Blog
Gifting
Hand crafted using geli printing and hand sewing on recycled lamps
You never know quite where the gift of being an artist will take you. Opportunities present themselves everywhere, but sometimes I have the opportunity to make a difference and this makes me feel extra good.
For the 2024 Light up Festival I created these lamps. Where to display them? I needed a big window and be a fit with the theme of the shop. What could be a more perfect fit than the St John’s Ambulance charity shop on The Strand, Whakatane.
Maggie the shop manager has an awesome energy and welcomed my art with open arms. BEST of all we were able to auction the lamps with all proceeds going to St Johns.
St Johns have come to our rescue, I am afraid to say, more than once. Each time I have been more than pleased to see them arrive so quickly. St Johns well deserve to receive the proceeds of my gift.
Arts Whakatane Art Trail
Plans are already underway to repeat this event in 2025, it was so successful. 23 Artists took part and I was very lucky to have a display of my work in a lovely shared studio alongside artists Katrina Allison and Mark Anstis, and photographer Sandy McCleary.
Mark Anstis spent the weekend demonstrating painting. He is a very talented local painter, and trail goers were very fortunate to see him at work.
Art in the Park
Such a fun event to be part of, kids having fun everywhere. After wind sending my collage papers flying, then getting this under control, it was down to having some fun creating with the kids. I am always amazed at the imaginary world that they live in and how it presents itself in their art.
It was a pleasure to work along side the many artists helping at the event and the very large free fruit ice cream was divine.
This is an annual event so if you are in Whakatane in January come along for some creative fun.
Toi Rotorua Arts Festival
A brand new event on the Rotorua Calendar.
My art is part of the open studios trail, I am exhibiting along side 4 other artists in the beautiful Governament Gardens tea Room, Te Rununga. The artists I am exhibiting with are Sue Skellern, Lianne Maxwell, Rosemary Deane and Jean Vandermolen.
As part of the exhibition I have been demonstrating hand painted paper collage.
Light up Whakatane 2023
Winter Wonderland by Tania Akehurst
Light up Whakatane 2023 was bigger and better than the previous year and is continuing to grow going forward. With more than 4,000 people attending the opening and closing event this a well supported local event that I am very proud to be part of. All ready looking forward to Light up Whakatane 2024.
Winter Wonderland by Tania Akehurst 2023
My other career
I feel very previlged to have two careers that I am passionate about. In a normal week I spend 50 % of my time creating art and 50% of my time farming and I love it. This video screened on Seven Sharp on TV1, it shows our passion for everything farming and the people that are involved in our industry.
Art at Galatea School
What great listeners and artists in Miss H’s class at Galatea School. Recently I had the pleasure of teaching 12 pupils these art principals:
the importance of really looking at and not just seeing the object you wish to create
how to evaluate tone so that you can paint in any colour
how to create fun textured papers
and finally the technique of hand painted paper collage.
Drawing the apple, mixing colours, the underpainting, fun textured paper making, collaging, and the finished apple.
Fabulous collaging by the students.
Alex Hyde Animator
It has been my pleasure to work alongside Alex Hyde to create our exhibition “Art That Moves You”. It has taken us a whole year to produce our exhibition and we are both proud to have produced such a high standard of work. Alex’s has created animations around his idea of creating a game of hide and seek through the 10 painted trees displayed. The animations can be viewed using augmented reality in the exhibition, but take a quick look at some of his creations below.
Animation by Alex Hyde, Painting “Take My Lead” by Tania Akehurst.
Animation by Alex Hyde, painting “Bathed in Golden Light” by Tania Akehurst
Animation by Alex Hyde, painting “Spring” by Tania Akehurst
Thanks to Kathy Forsyth, Troy Baker and The Whakatane Beacon for a great article. 1200 views using the Artivive App were seen during the first week of the exhibition opening
Art That Moves You Exhibition
An exhibition that actually moves. Using augmented reality (AR) technology and the free Artivive app on your smart phone or tablet, it is possible to see animations in real time on each painting. The animations have been created by Alex Hyde using a traditional animation style. The exhibition consists of 10 landscape paintings of trees that have an animated fun game of hide and seek going on in them.
Check out the exhibition from the 5th November 2022 till the 15th of January 2023, at the Whakatane Museum and Gallery, New Zealand.
