Circling back on life
Froyle Neideck’s paintings are bold and when Carly Thomas talked to her, it became clear the woman behind them is too.
Froyle Neideck might be sitting, but she is certainly not still. Her gestures emphasise her excitement and her energy is brimming over. Her tight curls bounce and her face is a tide rushing in.
It’s all go. Neideck has moved to New Zealand from Australia on a pilgrimage of identity, having recently traced her birth mother and father.
She has moved into a shared studio in the Square Edge Community Arts Centre, Palmerston North, and she is working on a new body of art works. There is no time for still. Her life is changing and she is running after it.
‘‘I am 50 and I could have another 20 years and this is how I want to spend it. I want to find out where I come from and who I am.’’
Who she is is half Maori, and for Neideck, that is an absolute treasure.
‘‘What does it mean to be Maori? I have no idea. I have no grid of understanding. I’m going to look at the arts and the culture and what it all means, meet family and explore the history. I am going to spend the next 20 years unpacking this treasure chest that I have been given.’’
The artist’s journey started when she was prompted by a close friend to ‘‘find her people’’. Neideck admits she didn’t really want to at first. She is very close with her adopted mother and says she didn’t want to face ‘‘what it might open up’’. But her friend was insistent and before she knew what was happening a piece of paper was placed in front of her.
‘‘It had my birth mother’s name and what she had called me and then a stamp with my adopted parents’ names and what they registered me as, and ‘father unknown’.’’
Neideck leans in a bit closer and for a moment she stops. ‘‘I cried, I just cried.’’
A whole new idea of who she is had presented itself on a piece of
‘‘I feel like understanding being Maori is my inheritance.’’ Froyle Neideck
paper and the ground beneath Neideck’s feet fell away from underneath her. ‘‘It’s life changing. It messes you up. When I didn’t know, it didn’t matter’’.
But not for long, this gregarious woman found her footing and strode forwards. She says she ‘‘had to know more’’ and went on to find out who her ‘‘father unknown’’ was.
‘‘He was a bus driver. A good looking Maori boy who could play the guitar and tell stories.’’
Neideck won’t get to meet him – he is dead – but she has met many of his family and children, one of whom took her to the family’s ancestral land. Neideck says it has been so intense and ‘‘just so amazing’’.
‘‘I feel like understanding being Maori is my inheritance.’’
She is not a doer of halves and Neideck packed up and moved to Palmerston North about three months ago, bringing her adopted mum along on the adventure.
She says she loves it in the city and her short-term plan is getting longer by the day.
‘‘The whole set up here at Square Edge is so amazing and it’s all full of amazing people. It’s like something out of a movie. I love it so much. I love being here. It’s so creative and I am not the strangest person in the room.’’
Neideck rises out of her chair in a flurry of glitter – she has been working with an iridescent medium and it now follows her around like pixie dust. She explains the pieces in front of her.
‘‘I’m about inspiring and uplifting. The world is a really hard place and I just want to make people feel good. I love colour and I love the way it can make people feel when they are in front of it. I want to give people peace and joy and all that stuff.’’
Some new themes are moving in – a wash of shimmering blue becomes her ancestors’ journey on their waka to ‘‘what? They didn’t know. They headed towards am unknown place and, wow, what courage that would have taken’’.
‘‘I feel like that’s where I am too. We have launched out and I’m saying: ‘I’m going to go and pursue this treasure’. I have no idea what that is going to look like. I have no idea how it’s going to unfold, or if we are going to die or starve,’’ she laughs uproariously.
‘‘I am so dramatic, but yeah, that’s the journey my art’s going on as well.’’
And it’s got a strong wind behind it. Froyle Neideck is anything but still.
For more information about Froyle Neideck’s artwork, interior design and creative workshops, go to: froyleart.com/