Nor'West News: October 22, 2020

6 Thursday October 22 2020
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
NOR’WEST NEWS
Artist takes inspiration from impact of Covid-19
• By Bea Gooding
DARRYN GEORGE believes
the world needs a little bit more
innocence.
The Christ’s College head of
art’s painting, Mara #26, represents
the beauty and joy of the
world and has been recognised at
this year’s Wallace Art Awards.
The competition celebrates the
country’s best visual artists and
is one of the largest and most
distinguished of its kind in New
Zealand.
Placed second out of more
than 650 entries, he was awarded
$22,000 in lieu of a residential
placement at the British School
at Rome next year.
George’s plans to study at the
prestigious art school may have
been dashed due to Covid-19,
but that has not stopped the art
teacher from revelling in his
achievement.
“I was very humbled and I
wasn’t expecting to win [the
award]. To be amongst the finalists
was an amazing honour,”
said the Bryndwr resident.
“This year felt like my work
was heading in a really good
direction, so it was the right time
to enter and test the waters.”
George was inspired to bring
joy to people through art following
the negative impact the
Covid-19 pandemic has had on
the world.
The bright colours of the oil
pastel and acrylic on canvas
painting were used to represent
the innocence of the Garden of
Eden.
The “crowd” of people in
the foreground of the painting
looked on to the scene of innocence,
“yearning” to see what
was on the other side.
“It grew out of watching the
news seeing so many bad stories
and the brokenness of the
world,” he said.
“The idea of it is to go back to
the Garden of Eden and its innocence
before the fall. I started
to think about the beauty and
purity of what that used to be,
and what it would look like from
a child’s perspective.
“I used, colour, crayons and
pastels as a child would to get
across the idea of beauty and
joy.”
George has always been drawn
to painting and prefers the
method over the likes of other
mediums such as photography
and sculpture, which were often
PRIDE: Christ’s
College head
of art Darryn
George’s
painting (right)
was one of
the finalists at
the Wallace
Art Awards.
PHOTOS: GEOFF
SLOAN
more time consuming due to the
use of materials and equipment.
Said George: “I like the fact
that I can sit in my studio and
immediately start painting,
rather than doing sculpture or
photography that can require
materials or a bigger studio.”
The British School at Rome is
home to researchers of the art,
history and culture of the western
Mediterranean from across
the globe.
As part of his award, he was
due to further his own art
history research at the school,
delving deeper into the artistic
influences of Italy.
He planned to use the prizemoney
he received instead to explore
more corners of the world
for research once international
travel became available again.
“Travelling to places like New
York and seeing art in the flesh at
galleries challenges me on what
to do next and validates what I’m
doing in my own studio, which
helps put my work in context.”
In the meantime, he was content
with doing what he loved the
most – teaching his students the
importance of art.
“I love teaching the boys, they
take risks and try out things that
I wouldn’t have the courage to
do myself; it always inspires me,”
he said.
“The key thing I teach is to
think laterally. Not all of the
boys will become artists, but the
skills are transferrable.”
Thank you
for supporting
me as your MP.
Dr Duncan Webb
MP for Christchurch Central
For assistance in
Christchurch Central
contact 366 5519 or email
chchcentral@parliament.govt.nz
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