Thursday, October 19, 2017
Ross McCullough
A SOLO art exhibition by retiree Margaret Fairs is being held at the Opotiki Art Society Hall this Labour Weekend.
Ms Fairs said it would be her first exhibition in Opotiki since retiring to the town.
Titled This Is Our Life it will feature 30 of her paintings.
Her subjects are often quite nautical-based around the sea and sea life, but she also has a passion for gardens and portraying these in still life, and dabbling with the odd portrait.
On arriving in Opotiki, Ms Fairs said she joined the Opotiki Art Society and was amazed by the Art Society Hall in King Street – the venue for her exhibition.
“I was blown away really. It is such a wonderful gift to have for an artist.
“I knew straight away I had to have an exhibition there.
“There should be something in there all the time,” she said.
Ms Fairs joked that she was quite the prolific painter and needed somewhere to display her works of art.
She hopes to have many exhibitions at the hall.
“I don’t know what is going to happen. But if you don’t put your fishing line in the water…I just thought it was time people knew who I was.”
A recent excursion to Waioweka has already given her further inspiration for future paintings.
Ms Fairs she had always been a part-time artist, her main platform for displaying and selling her art being the biennial Garden and Art Festival in Tauranga.
She lived and worked as an administrator in Tauranga before coming to Opotiki to retire.
She is currently working part-time at Opotiki New World as well as finding time to paint.
She said prior to that, she lived in Whangamata where she regularly exhibited in a gallery and sold her works.
Her exhibition this weekend will be held between 9am and 4pm daily on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.
With Opotiki’s Market Day on Saturday too, she said the two events happening simultaneously would tie in quite nicely.