KAY M. PAGET
Diploma of Arts & Creativity [Hons]

Following a successful career in the business world, Kay Paget changed course to follow an interest that had become a passion – the study and practice of art.  She has enjoyed artistic pursuits since childhood, including cartooning and calligraphy, and creative writing.  Some years ago she began studying traditional European art styles and techniques, and has been tutored by New Zealand and international artists including three Russian Master Artists – Slava Letkov, Larissa Dyatlova and Tatyana Sholokova from Zhostova, near Moscow; Pastels with Larry Blovits of USA, and Watercolours with Guy Gruwier of Belgium.  She has a particular interest in antique furniture which has been decorated in traditional styles.

Kay was the Founding President of the Folk & Decorative Artists' Society of NZ Inc in Auckland, in 1996.

She graduated from The Learning Connexion in Wellington with a Diploma of Arts & Creativity in 2000, plus Honours in 2003, and is continuing with fine arts studies, working in oils, acrylics, pastels and watercolours.  Photography, illustrative drawing, stone carving and creative writing are other subjects dear to her heart.  Kay has a particular love of NZ Maori art, both contemporary and traditional, and is inspired by the spirituality of Maori carvings and designs.

In 2008 Kay won an award for abstract art at the 2008 Paraparaumu Rotary Art Competition.

Fine arts by Kay have been exhibited in Auckland, Napier, Wanganui, New Plymouth, Masterton and Wellington, including three weeks as 'Artist at Work' at Pataka Museum of Arts & Culture at Porirua during the International Festival of the Arts 2000.  Her work is held in private collections in USA, Germany, Scotland, Australia and New Zealand.

As well as commissions and her own painting, Kay tutors art courses and workshops locally and throughout the country.  For her, a big thrill is seeing the joy when students achieve results they thought were beyond their dreams or abilities.

Kay is a member of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts.