A man for all seasons

An artist who can turn his hand to producing good wine and world-class olive oil also has a love of the sea. ROBIN BAILEY reports

New Zealand artist Mike Ponder is a man of huge talents.

He can sell as many of his works as he can produce, at prices in the $20,000 to $30,000 range.

He can also make medal-winning wines and grow the sort of olives that helped to establish New Zealand's reputation as a producer of world-class extra-virgin olive oil.

Ponder also has an enduring love of the sea, which his commercial success enables him to indulge aboard the 19.3m motor yacht Columbia. Ponder and wife Di bought the Canadian-built Columbia earlier this year and when they are not using her the yacht is available for specialist charters.

The Ponder artistic career got off to a shaky start at Hutt Valley High School, where an ability to draw saw him enrolled for art class by a schoolmate. Part way through the first lesson he decided formal art training was not for him.

He painted spasmodically for his own enjoyment during his 20s, without any thought of a professional career. It was not until his brother Richard, also an artist, introduced him to painting with a palette knife that Mike discovered the technique that was right for him.

"By paring away unnecessary detail and homing in on what was important to the essence of the picture, I was able to develop my own unique genre," he says.

Success did not come quickly, but by the early 80s his work was becoming known in New Zealand and Australia. The Downtown Hilton Gallery was one of the first major outlets to recognise his work, with owner David Potter taking Ponder under his wing. Potter today rates his protege as "undoubtedly one of New Zealand's finest artists".

For four years from 1983, travel in Europe became the source of Ponder's inspiration with successful exhibitions in Australia, England and the United States.

Many of Ponder's paintings feature ships, usually workboats with character, and he credits his ability to portray them accurately with first-hand experience of boatbuilding. He built a Hartley21 trailer-sailer from scratch.

In 1987 the Ponders were back in New Zealand, living in Blenheim, and the artist and his wife were looking for an alternative lifestyle that would allow Mike to continue painting while creating some additional income.

A logical move was to buy land and establish what was to become Ponder Estate, 36ha of grapes and olive groves. By 1994, after five years of producing award-winning grapes for a major winery, the Ponders made their own wine and their first commercial pressing of extra-virgin olive oil.

The labels featured Ponder art, and still do, as part of the arrangement made last year when the estate founders received an offer they couldn't refuse. Today they still have a home in Blenheim and have another at Sanctuary Cove in Queensland. They divide their time between them and spend as much time as possible aboard Columbia.

Why a Canadian-built yacht for a couple dedicated to promoting all things New Zealand?

"It was just the right boat at the right time," says the almost 2m tall painter. "It also has plenty of headroom for a fully grown person."

Built by the Vancouver company West Bay SonShip Yachts, Columbia was designed for the top end of the charter market and was in corporate charter during the America's Cup, before the Ponders bought her.

The boat is roomy, with practical, free-flowing and almost open-plan layout. There are two helm areas, one on the flybridge and the main one in the saloon. The downstairs helm station was designed by the Auckland company Electronic Navigation and includes locally supplied product such as Furuno radar, FM2610 VHF, FCV292 colour sounder, GP50 GPS, FS1552 SSB, interfaced Robertson chartplotter and autopilot and Seastar hydraulic steering.

It's much the same in the galley, with the whiteware. The stove and cooktop are Shacklock, the refrigerator, freezer, icemakers and icecrusher are Frigidaire and the rangehood is Fisher and Paykel.

The art aboard ship is by the skipper and the wine from Ponder Estate.