By Guy williams - Timaru Courier - November 4th 2010
Vibrancy and motions Timaru painter Roselyn Cloake has drawn on the natural environment and her Dutch-New Zealand ancestry for her exhibition at Washdyke's Saffron Gallery.
MUSIC and art are intertwined in the life of Timaru artist Roselyn Cloake, but this year her art has taken precedence. The result is her first exhibition of paintings for two years which will continue at Washdyke's Saffron Gallery until November 12th. The multi talented Cloake is a graphic and web designer by day, a frequent performer as a singer and pianist at Timaru venues by night, and is also Past President of the Aigantighe. Cloake said she had worked on her solo music project for two years, "but this year I've been putting all the inspiration into my art".
Exhibiting her work publicly was similar to performing music in front of an audience. "It can be quite daunting to put it all out there." She reminded herself that viewers would interpret her art for themselves, but hoped her paintings would make them "feel energy".
With acrylic on canvas as her medium, she employed a style she described as "vibrant with lots of motion". "I try to capture the things you can see, but also the things you can't see such as the wind. "It's also about my ancestry. My mother's lineage is from Holland and my father is from New Zealand. I always thought I was weird because I was half dutch, and then when I went to Holland I realised I was weird because I was half kiwi."
Her paintings also had an environmental theme, something that has been reinforced in her mind the by the effects of the Canterbury earthquake. "I think that's where my work is going to be heading - having an understanding that there's more to life than electricity and bricks and mortar."
