Spending time in classrooms with a mixture of NCEA and Cambridge students, Shane looked at ease in a classroom setting, moving from student to student and even passing advice on to his daughter, Mika Cotton (Year 13, Middlemore).
Mika and Shane Cotton
“It was an honour to have one of New Zealand’s premier painters at the College,” says Senior Painting Teacher, Joel Tucker. “Shane gave up his time to talk individually with our students and gave them invaluable feedback on their art practice.”
Originally from Wellington’s Lower Hutt, Shane Cotton is one of the highest regarded contemporary artists in the country, and his work is celebrated both nationally and on a larger international platform.
A graduate of Ilam School of Fine Arts in Christchurch and a lecturer at Massey University in Palmerston North, Shane’s work includes both Maori iconography and culture and European symbols and items. Many of his paintings go into depth of primitive ideas especially through Maori whakapapa.
With the senior art students given freedom to explore areas of art they are drawn to, a glimpse into contemporary art styles was a welcome learning experience.
