Memory Lane - Two Artists: Mother and Daughter

Taylor-Jensen Fine Arts hosts Memory Lane - Two Artists: Mother and Daughter, a diverse collection of paintings by Camilla Samper and her daughter, Delicia Sampero. The exhibition will offer an insight into different phases of these two woman’s lives and artistic practices throughout the years as mother and daughter. Memory Lane reflects on the ideas of memory, the cycle of life and the continuum that is art. It explores two lives, once connected by an umbilical cord and now connected through a shared artistic passion; two people transplanted from a different continent, finding their way and now putting down colourful roots in Aotearoa.

A reception to honour the artists will be held at the gallery from 5-7pm on October 14. The public is cordially invited. All works are for sale.

“We plant trees to stop the erosion of soil, we make art to stop the erosion of memory”.

Camilla Samper from early days discovered and later developed her inherent playfulness. As a sculptor and puppeteer she learned to read people’s faces and their deportment. Before immigrating to New Zealand in 1984, she worked as a puppeteer in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Eventually settling in Haumoana (between Hastings and Napier) in the Hawkes Bay, Camilla set up a home and studio by the sea. Quite naturally, she transferred the creative impulse of forming and shaping to the canvas. A new dimension opened up for her as she started to work with colour, which appears with stunning luminosity in her abstract as well as in her more naturalistic works.

Camilla’s paintings and puppets have been exhibited in numerous shows, but today the artist enjoys best the silence of the house by the sea while she works. The Pacific Ocean has become her close friend and neighbour, intimating to her the artistic possibilities of worlds waiting to be formed. Studio Casa - Camilla’s gallery and workshop in Haumoana - is open to the public by appointment.

Delicia Sampero (she added the ‘O’ to help differentiate her from Camilla) received from her mother the joy of creativity. Brush and canvas were her early playmates. In Delicia’s childhood, theatre, stories, music, art and puppets were a natural part of the family life. Performances of all sorts were the order of the day.

Her talent for portraiture enabled her to finance much of her travelling as a young adult by working as a street portraitist at the Marine Parade in Napier and then soon in Paris and London, where she had to capture the likeness of her subjects in 20-30 minute sessions. This ability to read and capture the faces, character and mood of her subjects has formed the core of her work and been the departure point of much of her artistic exploration. Sixty of her portraits of New Zealand artists were exhibited in her “I Am” exhibition and drawings she made of her grandmother formed part of a later exhibition titled ‘Muttermal’.

Through her Samoan husband and her involvement with MAU Dance Company, Delicia engaged with many pacific communities which reflect in many of her works. The title a 1998 exhibition best communicates this: Lagona - Sea Beneath My Skin. The viewer of her many faces and figures can’t help but imagine the life and experience of the characters portrayed, in media and colours that bespeak a profound sense of mystery. Perhaps it is Delicia’s artistic mission to discover and celebrate these fascinating South Pacific Island characters.

In sharing Memory Lane with her artist mother, Delicia Sampero acknowledges the inspiration and support she has received from her Mum, Camilla.

Delicia’s work has been shown in public and dealer galleries nationwide and internationally in Paris, Berlin, Germany and Hawaii. Memory Lane will be Delicia’s first exhibition in the Manawatu.

Event listed by Stuart Schwartz

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