"I've been working in oils for 25 years or more. The subject matters less to me than the light and shadow in it. I'm probably a frustrated sculptor as I enjoy creating three dimensions on a two-dimensional surface.

As for this exhibition you first have to decide what to paint. I was born and bred in Dunedin and grew up in North Dunedin, later living many years in Port Chalmers. We live in Oamaru but thought our exhibition should be about Dunedin as it is being shown here and North Dunedin and West Harbour seemed the obvious subject matter.

With these paintings I've tried to describe and accentuate what I see in the landscape around West Harbour so as usual light and shadow play an important role. Painting while often enjoyable can also be frustrating and reminds me of the Monty Python sketch where Graham Chapman wrestles with himself." - KIT MACGREGOR

"I seem to need to make these constructions, I've been pondering why? I remember as a child sitting in the car with my dad on rainy days on holidays in Scotland drawing old cottages and houses. I would have liked to go on to art school but was persuaded otherwise and ended up at Uni studying geography and then town planning. I worked as a planner dealing with heritage buildings and townscape in rural England, drawing a lot of buildings. Moving to Cornwall rekindled my interest in making artwork. 

I came to New Zealand, to Oamaru almost 20 years ago. My interest in the preservation of old buildings, architecture and good design remains and what I am doing here is a combination of this and the continued desire to make artwork. I'm particularly interested in older, often neglected buildings, some with inevitable changes made over time, and have developed a patina of age with flaking layers of paint, faded and worn surfaces, rust, lichens and so on. I seem to simplify the buildings somewhat and then work away in paint and pastel to try to create a patina reminiscent of what I saw.

Dunedin has many, many such buildings that appeal to me. The ones I've chosen for this exhibition were just some of the buildings I particularly noticed whilst exploring North Dunedin and the harbour by bicycle last summer." - ALISON BEVERS