Fiona Newton in her own words and pictures

 

My journey as an artist started in 2002. I was blessed to have been brought up with a stable, old fashioned family of 6 children & my parents. I know snippets about my Maori heritage. We lived in Auckland in a very pakeha upbringing; having Maori, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, Jewish & British bloodlines. With such interesting past history, looking at it now I can see how ingrained within me that bloodline is, especially my Ngati Porou (which is located on the East coast. My tipuna. Some of my ancestors are buried there) I wasn’t bought up on the Maori land which we have shares in. I’ve been on this journey of wanting to know more about my Whakapapa,  tipuna, connection to nature & the Whenua. Through my parents, I can see traits of them in me, especially my father. That love of history, harvesting & collecting, being coastal, exploring & the photography. 

My Dad was an old school pharmacist, so knowledgeable. My mother was a very earthy home maker. We were blessed to have a small cove, a hidden beach, just down from where I grew up with views of Rangitoto Island. I would spend may hours down there gathering, that’s where my artistic journey grew. I started created garden art from what I had gathered. Stepping stones, garden features, mosaics & concrete, table runners, front door mats, urns & wall designs. 

I was invited to exhibit at two large events: Hero Garden Festival raising money for HIV aids. My work was displayed in many fantastic gardens throughout Auckland. Also the Greenhithe Garden Festival: Setting up an installation of my designs. Both were a successful start to my art career & great networking. I exhibited my work in different galleries, started supplying art gift shops & Form A Garden supplier in Ponsonby. I’m only interested in creating one-off designs in all of my work. I enjoy teaching others & have worked with children, creating garden art for their environmental gardens at school. I’ve donated a lot of my work & also given a lot of my artwork to charities for fundraising. I really like to help others & I believe that it’s good wairua to give. 

In my art process, I gather what I work with, so it’s universal karma. I’ve explored many different art practices: Painting, sculpture, drawing, ceramics, weaving, jewellery, carving & photography in my garden art designs. I have exhibited in many galleries & group shows, but the highlight of my career was winning the Hibiscus & Bays North Shore Art Awards in 2019. I was one of three winners, winning a monetary prize & next April exhibiting at Mairangi Bay Arts Centre & Gallery with two other winning artists. I had 10 works going in the show: Paintings, ceramics, two environmental works, a stone design framed art work as well as a contemporary ceramics installation. I always have work on the go & have always been a prolific maker. I currently have 3 works on the go working towards finishing.

I found out at Art School that you are taught to keep a visual diary to draw & write about the process on how you come to put your design together. I’ve always just gone ahead & made my work without a visual diary as it just comes to me at the most unusual moments & I put my ideas in process.  I was incredibly lucky to have the most fantastic tutors at Art School, pushing me out of my comfort zone & having the chance to explore many different art practices, experimenting in the contemporary context.

My inspiration comes from life. Getting out in nature, I see the beauty in the simplicity of a dead tree, to a leaf & it’s structure, to sensing what I see in the environment, how the moana ebbs & flows like our rivers, the silhouette in the hills, the way a tree holds itself. I’m very visual & I feel my artwork in my expression through photography which portrays that. I think as an artist you use all of the senses, it is the breath of life & the creative force of spirit, your wairua. Aroha Ki Te Taiao, caring for our natural environment. What is important to me & I’m passionate about is protecting our planet earth. We are destroying our world through greed & pollution, no respect for the environment.

I work a lot with found objects recycling, visiting recycling stations especially in my sculptural work. If we all did our share, it would make this world a better place. Working together to enhance the environment. I see myself as an environment artist: I use a lot of waste off the coastline that people throw off boats into the ocean, off cliff tops, coastal marine waste, old tiles & brick, some swept in on the sand, old sea glass, being swept around our oceans like a tip.

My artwork is now in many countries around the world & I love to see how it’s being used & loved in their new homes, so I always ask for images. My work is functional for inside & outside. I’ve always loved oceanic & indigenous art which I have in my surroundings.

My children have a pacific mix. My ex-husband was Samoan, we met when I was 18 years old having 25 years together, so that influenced my life in areas through culture & richness through the eyes of my young adults. I’ve been involved in collaborations with groups of others, exhibiting in Studio One last year expressed through a themed brief, an idea of interpretation in many mediums working together to express the idea.

I’m living the life I was born to. Creating, being inspired, enriched & I hope to share that with others through my eyes in my creations.

Paveartz – Fiona Newton.