White Spaces
TIBETAN PRAYER FLAGS HANG FROM THE PORCH OF ‘THE YELLOW HOUSE WITH THE BLUE ROOF’. TURNING INTO THE GRAVEL DRIVE, I PULL UP BEHIND A VAN WITH PUKEKO DECORATING THE BACK AND AN OHOPE BEACH SCENE PAINTED ON THE SIDE. I KNOW I’M AT THE RIGHT PLACE.
By Kirsten Cliff
MAREE WHITE GREETS ME WITH A SMILE in her trademark headscarf and bare feet. We head straight to her studio, a further few hundred metres up the drive of her Whakatane property, to a secluded spot where the only sound is the wind through the trees.
White has painted in some interesting locations during her career, the worst of which was a hallway with the light of a 40-watt bulb. It is converted farm sheds, however, that seem to feature most prominently as a work environment, from a cheese-making shed, to a woolshed. Now we pull up to her current studio in a converted cowshed, set in between empty fields of lush green grass. I follow her into two small rooms of white: white floors, white walls, white ceilings and lots of light.
Down South
Growing up in Waimate, South Canterbury, White had a strong idea at an early age that she was going to be an artist. In the family’s old cheese-making shed, she produced large oil paintings on canvas, which her dad then framed. She went on to have her first exhibition at the age of 10 and made $400 from that solo 1975 sell-out show. Those initial profits from painting kept her in art materials until the age of 21.
White’s first commissions came later in the form of murals. The first, for a lighting firm, had her working for two years in a converted woolshed, which was ‘absolutely freezing in winter’. Another was a scene of the New Orleans Mardi Gras for a Timaru nightclub.
Her apprenticeship continued on the streets of Reefton, where she did murals on various buildings in the township. “I had to use my whole body to paint,” says White, “It was a full body experience.”
A self-taught artist, White now paints with acrylics on canvases she has shipped in from Invercargill. Her style of realism includes landscapes and human figures, some, like Blacksmiths, with a ‘prismism’ technique that adds a unique feature. She first experimented with ‘prismism’ while learning Cubism at school and has returned to it 20 years later with renewed enthusiasm.
White works from her own photos of the area where she’ll be exhibiting. She uses her photo shoots as working holidays, gathering friends for the road trip and visiting others along the way.
No Room for Chaos
Before the start of each New Year, she paints the inside of her converted cowshed studio white all over again: walls, floor, and ceiling. It’s a practical exercise as well as a ritual that signifies a fresh start, creating a much-needed mind shift.
“Chaos is not good; in paintings or the mind,” says White.
When she looks at her paintings, she sees clean, clear, and fresh and she wants to create this for others. “My paintings are peaceful and spacious because when I paint my mind opens up. I love space and the clean skies.
I’m always working towards this in my paintings,” she says.
“A lot of thinking happens while you paint. Questioning if this is balanced, if this is working or not. It’s like studying for an exam, concentrating all the time. I’m very brain tired at the end of the day.”
With over two decades of experience as a professional artist, White knows how to pace herself while still meeting deadlines for exhibitions and commissions.
Her weekly routine is structured. Three nights of teaching, three 5-hour days of painting, plus time out to produce music and take Sundays off. To stay fit, she swims three days a week and goes on ‘surfing binges’ whenever she can.
“I feel like an oil tanker with many different containers: art, teaching, music. I need to move it all forward, right to the end of the year and I’ve got to keep it all steady,” she says. “If I don’t do music or art I get agitated. It’s something I have to do and there’s always been tension between the two.”
White is as much a musician as she is a successful painter, having done a lot of travelling in the 80s with various bands. “It was a mad time,” she says smiling, “I’ve been in a few quirky bands over the years and toured with a comedy rock chick show for about 10 years.”
While playing live isn’t an option at present because she’s concentrating on painting, the beast is tamed with the composing and recording she does in her home studio.
Changing Lives
It was in Waimate that White first started teaching art and she has continued with this in Whakatane.
“The thing I love about teaching is getting out into the community and making a difference; it changes peoples’ lives,” she says.
“Most come along scared at first then over time I see them move from feelings of inadequacy to painting by themselves. I want to get them to the stage where they don’t need me. I see myself as someone who can remove the obstacles from painting.”
White still loves the scenery of the South Island and has exhibited solo at Twizel Events Centre for the last three years, using this time to catch up with her family.
In the North Island, she’s had exhibitions in Raglan and Whakatane and is looking towards Tauranga next year. She is currently painting for an exhibition at the Red Peach Gallery on Friday 18 July.
White will continue with the discipline needed to live off art in its various forms.
“I have to keep paying the mortgage. It’s there every week. I have no comfort of a weekly wage. As an artist, you have to learn to handle that financial stress: having money then long periods with none. You must keep going forward, taking action, producing work.”
