Growing up on a remote farm on Banks Peninsula made an indelible impression on painter Andrée de Latour – so much so that for the last few years she has been working and reworking the forms of hills, lonely houses and the sea in her canvases, with no signs of exhausting the possibilities of this imagery.
She is currently exhibiting recent work alongside Bridget Bidwill who, like her, attended Ilam School of Fine Arts at Canterbury University in the 1970s.
Andrée grew up in a private bay near Le Bons Bay on the Peninsula, on land settled by her grandparents who met in a sanatorium while they were both TB patients. Originally, the bay was only accessible by boat.
“It’s that isolation, the hills and seas, it’s there all the time for me,” she says.
Andrée was educated by correspondence school, then went to boarding school before enrolling at Ilam, though she soon regretted taking graphic design rather than the painting course. Travelling , marriage and children followed and she now lives in the hills beyond Martinborough where she and her husband have spent the past three years building a house. She decided to commit time to painting and factored in a studio space in the new house.
Andrée paints slowly, allowing her imagery to emerge on the canvas rather than pre-planning, so many revisions have gone on in the layers behind the final image. The light on the local hills is a constant source of inspiration. The simplified forms of New Zealand painter Michael Illingworth have also been an influence, along with Colin McCahon’s landscapes.
Initially she painted vessels, baskets and boxes but now it is the hills that attract her: “They’re in me, the hills and sea. That’s my turangawaiwai.”
Creative school holidays
Aratoi will again be providing creative options for children this summer. The first week of the art programme – 14-16 January – will see children making structures based on seed and plant forms, which they will then light from inside. The following week (21-23 Jan), they will be studying local legends and native creatures, to create their own characters. There will be the opportunity for one or more of these characters to become a part of Aratoi’s new interactive website, inspired by the Wairarapa Moana exhibition. Suitable for ages 7-12. Bookings essential T: 06 370 0001.
Currently showing at Aratoi: Reflection and Image: Recent works by Bridget Bidwill and Andrée de Latour, until 23 Feb; Close to Home: William Beetham Portraits, until 23 Feb; Apocalypse Now: Anthony Davies; until 23 Feb; Friends of Aratoi Art Awards 2013, until 3 February; Vincent Ward Breath - the fleeting intensity of life, until 28 Feb 2014.
