SAYOKO PETTIGREW
Painter & Potter
Artist Bio
Sayoko is a Japanese born NZ resident painter and creator based in rural Selwyn.
After graduating from Nagoya Zokei Junior College of Art and Design, Intermedia department (Japan), she found her calling to express her art in Nail Art and has worked as a Nail Art technician for over 20 years, won multiple awards in Australia and NewZealand.
Now she brings her art work from tiny nails to big canvases and 3D nail art has helped her in another passion pottery.
She gets inspirations from NZ scenery and nature. Sayoko paints with several techniques, tools and materials to capture the character, atmosphere and energy, something you can’t see but can feel.
Her art works are realism abstract, often using palette knives and thick paints to build up the body, simplifying brush strokes, minimise the composition and paint the important details more realistically to emphasise the focus point.
Some of her projects she has merged two cultures together, Japanese and NZ, to introduce Japanese culture, showcase 1st generation immigrants perspectives and beauty of multiculturalism. She hopes to leave a legacy of art to inspire New Zealanders, immigrants and another generation of multicultural people to enjoy the diversity of art and culture.
“The artist sees what others only catch a glimpse of”