Sam+Stewarts+Biography



Matt Gauldie was born in lower hut in 1976. His mother Gail Gauldie is an artist and his father Robert Gauldie is a Scientist.

When Matt was a young boy he moved to Vancouver,Canada well his Dad completed his PhD. When he returned to wellington he began going to Seatoun Primary school and then onto two years intermediate at Scotts Collage and a term at Rongotai Collage.

From a young age Matt was taught to express himself through painting and drawing.

In 1990 at the age of 14 Matt Gauldie moved to hawaii with his family where his dad worked at the university of hawaii. He there completed his schooling at Kaiser high school in honolulu there where he entered nationwide high school art competitions and won some prestigious awards. Matt there returned to New Zealand to specialise in portraiture after attending the Elam school of art in Auckland 1995-96.

His first exhibition was in Wellington in 2000. From there he has maintained a rigorous schedule of commissions and exhibitions in galleries throughout New Zealand.

Matt's involvement with the New Zealand army was when he was commissioned to paint the Unknown Warrior's return to New Zealand in November 2004

This project was especially significant for Matt as his great grandfather served in Somme 90 years prior

Gauldie wanted to honour the fallen through these seven paintings and has infused each painting with a range of emotions unleashed during the events surronding the warrior's remains returning to New Zealand.

After completion of the series, the Prime Minister, the RT Hon Helen Clark, officially appointed Matt the New Zealand Army's artist on 11 April 2005

Like previous army artists, Matt was issued with the honoary rank of captain

In september 2005, Gauldie volunteered to do army basic recuit training a Waiouru Military Camp. He did this to gain a better understanding and insight into the New Zealand Army, so he could more accurately reflect the true nature of the military in his paintings. This meant Matt Gauldie was along side Regular Force recruits.

The corse inspired him to do the 'Recruit' series of paintings and also his series 'A Day in the life of a Solider'.

In 2006 Matt immersed himself in soliders' daily routines, patrolling and visiting villages in the Soloman Islands, where New Zealand Army personnel provide security to the Soloman Islands Goverment.

This experience gave Matt the inspiration for a series if paintings on the Soloman Islands showing the empathy of New Zealand soliders towards the locals, and there close working relationship with the New Zealand police and the Australian Army.

Before his five week tour of Afghanistan, Matt attented intensive predeployment training. This gave him an insight into the operational focus of th New Zealand Army and he began a series of paintings on the deployment to Afghanistan.

Matt says his is an ongoing mission to capture and define the unique culture of the New Zealand Army.

Matt Gauldie is an expressionist artist and also portraiture artist. The way he has inspired me is the way he uses his colours and shades.He is an inspiration to me and i'm sure he will do very well in years to come.


 * //Thanks Sam. You've done an excellent job here.// //I think this is a Level 4 Biography// (Have a look at the matrix on the biography page)

//In terms of next steps for writing a biography, I think you need to consider the following ://

Purpose:** You've done a through job of the background. Your next step is to explain to us (the reader) why he so important in the art world (or in this case why you think he will be in the future). I'm also impressed by the listing of influences (although I think you missed "why" he decided to be a painter) and use of the language of art (impressionist for example). Now you need to assume that the reader will not know what this means and spell it out for us.
 * Text Organisation:** This is good. You've sequenced and attempted a conclusion.
 * Language Features**: Pretty good here, just a couple of surface features issues to look at, proof reading for spelling, capitals (proper nouns!!!!) and fullstops etc.