ABOUT ME: In 2015, I was a lawyer who didn’t know she would become an artist. When I took up linocut printmaking as a hobby in 2016, I never dreamed where it would take me. I now host workshops, have won awards, have co-founded a wonderful local artist group (Selwyn Artists Collective) and regularly sell and exhibit my work.
I grew up between Malaysia and New Zealand, and influences from both appear in my work. Prior to being a printmaker, I was a commercial lawyer for 15 years. I have a young family and a border-collie called Pippin. Pippin and I love going on walks through the Canterbury landscape – an endless source of inspiration.
MY ART: My pieces are created by carving the image in a plate of lino, applying ink to the plate, and then burnishing the image by hand onto paper. Coloured pieces are made from a single plate, which is progressively carved away between the addition of each different layer of coloured ink. The moment when a print is peeled off the inked plate is exhilarating, and I find that people are fascinated by watching the process unfold.
Linocut printmaking appeals to me as it translates a drawn image vibrantly and vividly, presents interesting technical challenges along the way, and allows several pieces to be built off of one work. I find it both highly controlled and unpredictable, and I love that a beautiful linocut can be made by any interested person.
Creating a piece of art is a way for me to pause, savour and engage with my surroundings; watching a royal spoonbill take flight as we drive along a dusty coastal road, the elegant line of a rhododendron bloom from my garden, or the focused poise and strength of a sheep shearer.
The most heartening reaction to my art is when people say “it just encourages me to have a go myself”.
PREVIOUS Exhibitions and KEY EVENTS:
- 2022 Exhibited at group exhibitions at (1) Annual West Melton art event at Nut Point; (2) Art at my Table event at Langdale Winery and Restaurant; (3) Selwyn Art Show at Rolleston; (4) Art and Soul exhibition at the Artist’s In; (5) Radical Botanical at Stoddart Cottage; (6) Te Mataaho: Viewfinder exhibition at Te Ara Atea
- 2021 Key note speaker for Business After Five event hosted by Selwyn District Council
- 2021 Featured artist for the Selwyn Arts Series (artist talks and workshops)
- 2021 Exhibited at group exhibitions at (1) Stoddart Cottage in Diamond Harbour; (2) Down by the Liffey Gallery in Lincoln; (3) Te Huanui Gallery in Darfield; (4) the Annual West Melton Art Event at Nut Point; and (5) Oxford Art Gallery
- 2021 Exhibited at Printer, Painter, Photograph-Maker at the Christchurch Botanic Gardens
- 2020 Co-founded Selwyn Artists Collective (a group for local artists that went on to win Silver at the Selwyn Awards the next year)
- 2020 Featured artist by Selwyn District Council for the Selwyn Arts Festival (artist talks and workshops)
- 2020 Exhibited at Pigeon Bay Art Show
- 2020 Exhibited at Making an Impression at Te Huanui Gallery
- 2019 Awarded Premier award at Darfield Art Week
- 2018 Awarded Merit award at Darfield Art Week
Soon-Lee Spicer - Artist 