Daisyland

Daisy Saaiman, goes by the moniker Daisyland as an artist. Daisy is a co-owner (with artist Ingrid Berzins) of the Ostend Gallery in Surfdale, one of the five galleries on Waiheke Island.

Michelle Barber:  What's your background? 

Daisy Saaiman:  I was born on a farm outside Kroonstad in South Africa. It was a pretty quiet and rural upbringing. I remember when we first got actual power lines to our farm only in 1984 and we still had to sling for the operator when I left the farm by 1992! Being so rural meant that we all went to boarding school at the age of 6 and our holidays were mostly spent on the farm with lots of time for myself to draw and paint. I went on to study in Bloemfontein, where I obtained my National Diploma in Fine Arts from the Technicon of the Orange Free State. I left South Africa in 1997 to travel the world, through 28 different countries to finally settle in New Zealand in 2002 and then Waiheke in 2013. By this time I had my family and a career in Travel and Tourism in the city.  I finally gave it all up in 2018 to follow my dream of being a full time artist and opened The Ostend Gallery in Surfdale with fellow Waiheke artist Ingrid Berzins.

MB:  How long have you been making art? 

DS: I have always been making art - seriously I have never stopped - when I travelled for years, I always had a visual diary to draw in if I wanted or needed to. And while living in NZ and raising my family, I would paint at night after the kids had gone to bed. I always make time for my art - it is that important to me. 

My art has always allowed me to express my deepest and most honest emotions. It has always been very cathartic for me in dealing with life and all its challenges, be it happy or sad. So through my art I hope to relate to people on an emotional level. Everyone experiences a piece of art so differently and uniquely based on their own experiences - I want to open those conversations - raise those feelings and inspire people to not be afraid of expressing their own feelings. 

I believe art is a great tool for empathy. And empathy is the key ingredient in creating successful relationships & reducing prejudice.  Acknowledging our own emotions is the first step in learning how to deal with them and then to heal from them and then, to finally grow.

MB: How are you coping with lockdown? Are you more productive during lockdown? Does your work reflect what’s currently happening? (i.e., does lockdown/isolation influence your work?) 

DS:  Ugh! Lockdown…I definitely struggled with creativity during this lockdown. I felt very unmotivated and uninspired. But I soon learnt that I am not alone and that a lot of others were feeling exactly the same way, which made me feel a bit better. So when I finally did (after 5 weeks) return to the studio to paint it certainly helped that I had a commission to work on. It soon got me out of my funk and back into painting. I actually had a lot to do, because we were going to be part of the Auckland Art Show at The Cloud in September - which then got postponed to November and then December and we are still not sure if it's going to happen.  But, it meant that I could use the time to really experiment and try new things, like my new series of small floral works. 

Flowers just seem to lean themselves naturally to a more abstract and expressionist approach. I find it to be a nice change from my usual figurative work. It allows me to paint a lot more intuitively and really play on texture and mark making. It's been a lot of fun but also a lot harder than you’d think and some of those canvases have about 3 different paintings on them before I come to the one I like. 

So that has kept me busy and entertained - I look forward to perhaps combining my figurative work with the florals - it could be fun!  

In the meantime you could come and have a look through our window at The Ostend Gallery in Surfdale.