September is Vegan Art Month
In celebration of Vegan Art Month and some of Aotearoa’s amazing vegan artists – we share with you some outstanding talents!
Lynda Bell
Lynda is a full time painter and Illustrator with a studio at the Quarry Arts Centre in Whangarei — if you picked up our Winter 2022 issue, you’ll have learned all about her in our feature on Northland’s vegan artists.
The images Lynda has shared here are part of her Godmother series, each depicting an earth goddess who cares for and protects certain groups of animals.
“I like to educate people about different species and look at some of the ways they are mistreated and misunderstood, so we can all be inspired to help protect and care for them. Some of my godmothers have more of a fantasy element and they are about taking care of aspects of ourselves that we may have forgotten about when we got older.”
All 45 of Lynda’s Godmother paintings are soon to be published as an oracle deck through Blue Angel Publishing.
Website: www.artbylyndabell.com
Amanda Toner
Amanda is a tattoo artist and illustrator living in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland), tattooing at Love & Hope Tattoo in Grafton.
You will have seen a gorgeous piece by Amanda in our Summer 2021 issue, illustrating our vegan pie-making feature.
As you can see by the work she shares with us today, Amanda has a lot of love for animals; she’s particularly fond of rabbits, and volunteers with Raining Rabbits Rescue NZ when she’s not creating amazing art. Check out more from Amanda:
Website: www.amandatoner.bigcartel.com
Ruth Killoran
Ruth is a full time painter and sculptor based in Ōtautahi (Christchurch).
Ruth’s works look at the disruptive impacts of human activity on the natural world through a lens of love and compassion. She has an exhibition of vegan-inspired paintings coming up in November at the The Pumanawa Gallery in The Christchurch Arts Centre.
Today she shares with us some of her environmental themed paintings.
Check out more from Ruth:
Website: www.ruthkilloran.co.nz
Nursey
Nursey is a custom tattoo artist based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington) at Dr Morse Tattoo.
Her beautiful art has appeared in the Aotearoa Vegan magazine on several occasions, most recently in our Autumn 2022 issue in which she illustrated our feature about the nation’s treatment of animals labelled “pests”.
The work she shares today demonstrates the inspiration Nursey finds in the natural world, captured in her own distinct, detailed style.
Check out more from Nursey:
Website: www.drmorse.nz/nursey
Te Haunui Tuna
Te Haunui is a proud vegan, Māori, artist, atheist who at his core has a curious mind. His creativity was influenced early on by his father, who was also his art teacher at primary school. He attributes his variety of creative inspirations to these early days where his father exposed him to different forms of art, from fantasy, realism, to comics, and toi Māori (Māori art).
Te Haunui doesn’t limit himself to just one medium and likes to explore whatever looks interesting to him at any given time. He’s currently dabbling with writing blogs.
Check out more from Te Haunui:
Website: www.tehaunuiart.com
Jewelia Howard
Jewelia is an artist from Pōneke (Wellington) whose slightly magical art is inspired by pop culture and the natural world.
Jewelia is non-binary (they/them pronouns) and has been vegan for 4 years.
More from Jewelia:
Website: www.jewelia.co
Laura Bee
Laura is an illustrator and visual designer with a whimsical, playful, and vibrant style. She works mostly in publishing and storyboarding, but is starting to branch out to animation and background design too. She’s keen on anything fun and creative that gets sent her way.
Laura freelances from home, where she lives with her partner and cats:
“I am definitely an introvert and I truly love my job, I am lucky to be in my position making my passion my job!”
Check out more from Laura:
Website: www.laurabeedraws.com
Cosmo Bones
Cosmo (she/they) is an artist who makes works that are bold, colourful, and a little bit magical in a range of mediums: traditional ink paintings, digital illustration, sticker-making, polymer clay and beaded jewellery, and zines.
Website: www.cosmobones.com
Tineke Rose
Tineke is an artist of many disciplines, based in Mount Maunganui. As well as her beautiful illustration work shown here, she works in graphic design, photography, and ceramic art.
She has dedicated her life to sharing love and compassion through teaching yoga, sharing art works, and living a vegan and sustainable lifestyle.
Website: www.tinekerose.com
Rom Marinkovich
Rom is a ceramic artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) who produces work under the name FruitFire.
Rom’s ceramic creations embody the aesthetics of the sci-fi TV shows and movies of the 70s she loved as a kid, such as Lost in Space, Land of the Giants, Logan’s Run, Planet of the Apes, Thunderbirds, and Star Trek.
The piece she shares today is one of her Pool Mugs.
Check out more from Rom:
Website: www.fruitfire.co.nz
Joshua James Elkanah Solomon
Joshua is an artist and tattooist based in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland), where he runs the tattoo studio Electric Ceremony (www.instagram.com/electricceremony).
The works Joshua shares today come from a recent solo exhibition titled ‘What Are Yous Up To?’ The show comprised works created on found surfaces, reflecting on schooling, growing up, and paying homage to a tattoo career through the exploration of process.
Through the exhibition, Joshua hopes sharing the journey of this work with all those who wander to seek beauty will inspire others on their own paths.
Check out more from Joshua:
Website: www.jjes.online
Emma Kerr
Emma has been happily creating tattoos for near a decade, often being inspired by requests of animals, flowers, foliage, and the rest of the beauty the natural world offers. Whimsical or Nouveau inspired, fun and playful, or nostalgic imagery inspires creativity that flows most effortlessly.
Recently her creativity has been expressed creating macrame jewellery also.
Check out more from Emma:
Website: www.lacunatattooarts.nz
Paddy AKA Optimal Volume
Paddy is an artist and musician based in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland), making art under the name Optimal Volume.
He has been vegan most of his life and his art — which ranges from spray-painted murals to digital designs — often reflects his feelings on the consumption of body parts.
He also plays in a handful of Tāmaki’s coolest bands.
Check out more from Paddy:
Instagram: www.instagram.com/optimal_volume
Mookie Waaka
Mookie is an artist and musician based in Tāmaki Makaurau who is best described in her own words:
“Hott Chipz fanatic, friend to Soda Pop, recently invested in an inflatable spa pool to drink beerz in. Accidentally kicked a bee while demonstrating how I almost kicked a bee. Trying to redress the balance of kicking a bee by eating vegan for many years, though I did recently eat a couple Twisties just to see how they are 20 years after I last ate em – don’t bother, AVERAGE.”
- 1 September 2022
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