Great inspiration leads to great art and three Kiwi artists will be surrounded by inspiration when they begin DOC and Creative New Zealand’s Wild Creations artist-in-residence programme.

The annual programme, that’s been running since 2003, gives three artists the opportunity to live in some of the country’s most iconic wild and historic places.

DOC’s marketing and communications adviser Emma Hartley said Wild Creations’ artists experience the landscape, people and stories to draw inspiration from their surroundings for their work. “They’re inspired by the place they visit and share the story of its history and people through their art,” she said.

This year the three artists who will take up Wild Creations residency are musician Dudley Benson, sculptor Madeleine Child working with writer Philip Jarvis, and musician and craftsperson Alistair Fraser. Benson has chosen to work on new musical material in Naseby, an old gold mining town in Central Otago, where he’ll be living in the historic Naseby Post Office. Child and Jarvis will be based in the Rotorua Lakes region, making sculptures for an exhibition and doing research for a written work. Fraser will live in the Island Hill Homestead on Stewart Island making taonga puoro (traditional Māori musical instruments) from local materials. He will then record their sounds. He will also create an interpretive display of instruments and recordings to showcase Stewart Island’s conservation values.

Creative New Zealand offers the artists a $5000 stipend and DOC provides accommodation and support for the artists on location.