Kirsten McIntosh sells much of her work for charity.
Cambridge artist Kirsten Mcintosh hasn’t let the grass grow under her feet since taking up painting eight years ago.
After honing her early skills with Wayne Sinclair, she pursued her own style and has since exhibited and sold her work far and wide. She also teaches art – her next series of beginner art classes kicks off on February 9 – and is on the committee of the Cambridge Society of Arts and a member of the Waikato Society of Arts.
More unusually perhaps, Kirsten is also feeding into her experimental side by dabbling in augmented reality art – or ARt as it is fast becoming known. Artists embracing augmented reality technology slip into a virtual world where their work can be viewed in the computer-generated universe, or ‘metaverse’, taking it to a far greater audience than would be the case otherwise. The technology offers an exciting new platform for creativity that is starting to revolutionise the art world.
“It’s quite exciting,” she explained. “For example, I can add butterflies into a painting and then a viewer, using the augmented reality app, can see them ‘fly off’ the canvas.”
Painting landscapes was a slow burn for Kirsten, but she now enjoys capturing scenes with unusual elements of light, rock or clouds that makes a piece special. Much of her inspiration comes from scenes she notices and photographs when out and about. They might be simple roadside grasses or the reflection of clouds on a body of water. She also draws on her extensive travels through Europe, Canada, the Middle East and Asia, and works from her Cambridge East home studio.
For the past couple of years, Kirsten has tied her art to a charitable cause. In late 2020 she was invited by Welcome Swallow Gallery to take part in an exhibition. Its success drew her into more exhibitions at the Hamilton East gallery.
The gallery’s point of difference is that it exists to raise money for charitable causes, mostly with a child-centric focus. Welcome Swallow is run by volunteers, so at the same time as providing exhibition space for artists it also raises funds for charity by selling their work.
The fusion of art and charity appeals to Kirsten.
“It is so lovely to be able to create something that benefits those who are going through these economic hard times,” she said. “I have also been fortunate enough to win two ‘Volunteer Awards’ for my original paintings. They were selected by the volunteers running the gallery.”
Kirsten was involved in November’s ‘Passion for Art’ tour and will take part in an April 1-2 exhibition called ‘Just the Two of Us’, featuring Kirsten and Carole Hughes.
