The Mercury Bay Art Escape Trust are pleased to announce that the guest speaker at the Opening of the 2016 Mercury Bay Art Escape and Taste of the Tour Showcase Exhibition at Hot Waves Cafe, Hot Water Beach on Friday 4 March 2016 will be well known New Zealand artist and sculptor Matt Gauldie from Otaki. Matt was appointed to the prestigious position of Official NZ Defence Forces Artist in 2005 by then Prime Minister the Rt Honourable Helen Clark, following Graham Baddock and esteemed WWII artist Major Peter McIntyre amongst others.

Matt has recently completed an impressive bronze sculpture of WWI Sapper Moore-Jones for the Hamilton City Council whose Victoria Street statue represents the soldier/artist who served with The New Zealand expeditionary forces in Gallipoli.  Moore-Jones's painting of ‘Simpson and his Donkey’ is perhaps the most endearing of the Anzac paintings completed at Gallipoli.

Like Moore-Jones, Gauldie has also completed paintings of war action in his role as the official New Zealand Defence Forces artist, a role that has taken him to Afghanistan, Antarctica, East Timor and the Solomon Islands.

“Matt is a vibrant, enthusiastic member of the art community and has that "number eight wire" quality and combined with a dry sense of humour will make for an entertaining speaker” said Trust Chairman Stuart Christie after meeting him at a recent exhibition.

The Opening launch is a significant public event on the Peninsula calendar and usually sells out well before. Tickets are available on the Art Escape website.

The Art Escape Open Studio Tour weekends are March 5 and 6 and March 12 and 13, 2016 and are an opportunity for residents and visitors to interact with the artists in their studios and purchase artwork direct from the artistic source. This ‘self drive’ tour showcases the outstanding artistic talent of approx. 37 local artists from Kuaotunu to Tairua in the Eastern Coromandel District and features a variety of media from jewellery, pottery, painting, photography, hand forged knives, sculpture, woodcarving, and mosaics.

The tour is free but it is recommended that you have a copy of the latest Guide available at www.mercurybayartescape.com.  The 2016 Guide is a 154 page full colour, all year round reference to the creative talent in Mercury Bay.

On Monday 7 March Matt Gauldie will share his knowledge and experience in a workshop for artists titled ‘The figure in art...portraiture and the ace up your sleeve’. The workshop will focus on the role of Portraiture in 2D and 3D Art, include some practical painting demonstrations and look at technical and practical implications of working in this field and no doubt reiterate his mantra "paint what you know."