Reflections on an adopted country.

The first European artists in New Zealand were visitors. Initially they documented the flora, fauna and peoples of Aotearoa. Later, landscape paintings were used to promote colonisation, primarily these artists were also visitors or immigrants to the country. I too am an immigrant and as with those earlier visitors my vision of the land is overlaid with my memories of another land, my homeland.

This series of work builds on 'Horizon', painted in Thames, 2009. 'Horizon' used the empty landscape of the tidal flat of the Firth of Thames at the southern end of the Hauraki Gulf. 'Letters Home' reflects a fresh landscape in my life, that of the Port Hills south of Christchurch. My husband and I moved here toward the end of 2009 and that first summer we lived close to these hills and I have spent hours walking the grassy hills. Here sheep populate the landscape.

In this work I recall the parable of the lost sheep, a single sheep who has strayed from the shelter of the fold. It is a universal story of home and displacement. Of a life framed within the experience of another culture. In a world where boundaries are shifting and dissolving, life as an immigrant can oscillate between novel experiences and the alienation and loneliness of exile in a strange land. Sometimes we must be lost in order to find each other.

Sheep were domesticated by humankind around 10000 years ago and feature strongly in our myths and symbology. There is no doubt too of the central place sheep hold in New Zealand Pakeha economic and cultural history. Sheep represent a link for me to my own homeland, where they feature less strongly in Polish history but are a persistent aspect of the pastoral landscape.

Renata's final series of paintings from Thames - drawing upon the space where the waters of the land meet the sea.

“The horizon is not simply an element of the landscape. It is the eternal line dividing our world into that which is heaven and that which is the earth. The horizon is essential to my perception of reality. It is at the heart of our vision. The horizon is the mysterious boundary between the internal and the external, a mirror reflection of ourselves. At the horizon dreams are created and visions born. The horizon line is always the same but never the same. Forever at the reach of our sight.”

A series of nudes painted in Spring 2008 and exhibited briefly at The Thames Gallery in October 2008.

This series of oil paintings on gessoed board is Renata's second series of angel paintings.

The subjects of these oil paintings on board are a couple of old buildings in Thames. The old Royal is a hotel standing on the corner of Brown St and Williamson St. The second subject is the Livery Stables building on Cochrane Street. Both buildings are listed as heritage buildings and hark back to the hey-day of Grahamstown (the north end of Thames where both these buildings are located).

Impressions from Kaikoura during a road trip in 2007.

This series of oil paintings on gessoed board is Renata's second series of paintings for which she has taken boats as the subject. Her first series were created in summer 2005/2006 and were exhibited at the Sola Cafe in February 2006.

This is Renata's second series of horses and most are currently exhibited at Inspirit Gallery which is between Hamilton and Cambridge.

The work here comprises the exhibition "Wharf - place of arrivals" . Most of the paintings are drawn from Renata's impressions of the Burke St Wharf in Thames with the addition of 3 works inspired by the Kaikoura coast of the South Island. Exhibited at The Thames Gallery 2007.

This work is a response to a specific aspect of New Zealand culture that appealed to Renata as an artist. An exhibition at Sola Cafe of these works in October 2006 was to the memory of Barrie Carruthers who, until his passing in June, 2006, was her friend and neighbour. He provided Renata with a sense of extended family here in New Zealand so far from her own family in Poland. Barrie was a outdoors man who loved horses and Renata felt it was a fitting way to pay her respects.

Renata began painting a series of small images with boats as the theme in January 2006. The first 5 impressions were painted for a 'Group Exhibition of Small Size Paintings' showing at the Upstairs Gallery in Whitianga in Jan/Feb 2006. The series in full was the content of Renata's third Sola Cafe exhibition, 'Between the Wind' of Feb/Mar 2006.

This series of small works, oil on board and mixed-media on paper, were exhibited at the Sola Cafe from 12 December 2007 - 9 January 2008. They are Renata's impressions of the New Zealand Christmas tree the iconic Pohutukawa. Renata has approached this subject several times in her years in New Zealand in particular in the annual exhibition at Hauraki House in Coromandel as part of Coromandel's Pohutukawa Festival . 2007 was the first year that Renata did not take part because of other exhibition commitments but in 2006 her work was commended with second prize.