Leading SI artist to launch 11.11.1.11.11 studio opening exhibition in Kaikoura next month
Thursday 9 December 2010, 9:15AM
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A leading South Island artist will open New Zealand’s newest art studio next month with her 11.11.1.11.11 exhibition in Kaikoura.
The figures represent the time, month, day and year the studio opens: 11.11am on January 11, next year.
Artist Ruth Stirnimann has exhibited in Christchurch, Buenos Aires, Queenstown and Cheviot this year and her studio opening is a precursor to her Sydney exhibition in February and a New York exhibition in May next year.
She has two painting styles: evocative abstract and straight line geometric. The 11.11.1.11.11 exhibition is symbolic of her geometric styles.
Stirnimann said she saw the number ‘one’ as the initial number of creation and it could be related in her geometric works.
The new studio will be open Fridays and Saturday from 11am till 1pm. Stirnimann was the only New Zealander at an international exhibition in Buenos Aires in August.
Her Queenstown exhibitions are still open at the Wai, the Queenstown Lakes District Council reception and the Queenstown Events Centre and Cheviot’s Two Rivers Gallery is also displaying her works.
Stirnimann says she started painting at kindergarten and was unaware mandala (circles) she loved painting were expressions of universal geometry.
``An important part of my painting education was the geometric design classes we had at the mathematical-scientific high school which I attended for a couple of years.
``Then in New Zealand, I had a very special art tutor Gary Griffiths in Nelson who inspired me to paint full time after I moved to Kaikoura six years ago. I am deeply grateful for his help and support until he died a few years ago.’’
Her first exhibition was at Forsyth Barr in Christchurch two years ago followed by a solo exhibition at the Fullmer Gallery in Tasman and the Art in the Dark show in Kaikoura last year.
Stirnimann is a Kiwi but was born in Basel, Switzerland. She has been a full-time artist since 2004.
Her paintings are expressions of creative, harmonious vibration underlying all life forms. They embrace changing patterns of being and support harmony and balance on a holistic level. She says her works as healing paintings, restoring harmony and equilibrium on an individual and universal level.