I had the pleasure of chatting with Lochlan during the week. I was impressed by both his drive and his ability to articulate how his art exhibition came about almost by accident!

In short, Lochlan produced a series of art works that were shown as an exhibit at XCHC, a gallery and cafe in Christchurch that is designed to exhibit local people’s work.

Lochlan has his mum to thank for many things, one being his introduction to and support of his art work. She encouraged Lochlan to attend an event at the end of July where street artists were graffitiing walls. Lochlan told me he was initially a little nervous about going. He classifies himself as a 'science guy' and, although he has always liked to draw and recognised he was quite good at it, he didn’t really consider himself an artist. Anyway, along he went and when he arrived he was handed a drip pen. Like me, you may need an explanation here. A drip pen is a plastic tube of Indian ink with a sponge lid used for drawing. Lochlan began drawing dinosaur pictures on the walls and as he got into it he started to enjoy it more and more.

I asked Lochlan: “Why dinosaurs?” His response was that he has always had a love for paleontology; in fact he would like to work in this field or be a museum curator when he leaves school. He assures me this is not a phase! He hasn’t grown out of it yet, as others do, and from speaking to him I agree with him. This is not something that he will grow out of and I don’t doubt he will be very good at it. In fact, Lochlan calls it a ‘lifestyle’, and after viewing his artwork I can't help but agree.

So Lochlan drew dinosaurs on the walls and had a good time. Then out of the blue came a call asking him to exhibit some of his drawings. He was very surprised initially but then set his mind to producing the works. You see, Lochlan wanted a bass guitar and he had a goal. Sell art and buy a guitar while gaining all the skills and experience that comes from making art work such as this, showing the work, promoting the exhibition and selling the work. The drawings are a drip pen on canvas this time. The process begins with Lochlan drawing the pictures on canvas and then painting over with Indian ink using a range of different brushes. You might be interested to know that Lochlan achieved his goal and has recently purchased his guitar and necessary related paraphernalia that goes with one.

Back to that idea of Lochlan being a self-confessed ‘science guy’ - it turns out that actually he has a whole lot going for his creative side too. He plays the bagpipes, you know about the bass guitar, and he will take Film and Music as a Year 11 student in 2019. That’s a serious all-rounder in my book! Lochlan is harder to convince. He reflects on his art exhibition and sees it as a ‘one off’, more of a freak experience in his words. Lochlan expressed his gratitude towards his mother, who is a source of inspiration, and he appreciated her taking control of the administration that goes with putting on an exhibition such as this. He was also grateful for the opportunity. He never believed people would want to buy his work, but they actually did and you can too if it interests you. Lochlan still has some art for sale. It is listed here:

Works still for sale are:

Edmontasaurus Annatens 610mm x 460mm $100

Yutyrannus Huali 760mm x 380mm $150

Compsognathus Longipes 760mm x 380mm $150