Monica Koster Art

  'The Wonderful Stranges' is launched! Thank you to everyone who came out on such a stormy night to help us celebrate. "Rain pelted down and belted the town, it poured and it poured and it poured." While the wind blew and rain pelted down, we were cosy and warm in the lovely University Bookshop Canterbury. Huge thanks to Pene Whitty and the UBS team for their generous hospitality and to the awesome Bill Nagelkerke for officially launching 'The Wonderful Stranges. A brilliant bunch of storm makers inside the bookshop provided musical wind, rain, hail and thunder sound effects during the reading of our pukapuka. Some of the kids (and big kids) made a start on their entries for the Wonderful Stranges' Invention Challenge and colouring competition. We're looking forward to seeing all your entries! Flooding from heavy rain led to a state of emergency being declared yesterday for Otautahi Christchurch and the Selwyn district in Canterbury. As other parts o...

  We are excited to announce our new book, THE WONDERFUL STRANGES is coming soon! "These odd-bods were wrong, they didn't belong - the children were told to keep clear. 'They're frightfully strange, bizarre and deranged - not like the rest of us here!' 'Every Strange child runs totally wild in that ludicrous house in the trees!' 'Completely outrageous!' 'Most likely contagious!" 'That goat must be riddled with fleas!'"  When the Strange family flies into town in their hot air balloon with their bicycle powered contraptions, goats and chickens, the villagers treat them with suspicion. Granny Strange has a penchant for possum-fur wear in the form of moccasins, jackets and hats & the children use leaves from tall cabbage trees, and weave backpacks, baskets and mats. And the family's bath with a view and a composting loo are certainly far from convention. But when a storm hits and floods the valley, who is there to...

 I enjoyed this commission - designing and creating this Jinx costume for a dance performance. It was interesting playing with the different fabrics and how they worked with movements. 

  I'm excited to announce the upcoming release of my first picture book, 'Tama and the Taniwha'. Written by Melanie Koster, and the Te Reo Māori edition 'Ko Tama me te Taniwha' translated by Pānia Papa. Thanks to our publisher  @scholastic_nz  and the Storylines Joy Cowley Award. Coming out in September!!

I recently had the pleasure of illustrating the junior fiction novel, 'Journey Through the Cat Door' written by Belinda O'Keefe. I designed and painted the book cover, and created ten or so sketches which are interspersed throughout the novel. CLICK HERE TO ORDER WITH BATEMAN BOOKS!  

  'Memory' This painting is inspired by an old photo of my great grandmother and her siblings. I was drawn to it; it’s exciting to be able to view a memory that is not my own, of family members I have never met. Wondering if the building in the photo still existed, caused me to think about the different rates memories and material objects fade. In the painting, where the environment/structure behind the figures is static, the figures are scraped across it; blurred. The way each layer is treated reflects how permanent they are as a memory, and how memories distort and fragment over time. Although changing gradually over time, the environment always exists; the horizon remains a rugged line. Buildings become dilapidated, disappearing into the ground over time, however tend to stay longer than people who inevitably die and then only exist in photographs as memories. As their physical beings are removed from the world, they are wiped across the canvas; leaving behind memories, flee...