DEREK MARCH

HOW WERE YOU FIRST INTRODUCED TO THIS TYPE OF WORK/ARTISTIC PRACTICE - AND WHAT DID YOU ENJOY ABOUT YOUR EARLY EXPLORATION OF IT?

I have only been making large sculptural pieces over the past four or five years. I am not really sure how it began, I think I just wanted to make a bird piece to fly in a particular space in my house. Anyway it just moved on from there. Over the years I have mainly worked in painting, but I did have a ten year period making art jewellery which at the time I thought of as wearable sculpture. The type of work I am most interested in now is folk art.

I am never fully sure of how a piece is going to look when I begin and it gradually draws itself in space. I love the mystery of this process

HOW HAS YOUR WORK/ARTISTIC PRACTICE CHANGED AND DEVELOPED OVER THE YEARS? WHAT FACTORS DO YOU THINK AFFECTED THIS?

I am fortunate to be retired these days and able to dedicate a lot of time to my creative work. At times in the past this has been more difficult because of the need to provide for family. Over the years I haven’t followed a consistent creative path, moving from painting to jewellery, back to painting and now working in sculpture. The drive to create work for me has always been a desire to share a love of the surrounding natural world. Sometimes this has been motivated by anger and concerns over environmental degradation. My jewellery featured plant forms which grew out of my experiences working as a gardener at the time.

Waterways and wetlands have featured in my work over a number of years and still do. Our property over looks the largest wetland in the Auckland region. Birds often feature in my work as they are a favourite creature for me.

PLEASE DESCRIBE WHERE YOU WORK FROM? WHAT DO YOU FIND SPECIAL ABOUT LIVING OUT WEST?

My wife Elizabeth and have lived at Te Henga/Bethells Beach for 40 years and raised a family here. I am lucky to have a couple of work spaces on our property. Nature is all around nurturing and providing inspiration. There is still a strong primal memory present in the land out here and I love sensing that.