Alixene Curtis
Gisborne

Alexine is a weaver and a painter. Weaving embodies intensity and painting brings her reprieve. Alexine was born a weaver. Coming from generations of weavers, there is a direct line down from her tipuna. Her great grandmother was a master weaver and Alixene herself began weaving at the age of twelve. During her first years she would weave huge mats that would cover almost the entire lounge floor. Weaving challenges Alixene to extend that which has already been created; to carry tradition through to the present. She chooses however to tell the stories of the now, rather than those which have already been told. Her mentor Tina Wirihanga provides significant and much valued input towards the technical aspect of her work although she has also been influenced by others like Tania Brown and Heeni Kerekere. Painting takes Alixene to another place entirely. It is a passion and it represents something looser. She feels neither pressure nor effort in her painting, which Alixene attributes to her High School art teacher who told her she was a free spirit and to "just go for it". Alixene's early influences in painting were the likes of Buck Ninn and Daryl File who gave her freedom to explore with a paint brush, and currently Alixene is inspired by Toihoukura Lecturer and Principal Tutor Steve Gibbs. "I attribute my success to my tipuna, and the inspiration of my Turanga Nui A Kiwa"
Alexine can be contacted on 027 374 4679 or (06) 8688601 to commission a work.