Botanical focus for 10 years
For 10 years staff from Witt’s creative technologies department have been drawn to a botanical art class. Geraldine Guy and Vicki Catlow got hooked on the colour pencil drawing classes when it was held for the first time at Witt.
Since then the classes have run once a year by Melbourne-based art tutor Gillian Rankin and co-organised by Shuna Giles of New Plymouth,
‘‘Shuna was one of our students. Witt offered a venue for Shuna and Gillian,’’ Guy said.
‘‘We wandered in and sat down and didn’t leave,’’ Catlow adds.
Both women said Rankin was a brilliant tutor, and they enjoyed taking time out to do art projects themselves.
‘‘Because it’s very detailed drawing, you just don’t get the time to do that sort of work in your own time,’’ Guy said.
Catlow said the class was a reminder of the basics.
They were acknowledged, along with Marton woman Judith Briant, for 10 years’ attendance with Royal Horticultural Society post cards from Giles and Rankin.
Giles said after the first year the class moved to New Plymouth Girls’ High School and had been there since. The time had gone quickly.
‘‘We never envisaged, when I first offered to organise a class, that 10 years later we would still be doing it,’’ Giles said.
‘‘This is our biggest class yet. Every day we’ve got 17 or 18, which is the absolute maximum.’’
There are 34 people booked in for various amounts of time over the six days.
Students come from Taranaki, Christchurch, Blenheim, Auckland, Wanganui, Taihape, and Marton.
People have already booked for next year.
‘‘A lot of people, as they leave, they pay for next year, which enables us to keep the cost down.
‘‘We’ve kept the prices very stable, they’ve hardly changed in the 10 years,’’ she said.
Rankin comes to New Plymouth specially every year to teach the course.
‘‘You’re catching up with old friends each year.
‘‘We go out for dinner at night so we have a great times. It’s just a pleasure to come over each year,’’ Rankin said.