During my school days, the only subject that sustained any interest in me was art and photography at Epsom Girls Grammar School.
Thanks to the beloved support of my Mum who became my full-time muse for my bursary folio boards - I gained a scholarship in photography and gained entrance into the Elam School of Fine Arts.
I did photography at Elam - then studied to become a secondary school art teacher – I taught at Macleans College for 2 years and managed to help some of my students gain scholarships into their chosen fine art institutions - I like to think of this time as a 'passing on' of support and encouragement - which my teachers at Epsom Girls gave me.
I then did a course to enable me to teach English as a Foreign Language - as I had started to grow very itchy feet - and was ready to embark on my first overseas experience.
I'm still travelling and teaching ESOL now to support myself while I paint on the side.
I'm inspired by everything around me - all sorts of images - it could be graffiti on random walls, other artist's work, patterns/designs in a magazine, shadows on the ground - sometimes I will photograph a scene as I’m walking around a city and it may be incorporated into a painting at a later stage.
I weave all my collected imagery and text together to create various series of works. At the moment – I’m finding a lot of inspiration through my research of the 28th Maori Battalion – of whom I stumbled across while searching for Maori text/songs to use in my art work. I came across a song called: ‘Tama Ngakau Marie’ – a song the Maori soldiers used to sing while burying their fellow soldiers overseas during WW2. At the moment – I am now fully focused on the Maori Battalion.
ANZAC Day, Huntly, Waikato 2007
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Why in Germany now??I was born and raised a Kiwi - but have always been fascinated with the German language and culture, thanks to my amazing Dad.
It's my 2nd time travelling to Germany to live 'longish' term - but not forever - I miss NZ everyday. Some days I just want to burst out lexical items like: mozzie!..lolly!..pressie!..hokey bloody pokey!..dodgy!..bikkie!..brekkie!
chippy!..ciggi!
The amazing thing about travelling is that although I miss NZ and my family so much - when I get home - I have this incredible sense of gratitude for our Kiwi lifestyle - and I see NZ with a completely new, refreshed pair of eyes - you somehow fall in love with your country all over again and discover an overwhelming sense of pride for the land you were raised in.
While here in Europe - I also hope to experience countries that I haven't visited yet - on the top of my list is: France, Spain, Africa and Morrocco!
What an amazing world we live in. Life is simply awesome.
Petra Clouth
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