Try downloading the Artivive app (instructions below) and testing it on this image
Light Up Whakatane Festival
Had the best fun installing my two works today. With help from my friend Sandy we wrapped a tree in the middle of a traffic island, it looks fabulous even if I say so myself. The second work is a set of three collaged flower vases, made from reflective materials. Thanks to my Dad and Sandy for helping to install this one. Both will be lit up for the first time tonight.
Something Cool is Happening with Art
Augmented Reality to make art come to life, how amazing is this concept.
2021 Local Artists Exhibition
Tree Art by Tania Akehurst Artist
Tulip Rose Gallery hosted its most successful annual exhibition yet, over four days people came to enjoy the art and the gardens. To make the event a complete experience Turkish Delights, a local company, sold tasty food, and 8 local artists provided exceptional work to be exhibited.
For me it was time to unveil a new art work not seen before, even by me. From a marathon paint of 40 square meters of fabric painting I created tree wraps. 2 hours before the exhibition opening, with the help of friends, the trees were wrapped, we were so excited to see an art work that had surpassed my expectations, it was fabulous. During the exhibition the art trees provided a great photo opportunity for many.
I would like to thank the following artists for their participation. Lillie Neal, AJA Ceramics, Malcolm Akehurst, Andrew Whyte, Mark Anstis, Tracey Lee Cassin, Lianne Maxwell, Laura McCarthy, The Iconic Whakatane Collaborative Project, and Georgia Van den Broek.
Tree Art by Tania Akehurst
Take the grand tour of Tulip Rose Galleries 2021 Local Artists Exhibition and garden tour
Is my head in the clouds?
Some say I have my head in the clouds, maybe they are right, I am always looking up.
Some say I have my head in the clouds
Some say I have my head in the clouds, maybe they are right? I am always looking up at the clouds, constantly amazed by them.
Here in Galatea at the moment it is spring time and probably the best time of year to see all sorts of clouds. From thin wispy ones right through to turbulent thunder clouds. Look up and you will see all matter of things in the clouds.
Design Work
Design work is fun, it really takes your creativity to the next level. There are a whole lot of problems to solve when working with designs and every past experience, creative encounter and image seen, gets flicked through your thoughts. Magically a solution comes to the front of your mind and away you go. You sketch out your design concepts as fast as you can to get all your ideas out before they pass. Next you arrange your ideas to find the best and most useable ones.
This design has been made for the BOP NZ Dairy Industry Awards, this award is like the farming equivalent of the Grammys, almost complete with red carpet. My design had to fit the brief using the kiwiana theme and to celebrate dairy farming. I had fun using my sense of humour and added words to all the kiwi, local and farming icons.
Dinning tables came alive with Kiwi birds and fairy lights, positioned on slices of natural timber sourced from our farm. The place matts brought a simile to peoples faces as they sat down to eat.
Art Week Whakatane
2021 Art Week in Whakatane (19th - 28th March), included exhibitions by Positively Patchwork, School Student art and the Whakatane Art Society. Also running for the whole week is the stone and wood carver symposium, so interesting watching these artists at work, its the whole experience - seeing hearing and smelling . Everyday during art week there is either an artist in residence demonstration or a class where you can join in going on. Thanks to Whakatane Art Society, I was invited to be Fridays guest artist. I had a fabulous day creating Fab Floral #6, and meeting wonderful people. Art week was a family affair too, exhibiting alongside my parents Malcom and Cis Akehurst.
Demo set up; hand painted paper collage “Fab Florals #6”, various hand painted papers ready to use, landscape of the Horomanga River in Galatea (this is my first landscape in this style and I have only collaged across 3/4 of the hills and trees in the background to date), under my trolley are boxes of painted paper in colour order.
One more flower to collage, can you spot it?
Fellow artist Rodney Thompson giving a graphite drawing demonstration.
Barbara Johnson demonstrating Kumihimo Japanese braiding
Kawerau STACKD 2020
It was a privilege and a pleasure to be asked by the Kawerau Art Society to be the guest artist at their recent exhibition STACKD. Part of my participation included a two day demonstration of my hand painted paper collage art.
Left to right: One of the stunning floral arrangements that graced the wood skills hall, Prime space for my art on the stage, Demonstrating my art.
Christmas 2020
Merry Christmas unboxing stock from Liberation Jewellery
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from me to you. Here is a little video with some of the excitement I feel when receiving new stock into Tulip Rose Gallery.
