Wednesday mornings are for tea, biscuits, paint, and paper at Creative Huntly.
Each week, the artists of Huntly meet down by Hakanoa Lake to relax and create together at the local art centre. Whether 12 or 2 members show up, the Huntly Art Club spends a good three to four hours working on their latest art projects.
These include acrylic and watercolour paintings, drawings, knitting, and sometimes even LEGO. The group is mostly made up of Huntly women.
“I put off joining the club for a year because I thought I wasn’t good enough at painting. It took me a long time to realise that it didn’t really matter whether I was good or bad,” says Shirley Farrar, a long-time member of the Art Club.
Shirley works with acrylic paint. She paints nature mostly, creating bright floral scenes and landscapes.
Art for the ladies in the club is less about being the best, and more about the therapeutic and cathartic benefits. It’s a good place for learning too, says multimedia artist Denise Hudson.
Denise paints with acrylics and acrylics. She’s also a musician, and plays the bass, the ukulele, and the bass ukulele.
“It’s good to come along to the club and see what other people are doing and that can be quite inspiring to learn from each other,” Denise says.
“Everyone here will help you if you don’t know how to do something,” says Cheryl Williams, who paints animals and scenery with acrylics.
The group is always growing, and this particular Wednesday a new member is welcomed with enthusiasm. Shirley shows the new member the resources shelf and Denise tells her how the club runs.
The group believes that a good artist can come from anywhere.
“I don’t know, we’re not that famous really,” Shirley says.
“But you might happen to sell [a painting] and think, oh I’m famous in Huntly.”
Famous in Huntly is certainly true for many of these ladies. Not only are they experienced artists, but many of them are pillars of the Huntly community.
Denise volunteers at the Huntly Museum. Shirley and her family are well known artists and musicians in the community. Many of the members volunteer for various nonprofits and events in Huntly.
“It’s really good that we’re doing a gallery in Huntly too because that’ll promote our art in Huntly,” Denise says.
She’s referring to the upcoming Raahui Pookeka Community Gallery, a space where local artists will be able to exhibit and sell their work. The gallery will be operated by Creative Huntly.
How long will they go on doing art? As long as they can, says Cheryl.
“I wouldn’t want to end up being an old lady watching telly all day. I’d much rather go out and do some painting.”
“You have to do something and your body doesn’t let you do much [at this age], so painting is ideal.”
by Sarah Morcom
