In conversation with Alexandra Weston
Alexandra Weston tells us about painting on perspex, her latest exhibition and the importance of valuing your work as a full-time artist.
How did you get started as an artist? Were you always creative growing up?
I grew up in Rural Gisborne where my imagination ran wild – I created objects, spaces, did woodwork. I made pottery from clay I found in a creek and decorated hair clips; I was hands on. I also harvested mushrooms and ran my own vegetable garden as a young child, with the excess sent into town with my mother for her work colleagues. Creating interested me, but supplying and selling did too. Fourteen years living in Hong Kong always involved in a creative industry led to becoming an artist full-time after I returned to New Zealand.
How did you find your speciality in creating on perspex?
I collected off cuts of perspex from big signage companies in Hong Kong, not knowing what to do with them. One day I started painting on them and I haven’t stopped. It’s such a great surface – paint and ink slithers over it beautifully.
How does each piece come to life? How do you know when each piece is ‘finished’?
Knowing when to stop is tricky for many artists. When I think the end could be near, I will leave the piece for a few days. That puts a distance between me and the artwork and when I see it again, the decision to add to it or accept it as finished is quite simple.
“If you think you are ready to make art full-time, don’t underestimate the rewards you will reap from the extra time and attention you will give your practice.”
What inspires your work?
I’m looking at colours, textures and shapes all day, both subconsciously and intentionally. I’ve always done this. I try not to look at too much traditional art, and if I’m travelling, I tend not to head into too many galleries – my brain gets overloaded! Right now I’m in Budapest and visited the Museum of Ethnography rather than the Museum of Fine Arts, even thought they are side by side. The embroidery on a centuries old felt jacket in the Ethnography museum was a feast of inspiration on this occasion. There was also some great fluoro orange graffiti in the subway tunnel that caught my eye.
You became a full-time artist in 2017. What was this journey like and do you have any advice for other artists wanting to go full-time?
If you think you are ready to make art full-time, don’t underestimate the rewards you will reap from the extra time and attention you will give your practice. I worked for myself for years prior, so for me it was simply a shift in where I put my energy as opposed to stepping away from being employed. I have always wanted to make and sell and I’m lucky to do exactly that. But it is also quite a frightening thought, so when my mind wanders there I quickly focus on something else!
How did you come to be exhibiting at Gallery 6? What’s been the highlight?
I was lucky enough to be asked to create two artworks for QT Queentown’s Mumm Champagne Parlour. Then I collaborated with the creatives at QT and Ocho on an artwork for the wrapper of their new in-house chocolate bar. Having my work hang in the inaugural Gallery 6 exhibition is a dream come true. To have my art hanging such a cool, stylish, design-led hotel ticks all the boxes for me.
What does a typical day for you look like as an artist?
My studio is a 20-second walk from our home but I don’t get in there until about 10am. I like to get admin done first, take any required photographs of artworks, then hit the paint until the family are all home in the evening. If I need to visit my Lyttelton-based framer – usually once or twice a week – I do so around lunchtime so that I can meet my husband who also works in Lyttelton. We catch up in the village and have homemade steel cut oats with peanut butter, coconut, dried figs, seeds and hemp milk! I listen to podcasts extensively throughout the day while I paint, some of my picks are: Armchair Expert, Willy Russo, Super Creative, and The Detail.
What’s your advice for those wanting to take their art practice to the ‘next level’?
Be brave – if you believe in your work, then share it and seek opportunities. Be professional, respond to messages promptly, be clear and have explainable pricing formulas. Good quality photographs are also very important.
What do you love most about what you do?
The whole process delights me from start to finish. Except for packaging! Making joyful things is the best part, closely followed by working with collectors, galleries, collaborators, framers, photographers etc. Being an artist can be a bit lonely at times, so the interaction with others is precious.
Lyttelton, Aotearoa New Zealand
