Bio.

Born in England 1987, my creativity was nurtured from an early age, by my grandfather who was an artist. He always encouraged me, tried to teach me the complexities of perspective and the subtleties of watercolor washes, which was his favorite medium. My family immigrated to New Zealand when I was 8 years old, I absolutely hated it at first with the fierce stubbornness of a child, but soon learnt to love it, and now I am a resolute New Zealander. We originally lived in Kawakawa, Bay of Islands, but we moved several times down the country, till we settled in a small town, Orere Point, in the middle of no where and hour from central Auckland, but still technically in it. It was there in a two classroom primary school, I quickly became the artist of the school. Head drawer for school murals, and my text books were painstakingly decorated around the edges. I started a craze for outlining everything with black pens and creating elaborate titles. On pet days my art projects often got prizes, however, life wasn’t all daisies, I was absolutely terrible at sports, last in everything, balls always hit me, and I was the kid that got certificates for being a good supporter. When I moved to high school, art became a favorite subject, math’s and pe by far the worst. In 6^th form I got the opportunity to take art, photography, and design most importantly. I didn’t know anything about it, but it sounded interesting. I quickly came to realize I had stumbled apon a lifetime passion, that embodied all the things I liked about art and photography into a more challenging and better paid job! In 7^th form, my school decided that I couldn’t take 3 art subjects for boards, despite the fact I had got mostly excellences in my 6^th form boards. So I took the initiative knowing what I wanted to do with my life, and enrolled in a foundation course at MIT. With that portfolio I got into Whitecliffe College of Arts and design, moved out of my parents and started flatting at 17, it was the best experience, as much as I love my parents, I really enjoyed the independence. In my second year, I finally got to study design, and I absolutely loved it. It was humbling to find out how little I knew about typography, deadlines and computer programmes, but I was keen to learn. 3^rd year was harder than I could imagine, and 4^th year even more so, but I am still here. More than a little sleep deprived, but still going. When I go home to see my grandfather (who moved over here a few years after we did) he always asks me how course is going, and is really happy when I bring him home work, to show what im doing. The computer generation gap is huge, he used to work in a studio hand rendering type onto clear plastic, but he still encourages me and is very proud. His hand shakes badly now, but he still manages to make beautiful oil paintings, that he sells at the local shop.