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These include singer-songwriters Tiki Taane and Annah Mac. It is comprised of pieces inspired by the human body, specifically people I have met who have made a cultural impact on my life since settling in New Zealand." "The inspiration for this exhibition has three clear elements, all linked by the word ‘body'. Since arriving in New Zealand Ward has slowly regained his passion for art and his latest exhibition, Body of Work of Body, brings together pieces that are based on three different inspirational sources: The Pacific Ocean - a body of water eroding car bodies and the human body. I realised I needed to reduce the pace of life and increase the quality of it, in an effort to give me time to return to the thing I am most passionate about, creating artistic objects." It was another decade before Ward and his family decided to settle here. While he and his wife Narinder were negotiating to buy a pottery on the island of Montserrat, a volcano erupted there and covered the pottery site with several metres of ash. By the end of the project he was ready to take on a new challenge and wanted to escape the rat race of the UK.
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Instead of creating art, he learned how to make plaster mouldings, lay bricks, plaster, glaze, plumb, and retile the roof. Ward's art was relegated to the backburner for 17 years, while he put all his energies into restoring a four-storey Victorian house. I had this thing - art - that had helped me, and the hard time I had with learning meant I was more empathetic because I recognised the behaviours." "When I started working with kids, I got on well with kids who had extreme behaviours. In 1991 he graduated from the University of Worchester with a Postgraduate Certificate in Education. Unfortunately the partnership foundered and Ward decided to secure his financial future by retraining as a teacher. In the 1980s he sold his work from a gallery in London and also exhibited in galleries along the east coast of America, selling to private collectors there.Īs interest in his work increased in America, he formed a partnership with an interior designer in the United Kingdom, hoping to capitalise on that interest. It included a design placement at Royal Doulton. He followed that in 1986 with a Masters of Arts in Industrial Ceramic Design from Staffordshire University. Ward specialised in ceramics and glass and in 1983 he gained a Bachelor of Arts with Honours at the University of Central England. I would plot them out in 2-D first and then make them in 3-D, bouncing between the two mediums." "I couldn't make up my mind and a lecturer told me I could combine the two by putting surface texture on sculptures. He admits that when he had to specialise he was torn between textiles and ceramics. Ward attended Wolverhampton University where he gained a Diploma in Art and Design in 1980. Instead, he is a special needs teacher, something that resonates with him as he also had learning difficulties while growing up. He says his first wife was an art teacher and when he saw how it drained her creativity, he was determined not to follow the same path. I went through my education getting a really rough ride, but I honed my skills in art because it got me praise."Īlthough Ward teaches at Freyberg High School in Palmerston North, surprisingly it's not in the art department. From the age of 6, the only reward I used to get from teachers was about my artwork. At the age of 9 he received a third-place award for a painting of horses in a field. Nigel Ward says he knew from an early age that art would play a big part in his life.
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Faye Lougher talks to the Tokomaru artist ahead of his exhibition at Taylor-Jensen Fine Arts. Most artists work in just one or two different media, but Nigel Ward's work covers a range of styles and processes and he is forever coming up with new ways to express his creativity. FIRST STOP: Ward with a cast from a Mercedes wheel and tyre.
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