Alix St Clair

“You don’t have to be a profound intellectual to be a great artist”. 

You don’t have to be a great artist either, but this quote gives me the freedom to enjoy the creative journey and meet some wonderful people. 

I attended art classes in Upper Hutt with Mary Archibald (Amour), a multi-talented artist who constantly challenged her students to try different media, styles, techniques and approaches, always extending us in new directions. I moved from water colour to oils to acrylics, but it was a class on paper mosaic that caught my attention and started me on my current path. I have created mosaics inspired by photos, magazine ads, media promos and other artists’ work, even decorating a few 3D objects along the way.

Being a person of order and detail I enjoy the challenge of creating an object of beauty, piece by piece, from small components. ​Most recently I have taken to exploring musical themes on the surfaces of various stringed instruments. It's a messy business, involving multiple trays of small pieces of coloured paper, masses of glossy magazines gathered from friends and op shops,
and a chance gust of wind through the studio window can induce multi-coloured mayhem and bad language. However it’s a very relaxing pastime, probably floating somewhere on the continuum between art and craft.

Since moving to Mangawhai in 2022, I have joined the art community where I am experimenting with painting in acrylics and drawing portraits with coloured pencils.