Wendy Grace Allen - North Auckland Print

MVA, DFA, Grad.Dip.Tchg Sec



I grew up in the wild and beautiful landscape of New Zealand. I enjoy travel and have lived in Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. I have shared houses with Japanese, Korean, Thai and Malaysian friends. My work is heavily influenced by living and working cross-culturally, and responds to the myriad of cultures that make up the Asia Pacific.
 
My art practice moves easily from one process to the next, employing painting, sculpture, installation, photography and digital manipulation as I respond to living in different environments. My ideas, and the process of creating work that responds to those ideas, dictate the media I use. My oeuvre embodies a diverse range of media including bronze, glass, ceramic, chocolate, seaweed, lard, fabric, digital art, paint and paper. I like to explore ideas that intrigue me, find creative solutions to problems, comment on the world around me and respond to the physicality of combining a variety of art materials in new and dynamic ways. I also enjoy creating site-specific installations, utilising light, space and sculptural forms that are informed by an interest in architecture and design. A reoccurring thread through my work is the way I engage in the creative process through the immediacy of paint. This expressive journey celebrates the process of creating, capturing a moment, responding to my environment, memory or experience in an immediately physical, tactile and poetic manner. I drip, pour, dot, flick and swirl paint, ink and other media across the surface of the work, creating an all-over composition influenced by painting's recent history. My current body of work is informed by a conceptual painting framework that investigates the conventions of painting and utilises contemporary technologies, aesthetics and materials.
 
My cross-cultural collaborative work aims to promote peace, empathy and mutual understanding through rich conversations and shared knowledge, building networks, and establishing connections between communities, art and life. My vision is to create opportunities for change through my art and collaborative practice. I endeavour to approach my collaborative work with humility, integrity and respect for difference.
 
Just as my infant daughter shows such delight in her everyday life experiences, I strive for my art to inspire a sense of wonder, be thought provoking and challenge viewers to see and experience the world in a new way. Underpinning my work is my faith in, and experience of, a creative God.
 
To view a selection of Wendy's work Click here

Webiste: wendygraceallen.com 

Here are few Questions I asked Wendy 
What exhibitions are you most proud of? 
I'm proud of my achievement curating and exhibiting The Border Crossing Art Project in Bangkok in February 2010, then touring it to South Australia in September 2010. Another highlight is my solo exhibition Rural Go Go that also showed in Bangkok in February 2010 and was based on my experience as artist in residence in rural North East Thailand. My graduation exhibitions in Otago and Australia for my Diploma of Fine Arts and Master of Visual Arts were also significant milestones in my art career.
 
The 10 most interesting things that have happened to you that have contributed to your art? 
  1. God healing me of a traumatic brain injury from a skiing accident 12 years earlier.
  2. Visiting refugee camps on the Thai/Myanmar border.
  3. Living and travelling around South East Asia.
  4. Staying in a remote minority hill tribe village in Northern Laos.
  5. Visiting the Louvre and Pompidou, in Paris, Tate, and other galleries in London.
  6. Learning from New Zealand artists Paul Dibble, Jeff Thompson, Nigel Dawson, Di Ffrench, Peter Cleverly, Graeme Cornwall, Wayne Everson, Jason Greig and Allie Eagle.
  7. Training as a gallery guide for the Art Gallery of South Australia.
  8. Living with Japanese, Korean and Thai friends
  9. Representing New Zealand as a teenager for an International Girl Guide Jamburee in Japan.
  10. Winning the first of many colouring competitions at the age of 4.
What creative ideas and plans are in the pipeline for the next twelve months? 
I'm co-ordinating a three person exhibition at A Fine Line Gallery, Matakana in October 2011.
I'm helping to bring refugees artwork from Myanmar/Burma to go on an exhibition tour of New Zealand, for Partners Relief and Development organisation.
I'm working towards bringing The Border Crossing Art Project to New Zealand audiences.
I have several other group shows and proposals for exhibitions I'm working on.
 
What factors do you believe played a significant part in you becoming an artist? 
I believe that God who is Himself the most creative being, called me to explore, know, express and understand this aspect of His character and the world He created, through my art practice. He gave me the talent and opportunities to learn skills and gain experiences to fulfill this calling.
 
In what ways are you making a difference in people's lives? 
I'm passionate about my vision to create opportunities for transformative experiences through my art. My work connects people by facilitating and by my participation in artistic collaborations, that build networks and forge links between art, life and communities. I approach my collaborative work with humility, integrity and respect for difference. My cross-cultural work promotes, peace, empathy and mutual understanding through shared knowledge and rich conversations in contemporary visual culture. A current example of this is my co coordination of a touring exhibition around New Zealand of refugees art from Myanmar for Partners Relief and Development. 
 
Why should people buy your art? 
People should buy my art if they want to invest in art that is powerful, compelling and thought provoking, inspires a sense of wonder and challenges them to see the world afresh.