Miriam Ruberl, of Jewish descent and a refugee from Hitler's Germany, considers herself an experimental artist.
"My passion is to create non-representational works often using everyday materials in unexpected ways. My conversations with Sumi ink and locally harvested kokowai (red ochre) and other geothermal clays have occupied several years now.
"My desire though is to invite the viewer to relate to the work via their own experience," she says.
"Certainly my life-journey's experience influences my marks. Jewish descent being matrilineal, my work often evolves amid circles of conception, gestation, fullness. My conscious connection with planet earth/Papatuanuku and all-that-is again brings forward symbols associated with balance and endurance."
Miriam, with friend and fellow artist Suzan Kostanich, has made the most of a rundown shop space on Tutanekai St by turning it into a pop up store to exhibit her latest masterpieces created with the local clay.
"My passion is to create non-representational art that provides the viewer with an invitation to connect with the work via their own interpretation of what they see, using everyday materials that are usually applied in quite different ways."
While Miriam, 72, sticks with painting, Suzan works with fibres to create her art, her latest work on display is made from felt.
"I have been creating with my hands since I was a child," she says.
"I endeavour to produce work which comforts and soothes at a physical level through the tactile. The works exhibited reflect the ongoing journey of my exploration, of using fibre to create objects which are both beautiful and functional. Using the organic form of the kina or sea urchin shape, but transforming the hard quality of shell into a warm, soft, tactile yet functional experience."
Miriam has spent most of her life moving around, stopping in Tauranga for a while before settling in Rotorua, five years ago.
Her series Domestic Bliss, which is on display in Art Space is one of her biggest series to date, containing 25 works so far, with more to come.
"I don't wait to feel like painting, I just go and paint. I paint because I have to," she says.
To check out Miriam and Suzan's art pop on down to 1222 Tutanekai St.