As we know, Hawke’s Bay is graced with many talented artists of all manner of styles. Hastings artist Abbey Merson’s paintings are all about the flowers and the pleasure these colourful and fragrant bundles of joy share with us daily. Megan went to see Abbey in her studio to find out what goes on behind the scenes of such beauty.
An artist’s passion for creating often arises from within a deep reservoir of personal value. Abbey Merson’s own practice offers us an insight into her regard for the floral world linked with her desire to connect. Springtime is leading towards summer and it is a fitting time to meet with Abbey. This year, her source of inspiration has been bountiful, as flowers of all charm brighten Hawke’s Bay gardens and parks.
Alongside the abundant blooms, Abbey Merson’s paintings hold activations of mood, be that of happiness or a hidden despondency, and while viewing the works throughout her studio, there is a sense of pleasure to this exchange. What is visible is the emotional common ground we as humans experience and share, both collectively and individually.
The journey of florals all started for Abbey when she was quite young. Initially raised in Taumarunui in a farming family, she recalls her mother’s extensive farm garden and her ardour to adorn the property with colour. It took dedication and, like many rural women’s work, held a devotion to creating from what was immediately around them.
“I loved watching my mum drafting her garden plans. She was always making something from this or that and us kids were left to create a lot ourselves.”
In the late 1990s the Merson family moved to Havelock North and Abbey’s mother set up the art framing business EDGES, operating it until the family sold it in 2018. Picture framing led her to form her own entry into the visual arts. Working alongside her mother, Abbey found a practical solace in observing and absorbing the multiple art works that presented. She recognised “I just needed to create with my hands or get fidgety. I was always looking up close at artists’ works. It offered me a viewing point and it felt like I was in a museum of work every day.”
In the meantime, having started painting classes with the highly regarded painter Helen Kerridge, Abbey recalls Kerridge being a key proponent of her ‘walking her own path’ and to keep leaning in artistically. “It reignited my need to create art. Helen was a fantastic teacher. I was shown a way to paint with my own style. I’ve not put down the paint brush since.”
It is clear when talking with Abbey that her main influences are personal and relate to her interest in an artist-can-do attitude and the vibe of self-expression.
While artists like Karl Maughan, with his densely packed floral garden scenes, resonate and inspire her for his use of form and colour, the influences remain reminiscent of Abbey’s rural garden upbringing.
Her use of floral meaning is bonded to her feeling experiences, and to a commitment of reciprocity, a kind of nod to the Victorian era of secret flower messaging. The gifting and receiving of intention through what flowers represent, to many of us, is that of love, acknowledgement, and even grief.
Merson notes her painterly explorations with emotion are evolving. “I have a little social anxiety, this comes through in the themes of my works, my figures’ faces are not quite visible yet.” They are hidden from view by the excess of nature. It is a process of unfolding and she specifically shares one of her favourite works Holding all my pieces together, which is representative of her daughter starting school and her need as a mother to integrate life transitions at the time. “Once I have a feeling and plan in my head, I have to paint it out.”
Over recent years, there has been a delving into more layering and towards a more loose technique than previously used.
“I’m always trying to get freer, with more abstraction into the form.” As if in complement to her own imagination, Abbey also “likes the forms to dream and be nostalgic.” This is evident in the colour palettes she chooses, which are substantial, rich, and float alongside her alive use of greens and blues, which base her works. What is important to her is “working on texture, depth and expression through brush strokes.”
One of Abbey’s personal values is to paint with meaning and from the heart, reflecting on her drive to ally in her community where her contributions can sustain the intimacies of sharing ideas and relationship.
“Creating is such an isolated job and I am obsessed, so it’s important to be tied to your community, to connect with other people. Parenting pulls me back into the world; my daughter, Amber, provides a balance that’s built into my life. I like to paint things with feeling and this means getting out and about with others.”
With this in mind, Abbey has been involved in several local arts projects, from the successful Art’s Inc.’s ‘The Big Apple Project’ in 2022 to the popular embellishments across local power boxes through the Hastings District Council partnership with Chorus’s ‘Help Keep Hastings Beautiful’.
The artist has donned her brushes to splash colour about. “I really just love to paint. It nourishes me, and creating is such a big part of my life. It’s so lucky, and people connect with it. It brings them joy and enhances their life and space.”
One significant creative collaboration is her partnership with the Heretaunga Women’s Centre. In 2023 she designed a floral image for the centre’s car. This year, the centre’s website is being redesigned with her signature works. “I’ve told them ‘use whatever you like’. It’s a great space, community minded and they look after people. It’s nice to help out with something.”
November 2024 marked the annual Hawke’s Bay’s Arts Trail. Abbey’s studio was open, a welcome stay-at-home meet and greet after journeying successively to Wellington for the NZ Art Show and Art in the Park Auckland. Both are huge and dynamic events with thousands of visitors.
“These shows are stressful and rewarding at the same time. You go into it having to say, ‘this is me and my art’, you immerse yourself in it all. I came back with my heart full; it’s really about meeting the people.” My sense is that this is key for Abbey Merson wherever she goes, like when she speaks of our Hawke’s Bay art’s scene as an inclusive one. “There’s something special about it. It feels to me like it has a lot of heart, I guess that’s belonging, too.”
