Briar and Art

Artistic Journey >> Briar grew up completely immersed in the arts - dancing, drawing, painting, singing and acting in everything she could. At the age of 15 she began teaching dance and absolutely loved to work with kids and develop their artistic skills. Throughout high-school she continued to create artwork for loved ones, local art shows and exhibitions using fabrics, pastes, scraps of wood, recycled materials, jewellery - literally anything. A few years later she moved to Wellington to pursue Performing Arts training. First a diploma from New Zealand College of Performing Arts then Toi Whakaari, NZ Drama School. She decided that main stream acting wasn’t for her and moved to Hamilton where she became involved in musical theatre as a performer and choreographer. Over the next few years whilst she had her 3 children, she began working in schools as a specialist teacher. She taught dance, choreographed and directed musical theatre. She missed creating “artwork” very much but didn’t have enough time as a mum to create a whole collection on her own. So…. she started a support group in Hamilton for parents who love to create! P(Parent), A(Artists), I(Into), N(Nurturing), T(Talent) - PAINT! They managed to pull off two exhibitions together which was hugely satisfying and a great learning experience. Shortly after, she and her family moved to Taupo where she started a very successful business teaching Speech and Drama and became a confidence coach. After 3 years in that rewarding role the family moved again to Mount Maunganui, where she resides today to concentrate on her NEW art business.

Style and Inspiration >> Briar believes she is an Interdisciplinary Artist. Meaning that she draws on all of her creative disciplines to create her artwork. She loves to immerse herself in a song, movement, memory, or even the experience of walking in nature. She will journal and sketch her thoughts and feelings, exploring all of her senses. She works to allow the imagery to come about on its own. Sometimes that is simply a shape or a colour or a problem to solve such as.…How do I paint the sound of that laugh or the feeling of letting go? This is how a painting is born. From there, she explores her ideas using a mixed media approach to eventually find her answers.