WEST COAST GALLERY
PIHA

Born in Waitakere, of Scottish, Irish and Ngai Tahu descent, Leah has been painting for nearly three decades. Her style is influenced by some great New Zealand painters – most directly; Stanley Palmer, Seraphine Pick, Bob Kerr, Lawrence Berry & Garry Currin – and by the New Zealand landscape itself. Her Naturalist Grandfather introduced her to the Waitakeres as a child. Through his passion for the native flora and fauna he taught her to appreciate and absorb the essence of a place. “I paint what I love to look at and be near – places that have left a deep imprint on me. I also feel an impulse to help people reconnect with nature – most of us find our lives increasingly removed from the land we live in.”

Leah has exhibited in several group and solo shows in NZ, is a regular exhibitor in a few local galleries and has works in private collections in New Zealand and a few overseas.

 

She says “I try to paint my response to a place, rather than what I actually see. I can’t replicate or improve on nature – so I just salute it.”

 

Her subject is eclectic – big, loose landscapes or small finely detailed still life/botanical works.

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“A lot of my still life work is from objects that have a history in my family or community – from the label on a maggi soup packet from the 70s to a plastic tiki from Air New Zealand and some long-nosed pliers that have been in use for most of the last century - even the set of bowls I fed my babies from. My overly sentimental side is expressed as I look to show the value and beauty in simple design and practicality – finding beauty in apparently mundane, frivolous treasures. I am focussing on my surfaces as well – recycled timber, steel saw blades, antique sewing machines, silverware boxes – whatever has an aesthetic or nostalgic value and accommodating surface.”