Artists draw inspiration from their immediate locales and Tony Clarke sees an abundance of beauty in the birdlife inhabiting the Tāmaki Estuary environment.
The well-known east Auckland artist has created a new collection of works, “a celebration of the birdlife of the Tāmaki River”, he says, which goes on public display at Uxbridge Arts and Culture from May 18 to June 20.
Clarke says Interwoven, the exhibition, “is a culmination of the daily experience while walking the banks of the Tamaki Estuary Te Wai o Taiki”.
“It provides the spiritual and artistic inspiration for my work. I’m struck by the forms created by tidal movement, and the colour of the sunrise reflected on the sand and silt.
“The birds are an integral part of the environment, both at one with, and interconnected to it.
“Calmness and turbulence co-exist, fineness and coarseness, movement and stillness, simplicity and intricacy, everything is there as a beautiful interwoven tapestry.”
The beautiful, accomplished works will be showing in the Malcolm Smith Gallery, the culmination of Clarke’s “experimentation, inner reflection, and desire to express the intangible”.
He’s a two-time recipient of Uxbridge Arts and Culture’s Estuary Art and Ecology Awards’ People’s Choice Award in 2023 and 2025.
“The patterns of land, sky and sea appear interwoven, and it’s these abstract shapes and patterns that I use to delve into the intangible and create a feeling and atmosphere.
“As Constable said, ‘I should paint my own places best. Painting is another word for feeling’.”
Clarke admits to a feeling of increasing awareness “of the many layers of nature”.
“Colour, light, pattern, form and rhythm capture my attention and spark my imagination.
“Every painting is a personal challenge to work in a way more consistent with the freedom of nature, using the skills I’ve acquired without being tethered by them.
“Interwoven hopes to share a sense of wonder and curiosity which in turn evokes appreciation and care,” Clarke says.
Uxbridge Arts and Culture is impressed with what the artist has produced.
“Through his exhibition, Tony Clarke describes the ecology of Te Wai o Taiki in one word – Interwoven,” it says.
“Defined as many parts elaborately combined into a united whole, Interwoven highlights how each living thing plays an integral and interconnected role in supporting the inner workings of the Tāmaki Estuary.
“Clarke zooms in on this ecosystem and takes a micro lens to the birdlife of the estuary.
“Through daily walks along the riverbanks, he’s listened to the kuaka’s call, watched as the matuku moana prowl the mudflats, and bade farewell to the tūturiwhatu as they begin their migration.
“With every glide of the pencil, each memory becomes entwined within his work,” Uxbridge says.
A respected self-taught artist and teacher, Clarke works with a variety of media, including charcoal drawings, watercolours, and acrylics.
His subject matter has traditionally focused on New Zealand’s native wildlife, with particular interest in the birdlife local to Te Wai o Taiki.
After an inspiring visit to the United States in 2000, Clarke opened an art school in Howick where he works and teaches.
Clarke has exhibited in New Zealand and the US. Returning to America in 2001, he was accepted by the prominent Wilcox Gallery in Wyoming, which represents his work in that country.
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