Rotorua lakes Council Galleria
Celebrating diversity in art, this exhibition showcases a variety of styles and mediums by four talented local artists; Joanne Black, Tracey Lee Cassin, Lianne Maxwell and Tania Akehurst.
An exhibition by Ladies of Diversity, of which I am a member, will run until the 3rd of march 2021.
Such an honor to have been accepted to exhibit in this beautiful space. If you are visiting Rotorua you will find the exhibition on the 1st floor, Rotorua Lakes Council, Haupapa Street.
If unable to visit please enjoy these photos.
Composite Elements
An exhibition by Ladies of Diversity
Celebrating diversity in art, this exhibition showcases a variety of styles and mediums by four talented local artists; Joanne Black, Tracey Lee Cassin, Lianne Maxwell and Tania Akehurst.
Composite Elements
An exhibition by Ladies of Diversity
Celebrating diversity in art, this exhibition showcases a variety of styles and mediums by four talented local artists; Joanne Black, Tracey Lee Cassin, Lianne Maxwell and Tania Akehurst.
Ladies of Diversity is a unique group of four women of similar age with very diverse backgrounds. All produce art, but each member has their own distinctive approach and voice.
Composite Elements is their first exhibition together and will be on show at the Rotorua Lakes Council Galleria (1061 Haupapa Street) from 4 December 2020 until 3 March 2021. The Galleria is open Monday – Friday from 8am until 5pm (excluding from 12pm, Tuesday 22 December 2020 until Monday 4 January 2021 when Rotorua Lakes Council is closed for Christmas).
“Composite Elements” is their first exhibition together. The name was chosen for this exhibition to reflect our different styles, materials and messages.
Composite Elements is their first exhibition together and will be on show at the Rotorua Lakes Council Galleria (1061 Haupapa Street) from 4 December 2020 until 3 March 2021. The Galleria is open Monday – Friday from 8am until 5pm (excluding from 12pm, Tuesday 22 December 2020 until Monday 4 January 2021 when Rotorua Lakes Council is closed for Christmas).
A Taniwha - Mythical Creature
I spent a fun week working alongside artists Joanne Black and Kate Fennimore, and ten enthusiastic Galatea Primary School children. Our mission was to create a fabulous piece of wearable art.
The children, full of inspiration came up with the idea of building a Taniwha, which is a mythical creature of Maori origin.
It was such a great exercise for learning - the children not only used skills in creativity but also in, team work, negotiation, problem solving and design.
All sorts of recycled materials were found and brought to school by the pupils for the big build. They brought chicken wire, packaging and strapping, table clothes, old silk flowers that had seen their best, mill cardboards off cuts, old sheets, tree pruning’s from near by and a lot more.
Putting our creature together was fun. With one of the students as a model, make up was applied, each part of the constructed creature was fitted onto our model and she was ready for the photo shoot.
It was a great way to spend a creative week helping to facilitate the children’s learning.
Rotorua Art Awards 2019
Finalist at the Rotorua Art Awards 2019 with the acrylic painting “ A Living Tree”
A Living Tree, Acrylic and Gold Leaf on Canvas, W 71cm x H 56cm.
Artist - Tania Akehurst.
Standing proudly by my painting on finals night.
This was my first experience at making the finals of an art award - wow such a cool and uplifting experience too.
The painting I entered was titled “A Living Tree”, which is my take on the tree of life. The tree of life has got to be one of the best symbols around, so much meaning around it.
Creating is always exciting but for this piece I pushed the boundaries and became totally engrossed in my happy place. The challenge was to see if I could create a harmonious artwork inspired by several different artists. The subject just a plain old poplar tree on our farm. I was fascinated by the fluffy seeds that lay below it.
Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist who works with repetitive patterns, especially circles. The fluffy seeds that lie below the tree are depicted in the white circles; circles that suggest a life cycle with no beginning or end.
The Leaves I took from David Hockney’s statement “it’s all about the mark making” and the background trees are inspired by Dick Frizzell’s effective simple shapes.
I am a lover of colour and pattern in art and the trunk of the tree has been inspired by both Gustav Klimt and Friedensreich Hundertwasser.
Being able to display your work next so many wonderful and very capable artists is such an encouraging feeling as an artist. Following the awards ceremony all of those present were let into the finalists exhibition at once, this is an experience I will never forget, one of great anticipation.