“Yeeaaah, I’m an artist”

4 December 2008
“Now when I fill out forms, I write ‘artist’ as my occupation. Every time I do it, I think ‘Yeeaaah, I’m an artist. I’m not a mental health client or a beneficiary. I’m an artist. Far out’.”

In October, Shelley Foster (Ngāti Awa) held her first solo exhibition at The Bach in Whangarei. The paintings in the exhibition dealt with the death of her daughter and her brother, and documented her journey from grief and mental ill-health to wellness.

The process of creating the paintings, writing a statement about each piece and then exhibiting them has played an important part in her healing.

“It’s hard to reveal such private, intimate details about yourself for all to see but it’s also helped me,” Shelley says. “One of the things that made me ill was keeping it all inside. Knowing you’re not alone is a huge part of achieving better health.”

Big and bold

Christie Brophy, who curated the exhibition, says Shelley is a natural artist. “Her work is big and bold. She combines words and images to draw people in and make connections.”
 
The solo exhibition attracted a lot of positive attention and resulted in artwork sales. More importantly, however, it boosted Shelley’s confidence and enabled her to see herself as an artist.

Now, the Whangarei artist is busy working across artforms and genres. She paints and weaves, has done a sculpture using Oamaru stone, and is taking pottery classes at Whau Valley Whaiora Support Trust. She’s been making kōauau (small pottery flutes), with the moko of her great great grandmother on the mouthpiece.

“I’m loving the pottery classes and sometimes, it’s good to work with other artists rather than working in isolation at home,” she says.

Shelley is also a professional musician and was principal clarinettist in the Royal New Zealand Navy Band in the early 1990s. Although she doesn’t play a lot these days, music is still an important part of her life.

Music and art

She’s combining her love of music and art in a series of 12 paintings, based on the theme of colour and music. The series was inspired by something Beethoven once said – that the note C sharp is lemon-yellow.

“There are 12 notes in a chromatic scale and using a colour wheel, I worked out the colour for each note,” she explains. “I’m using the same flax motif for each painting and once I’ve completed the series, it will be interesting to see how the mood of each painting reflects each of the notes.”

A trained primary school teacher, Shelley studied art as a secondary school student but pursued her love of music as an adult.

In 2007, however, she completed a six-month course in Māori art and design at Northtec in Whangarei. Her passion for painting was ignited.

Never stuck for ideas, Shelley has several projects on the go. Most immediate is a project with experienced artist and friend Valola Allmark, who is also tutoring Shelley. Together, the women are creating work that celebrates Matariki for a planned joint exhibition in Whangarei over June and July 2009.

Whakapapa

Longer-term is a project about her whakapapa, inspired by her reading of the Ngāti Awa Raupatu Report, released by the Waitangi Tribunal in 1999 and resulting in settlements to Ngāti Awa in 2003.

“I still need to do a lot of research but I’ve already created one work,” she says. “It just burst out of me after I read the report. I woke up in the morning and it was finished by lunchtime. I’ve never worked in that way before.”

The work, Turangawaewae, depicts two families standing to the side, looking at their land but not allowed on to it. A direct quote from the Ngāti Awa Raupatu Report is written on the work.

“It’s a strong work  and when some Pākehā look at it, they say “That can’t be true’,” Shelley says. “It’s about my people but it’s applicable to all iwi because we all had land confiscated.”

Although she still has “bad days”, Shelley says that art has changed her life. She is keen to continue developing as an artist, trying out new ideas, techniques and materials.