Gore artist Michaela Voigt is enjoying a successful first solo exhibition.
The exhibition, ‘‘Bloomin Heck — a floral chaos’’, at the Croydon Aviation Heritage Centre, began on September 10 and features 14 pieces Voigt has completed over the past year.
It started with a sit-in residency as part of the Murihiku Arts Trail.
“I was happy to see a steady drip of people while I sat and painted,” Voigt said.
“People have continued to drip through. I’ve sold four pieces and received lots of great feedback on my social media pages.”
The pieces are mostly surrealist, fine-detail drawings in black and white, though some are a combination of mixed media with areas of acrylic paint or gold-leaf metallic.
“I compose my pieces out of memories and experiment with ideas. Sometimes they don’t work, sometimes they do,” she said.
She had always been creative, Voigt said.
She has a bachelor of applied arts from Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) and works full time as a graphic designer.
While her day-to-day job was also a creative pursuit, art was less dictated by clients and allowed her more creative freedom, she said.
“I’ve contributed pieces to local group exhibitions over the years and felt like a solo exhibition was my next step, an opportunity to push myself and my art further,” she said.
“It was important that the exhibition was local, as a thank-you to the community, family and friends for their support.”
She was working on two future collaborations with local Southland creatives as well as another company in New Zealand, Voigt said.
“I’m also starting to think of another solo exhibition. I’m not sure whether it will be local or not,” she said.
“I’d also love to do an overseas residency.”
She wanted to thank everyone for their great support.
‘‘Bloomin Heck — a floral chaos’’ is on display at the Croydon Aviation Heritage Centre in Mandeville from September 10 to October 24, 10am to 3pm.
