individually painted, and then reassembled so the flat, pristine original was reconstituted in a new form. She says, “The act of reformation was controlled, yet mishap and chance were welcome parts of the process. Layering torn canvas evoked a sense of weathering, of degradation, but also a falling away, and thereby, eventual transformation. Human beings and the natural world are both subject to the effects of time. The stripping away and fraying of edges lifted the cover on insistent and temporal nature which was documented by the canvas itself. Sometimes, the opposite occurred through the construction of tangible layers, building up a new, but imperfect vista suggestive of growth and a future.”
This internal dialogue has found form in the shape of landscapes on the canvas rather than made from it. The topic continues to exert a fascinating pull on Flowers’ consciousness and in her landscapes, is perhaps even more obvious. The juxtaposition of a small sky reflected large in water; the margins between tide and sand; rock and running river. “I see metaphors in both urban and rural landscapes,” she says. “The movement from one location to another site, or one feeling morphing into a new one, the transition through that magical point of change – it’s a difficult thing to capture.”
Auckland’s magnificent West Coast beaches and the Waitakere Ranges where Flowers grew up have marked her creative work with strong visual influences. Artistic influences certainly include Flowers’ parents, but she thrilled to Tony Fomison’s use of light and dark, to McCahon’s abstraction, Robert Ellis’ complex aerial urbanscapes, and Don Peebles canvas constructions. Another strong influence these days is the internet which enables her research in poetry, music, science, and technology, all feeding her hungry art and mind.
Encouraged at high school by her teachers for the most part, when it came to the establishment, Flowers found it difficult to get through.
“In the university environment I’d expected to be taught as I had been at high school. I lacked self-esteem and confidence, and didn’t know what I hoped to achieve, so did badly, and wanted to leave. I completed the degree though, which ultimately taught me perseverance.”
Graduating in 1995 from University of Auckland’s Elam School of Fine Arts with a BFA, her studies included an initial two years of photography under John Turner and Megan Jenkinson, followed by arts tutoring under Don Binney, Robert Ellis, Dick Frizzell and Philippa Blair.
Photography is an important resource for Flowers because it allows her the time to work with an image. Having never painted outside a studio she often uses her photographs to ensnare the muse. “A photo is a photo,” she says. “A painting is a painting; they’re different. I love the natural environment and the camera captures the way I see light and motion, but that’s not enough. I want to use my hands to make it part of me. Painting changes a photo into something more personal, something imbued with who I am. Using marks and colour to change the details, a painting developed from a photo can be altered to focus the meaning of the image.”
Flower’s father was a Post Office telephone technician when she was born in Auckland in 1973. Her mother stayed at home, working part-time while her children were at primary school, and then trained as a teacher. “In the bottom of our hallway cupboard Mum kept a huge box full of little wooden print blocks, brushes, paints, inks, mediums, pencils and pastels. To me it was a fragrant magic treasure. “Mum was a painter and very creative. She knitted dolls which she sold, did macramé, went on to do printmaking, took poster-art classes, and worked as a photo-colourist for well-known photographer, Christopher Bede. She was always painting, predominantly landscapes in oils. She hadn’t been encouraged to view art as a career choice, and because she understood how important it was, she was supportive of my art education and practice.”
Critical encouragement came from Flowers’ father who persuaded her to step back and observe perspective. “Dad showed me that things had balance and structure. He taught me to question life, and not to accept everything at face value. Music was part of our conversations too, and has long featured in my creative process.”
Often naming works after lyrics or songs, Flowers once completed a painting to a single repeatedly played song to embed the mood and lyrics in the work. Painting work is often broken up by spells at the piano, or on bass guitar, or listening to music. “Music impacts my mood and helps me focus.”
By the time Flowers was almost through art school, she realised that talent was useless unless art-making was continual, and that over time if she kept at it, she’d be successful.
Up until 2014 she worked almost exclusively with acrylics but then made the shift to oils. They provided the texture and a vibrancy of colour she had missed, and allow her time to move the paint around. The discovery of oils led to a progression in her work. Initially used to combat the flatness and quick-drying problems of acrylics, they also provided a solution to issues of the torn canvas texture becoming a too dominant force. Because oils have a variable consistency, she can choose whether to let the subject, or the medium dominate.
Art is a safeguard, and a bolt-hole for Flowers who is a busy, part-time working mother of three to Griffin (17), Sara (9), and William (8). “I don’t need the muse to work at art, so I don’t wait for inspiration to strike. I structure my art hours, whether it’s photography, printmaking, collecting materials, planning an artwork or actually painting. If I want to show work or sell, I think about where to sell, and a lot of time goes into filling out forms, dropping work off and picking it up, as well as marketing.”
Because she only has one day a week and weekends in which to forge ahead with art she is obliged to work within the time available (usually 6-8 hours a week). Never short of ideas or knowing where she wants to go next, she says, “It’s all about when I can get the time!”
In 2011 in Helensville, northwest of Auckland, Flowers opened a collaborative art gallery. The idea came out of the enjoyment of having the space to display her work during an earlier exhibition. “It’s desirable for artists to find good exhibition spaces at low cost. I wanted to be able to keep my work up on the walls and realised that if I collaborated with other artists, we could manage it. It certainly wasn’t a money-making exercise. After 18 months of rosters, organising people, marketing, and manning the gallery in weekends, it was time to step back and use the energy to paint at home again. It had been an extroverted thing to do, an outward focused exercise, and I needed to return to my own private space, but I loved meeting other artists, and the public – it nurtured me in many ways.”
Artistic challenge is connected with the notion of success for Flowers who admits she’s still trying to work out what that means to her. She paints for herself as a palpable need, but doesn’t want to waste the effort, to have the work stacked around the studio. From the perspective of the work itself, the challenge is in conveying that thing, the eye-gripping wow factor. “Artists are gatherers, of information and experiences, who then translate them into their own creations. I love the meditative quality that a long painting session brings, where one foot is in the now and the other in the subconscious. I’m aware of what I’m doing, but free to let the image flow. It’s an in-between space which, if I go into it feeling scattered, I come out of feeling wholly connected. If I’m not able to paint for a while, I can get pretty crabby."
“I’m aware of strong pressure to be consistent in my approach and in the look of what I produce if I want to maintain success in the market place. That can feel like detrimental pressure sometimes, because if I let it, it can rob my freedom to explore and learn and squashes the joy in what I do. Essentially I’m a painter, but I’d like to have a go at including, or working in other media if it seemed right at the time, and not have it sacrifice the credibility of my previous work. Since a residency in March 2016, Arwen has been working with a mixed media approach based in printmaking, while also continuing to paint.
Arwen Flowers lives and paints in Helensville, in northwestern Auckland, New Zealand.