Bruce Winter
Sculptor
I was born in Raetihi in 1956, one of six brothers and a sister and educated at Raetihi Primary School and Ruapehu College in Ohakune. I am married, have two adult children and live in Pinehaven, Upper Hutt. I have also lived and worked in Australia and the United States through the 1970's and 80's.
Over the past twenty years or so I have been developing my stone sculpture skills and experimenting with mixed media constructions, combining wood, stone and metal; often making use of recycled materials as an inspiration for something new.
I have exhibited in select galleries and local art fairs throughout New Zealand. I have also had the great honour of producing an international piece ("Patritha") in collaboration with Lower Hutt artist Maria Heath) as a commission, presented to the city of Athens, Greece in 2004 by the NZ Olympic Committee.
In creating, I like to utilise the inherent emotion of materials that have been worn and corroded and incorprate them into works that evoke a mixture of nostalgia and curiosity. My artistic direction is fluid and evolving, but I tend to be attracted first to form, then to texture and colour. My aim is to create a form that is pleasing to the eye and emotionally comforting. Most of my work represents a transformation or alteration from a past use or form into a fresh entity sometimes purely abstract, other times familiar.
I continue to expand the types of materials and their uses in my creative work, with the intention of staying fresh and alert to new directions.