Southern View: October 02, 2018

SOUTHERN VIEW Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Tuesday October 2 2018 5
Local
News
Now
Fire rages, homes at risk
of art recognised
Art is one thing he recommends
to people going through
addictions but he says there are
other ways.
“It works for me, but what I
generally do with my clientele
is take them back to before they
were on drugs and find out what
their interests were between the
ages of 10 and 15.
“For me between the ages 10
and 15, I loved sketching. Art
and English Football were my
passions and I often sketched
English football players,” Mr Holt
said.
He often drew sketches of his
favourite player, Leeds United
goalkeeper David Harvey, as he
had the same initials as Mr Holt.
Hobbies that people had when
they were younger can help fill
the void left by drugs, he said.
Mr Holt made his art
hobby public when he started the
Brockworth Art Gallery in 2012.
The gallery is along the train
tracks behind Brockworth Pl,
Riccarton.
Mr Holt never had an interest
in street art until then.
International street artist
Banksy that inspired him to start
the street art.
“I watched Banksy’s film
Exit Through the Giftshop and I
became really interested in street
art.
“But I didn’t want to cross the
police lines and get into trouble
for illicit art,” Mr Holt said.
He met Kenyan artist Jess De
Boer who was living in the city at
the time.
“Jess and I got permission to
paint the wall of Margaret Stoddart
[Retirement Village] but she
had to go back to Kenya immediately
after we got permission.
“She gave me all the paint that
she had gathered and because
I lived in [Riccarton], I started
painting in 2012 with about
five or six paintings,” Mr Holt
said.
When more vines on the walls
along the railway walkway were
removed, he had more canvas to
paint on.
Mr Holt said his street art has a
point of difference.
“I paint with paintbrushes, not
spray.
“My second point of difference
is I wanted to set up street art
in the layout of an art gallery so
that for people that walk through
there it’s like an art gallery,” he
said.
Mr Holt felt a lot of pride in
looking at his work but says they
are not there to show off his
talents.
“It’s simply there to colour up
the morning, evenings or days of
whoever that’s walking there.
“It’s just there to distract people
from the mundane walk of life,”
he said.
Mr Holt doesn’t have any plans
for any future public murals and
likes the way it is. His last painting
was in March.
“I quite like having my own
little spot and I like it that it’s
tucked away and you kind of
GALLERY: The
Brockworth
Art Gallery
project began
in 2012 and the
last mural was
completed in
March
have to look for it,” he said.
But art will always remain a
hobby for him at home.
Mr Holt had also had some
advice for people going through
substance abuse.
“Recovery can be achieved, two
things that are key to a recovery
is acceptance that you’ve got a
problem and personal honesty
around everything that you do
in life.
“Hang in there, it does get
better. Sometimes people find it
really hard to break a habit, but
once you break the habit it gets
better,” Mr Holt said.
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