It's full house at the New Pacific Studio artist's retreat at Mount Bruce with four artists, and a poet, living in the main house and adjoining cottage. They come from a diverse range of backgrounds and countries including Ireland, Italy, Germany and the United States. Tomorrow is the last opportunity for thepublic to visit the studio before it closes for the summer season. Owner Kay Flavell divides her time between the Mt Bruce studio and one in San Francisco Bay. She is also investigating the opportunity to open a similar place in Chile. The latest arrivals at Mt Bruce are Ishle Yi Park, a poet who writes about New York cultures, and Edith Hillinger, an artist who grew up in Berlin and now lives in Berkeley, California. Ishle is working on a series of sonnets and is enjoying living in one place for a couple of weeks after many months touring with eight other young poets and musicians of Def Jam. This group recently performed at the Auckland Festival. Edith Hillinger will be exhibiting her work at Aratoi from March 31. "Emerging Worlds" consists of a series of scroll paintings combining digital photography and oil pastels. She is inspired by the botany of Mt Bruce. "It's so layered and visually exciting. You can see the life cycle, nature at its most composting mode, everything is used and useful". The pair are sharing the studio with Kate Minnock from Ireland who paints lichens, Jim Vecchi, an Italian-American photographer from Tuscany and Frederick Spratt, an American photographer who said "I love the fact that I have found a way to make art out of a suitcase". The New Pacific Studio is just north of the Mt Bruce Wildlife Reserve.
