Louise Mcrae was born into a farming family on the Kaipara Harbour. She spent her growing years riding horses, imagining and creating. Later in likfe after the birth of my daughter she returned to painting. She met and was inspired by the wonderful Joan Fear who introduced her to ideas, the quality of paint and the importance of an enquiring mind. Over years of painting, reading and looking, largely self taught she developed a practise of her own. Layering the events of her life into her practise, she developed assemblage works that were paintings broken apart. “I was interested in the space between the moments, as a way to find peace and freedom. The breaking up created material, to use to make a work.”

“After many years of making I was ready to throw everything out and start fresh. I completed a MFA, and have moved my practise into sculpture, realising a love for form and material. Material is infinitely interesting to me, its a vehicle for form and it is uncompromisingly what is. The challenge of working with and constantly learning from the experience of material is deeply satisfying and full of potential. It is for me a life-long quest.”

Works in Gallery