Art on Tyne may have closed, but Art on Thames is just around the corner.

Philina Den Dulk closed the doors on her small shop, jam-packed with New Zealand artworks, for the last time at the weekend, after nine years on Ōamaru’s Tyne Street.

She is joining forces with another local artist, Matthew Wicks (aka Wicksey), and the pair are moving into a building on lower Thames Street, which had previously been occupied by Design Federation before that was moved further north.

Philina will continue to run a shop at the front of the building, and Wicksey will use the more industrial space at the rear as a studio/gallery.

The pair came together “sort of out of desperation, really”, Wicksey said.

“I mean that in the nicest possible way . . . There’s not a lot of spaces that were jumping out at us to take on, on our own, but teaming up gives us the opportunity to take on a much bigger space in a better location, and make a go of it.”

Philina feels she has outgrown her original shop, and needs a change.

Wicksey has been working from two studios at home, and is slowly encroaching on the rest of the house. Working from home limited what he could do, and his ability to showcase his work, he said.

Both artists think the main street holds more potential for them.

“I’ve been looking for a professional space for a long time, and when Phillina brought this one up and . . . as soon as we walked through it, it’s just like, ‘yeah, this is exactly it’. 

“It’s sort of what I’ve been dreaming of, without sounding silly. It’s industrial, it’s got beautiful light.” 

Philina agreed, it was ideal for them. 

“It’s just perfect. It really is just the dream space.”

She plans to carry on with the same sort of business, but hopes to have more stock. 

“Still New Zealand made, but it will mean I have more space to bring better, maybe more beautiful things.”

The studio will be up and running soon, and Wicksey will have a gallery space by the end of the year.

“To showcase my work. So it will only be my own work in there, but we’ve talked about the possibility of having guest artists in, you know, workshops, all sorts of things.

“It’s a big space for two people, so we want to fill it with as much as we can, that’s really interesting.”

Wicksey is looking forward to rediscovering his own style, after carrying out a lot of commissioned work. 

“For the first time in a long time, it will be my own style coming through, which to be honest, I don’t really know what it is, because I do such a wide variation of work. 

“So this gives me a chance to really think about what I want to do, in terms of an artist, as opposed to work for other people.”

He does enjoy the commercial work as well though, it forces him to push himself out of his comfort zone.

“I don’t want to pigeonhole myself, and be known for just one type of art, it’s nice to have a bit of variation. It’ll be a fine opportunity for me to express myself. 

Philina is also keen to get back to making art again, and thinks this might be the place to trigger her creativity.

“I always visualised in my work, being in a beautiful space, and it’s about the aesthetics isn’t it. With a beautiful space, juices start flowing a bit more.

“I’ve always dreamed of having big white walls, beautiful floors, high ceilings. 

“Hopefully, I could start painting again - it’s just no pressure. I’ll just paint when I want to paint.”

The two hope to open the doors to Art on Thames in the middle of this month, and said so far they had received all positive feedback, from both friends and strangers.