"Once I wished upon a star every dream a threshold to a self made destiny. No limits then, and now I..."

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 15:29:25 +1300

“Once I wished
upon a star
every dream
a threshold
to a self made destiny.
No limits then,
and now
I dream again
and set a different
course.”

- Rosina Kamphuis, 2004

Artist's Profile

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 14:32:00 +1300

One journey leads to another. In a sea of change and choices ideas are born, and just sometimes a lustrous gift may evolve, to be carefully (re)constructed, shaped, and perhaps, shared. As quietly as it came about, its illusion becomes too concrete and it is necessary to reinvent a new reality. The process of art making is an ongoing dialogue of rebirth, where each translation falling short of the idea, offers a new perspective, another reading, a different course.

I immigrated to New Zealand from The Netherlands at the age of seven. Stories tell of many drawings made on The Waterman during a six weeks trek across the seas. In New Zealand I studied drama, classical ballet and modern dance, and was a dancer in musicals and other stage productions in Auckland. Theatre remains a passion and influence in my art practice.

Attracted to family and cultural heritage overseas, I returned to The Netherlands for some years, travelling between worlds on the Greek cruise ship Australis as a dancer, dance instructor and entertainer, and working as a tutor, dancer and choreographer for amateur dance companies in The Netherlands. My passion for Greek music and dance motivated some years of International Folkdance Training in Amsterdam resulting in varied art and stage experience, the award of a Diploma of International Folkdance as Tutor, and some drawing and painting commissions through which I explored and interpreted the richness that dance and culture can bring to theatrical productions.

One of the initiators of Atelier de Haagse School, an art academy for students with an intellectual disability in The Hague, I was staff preceptor, tutor and mentor of these students. In 1995, I was awarded a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree at the Royal Academy of the Arts in The Hague. And it was time to come home.

I returned to West Auckland from Europe in January 1998, exhibited in Portfolio Gallery Auckland City, and introduced myself to the Auckland art scene by responding to the call for Auckland artists for the mural project to cover the hoardings placed around the Civic Theatre during its restoration of two years. My research and interpretation of the Theatre’s magic led to my meeting with Freda Stark, a merit award and my reconnection with my Auckland Dance Tutor and friend, Harold Robinson.

To continue to engage with other artists and to extend my art practice, I undertook a Master of Fine Arts Degree achieving First Class Honours, at Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design, Auckland, in 2003. This was a celebration of the Arts, and of friendship. My studio research focussed on the use of drawing, painting, photography and photopolymer etching to create Tribute, an artist’s book within an installation.

Currently living in West Auckland, I write, work and teach in my home studio part time, and I teach at Henderson North School with a strong focus on the Arts in my teaching practice.

2009 will bring about new challenges and inspirations.

"I wash in fleeting waters the grains of yesterday, clouds mirrored in the wet."

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 14:20:00 +1300

“I wash in fleeting waters
the grains of yesterday,
clouds mirrored in the wet.”

- Rosina Kamphuis, 2009