As our border opens up, our artists can again take their work to the world. Face-to-face business is a warm welcome after three years of Zoom calls and emails.
Across the ditch, Sydney Contemporary held its first exhibition at Carriageworks since 2019, with New Zealand galleries Gow Langsford, Paul Nache, Michael Lett, Starkwhite and Fox Jensen McCrory presenting New Zealand artists to an international audience of 35,000.
Relaxed travel also provided the opportunity to revisit the companies making the materials artists use. I traveled to Germany to visit Schmincke Artist Colours in Dusseldorf and da Vinci Artist Brushes in Nurnberg, who in 2021 had made me one of six Brand Ambassadors.
Both these reputable manufacturers were introduced to New Zealand by my father through Studio Art Supplies over 30 years ago, and we developed close relationships with these families who have been making artist materials for generations. Schmincke paints and da Vinci brushes are now a firm favourite of many New Zealand painters, combining family traditions with German technical know-how, and available nationwide through Gordon Harris stores.
I’ve been working with these companies to promote their products and to help develop new materials for artists for many years, and so it was an honour to be appointed Brand Ambassador. In both cities we shot videos to show how different materials influence art making techniques, and at Schmincke we unveiled our latest collaboration - the Horadam Watercolour Ultimate Mixing Set.
Paint sets contain pre-selected colours that offer a good but predictable set for mixing. I wanted to showcase more exciting colours that would offer an unusual but still practical palette so more confident painters could explore colour possibilities they wouldn’t otherwise take.
In Schmincke’s lab, I was able to discuss new colour discoveries and got to play with advance samples. Talk about a kid in the candy store! And of course, these insights return to Aotearoa with me to enrich our artists’ experience of their materials.
The Ultimate Mixing Set will be available in December at Studio Art Supplies and Gordon Harris, and represents the special relationship between our motu and the wider world.
EVAN WOODRUFFE, Studio Art Supplies
www.studioart.co.nz