About
a short description of Lester and his art
Lester Blair, short bio, artist statement
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About

I attended community art classes in the late 1980s, early 1990s. The tutors were Tom Kreisler and David Clegg. I completed an online photography course through the New Zealand Institute of Photography and attended several Harvey Benge photography workshops which were part of AUT.

 Following on my education has been regular purchases from Book Depository and Amazon. I work full time making art. I make photographs and have also painted from my own photographs.

Curriculum Vitae;

1985 – I attended a Community art classes at the Taranaki Polytech (WITT). The tutors were Tom Kreisler and David Clegg. I began painting from these classes.

1991 – 1992 – I submitted two works to two Taranaki Reviews at the Govett Brewster Art Gallery. They were accepted, I sold one, plus I was very favourably reviewed in the Taranaki Daily News.

2001 – 2006 Two solo shows at the Leslie Kreisler Gallery in New Plymouth. Several sales

2002 – I was one of the prize winners at the North Shore City Art Show. 

2004 – I left painting for around nine years and embraced digital photography. I attended several Harvey Benge workshops, self published four books. I was featured in photoforum Momento magazine issue 12, November 2012.

2006 – I moved from New Plymouth to Wellington.

2013 – I returned to painting and used photography as part of the process of paintings, these developed into a urban photorealism style. I consistently sold works in the New Zealand Art Show.

2016 – Moved to Masterton, were I have continued painting full time and have been showing works at the ConArt Gallery.

2021 – A period of painting in the still life genre. These paintings proved to be popular with consistent sales at the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts.

2022 – I have returned to photography once again in a black and white landscape genre and exhibited in ConArt Studio 2.

2023 – Currently I am photographing the rural, town and city church buildings. I tend to change genres every few years and work in series and I will see where this subject leads.

I am also submitting a photograph each six week block in ConArt, mostly from my time in Wellington. These are various photographs that I had not previously printed and exhibited.

2024 – “24 Churches” on show at Aratoi Wairarapa Museum of Art and History. 24th February – 14th April 2024

2024 – Working in the genre of ‘Still Life’

2024 – Photographing ‘Life today” in the small towns of the Wairarapa.

self portrait, ConArt Exhibition

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