Alice Berry: 100 images, 100 days

In the early days she took lessons with artist Hayley Brown in Tauranga and later went to Dunedin to study for a Bachelor of Communication (Graphic) Design at Otago Polytechnic for three years.

During that time Alice began illustrating and her love for vector graphics was born. 

Since graduating in December 2010 she has been working on her own designs and also freelancing. Her work is on show in many art galleries and design stores throughout New Zealand.

This year, from April 20 – July 28, Alice took part in the prestigious and very challenging 100 Day Art Design Project.

Participants had to repeat a design process each day for 100 days. Alice chose to illustrate a New Zealand bird each day and called her project 'In Your Cats Dreams'.

“I chose to illustrate NZ birds as they are very iconic of New Zealand and are all a bit cheeky in their own ways,” says Alice.

Alice assembling her 100 images project.

"Lots of these birds are highly endangered or threatened by extinction, so I also hoped to bring some sort of awareness about that and try to make people appreciate our wildlife a bit more.

"Every one of the images seems to have a unique bird story to tell.”

On July 28 - the final day of the challenge - there was an exhibition held at the Biz Dojo in Auckland for participants to show their work. 

Alice displayed all 100 of her bird illustrations, each in A5 size, as one work.

"It looked really awesome to have them all together and for people to be able to appreciate all the effort that went into it,” she says.

"People spent quite a long time looking at them, picking their favorites and talking about bird stories they had.”

A selection of Alice's New Zealand bird images.

Have a look at the birds on http://inyourcatsdreams.wordpress.com/

You can see more of Alice's work on http://aliceberrydesign.com/ and contact her at alice.berry.yay@gmail.com

by Pete Morris (August, 2012).

Pete Morris is an occasional painter and an art lover. He is a freelance writer with a particular interest in promoting the visual arts in Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty.