ABOUT WAYNE
Wayne was born in Gore, New Zealand in 1957. Although his initial career aspirations involved the sciences, his exam results at school suggested otherwise. Because he showed some promise in Visual Arts, he changed subjects in his last year of Secondary School and applied for the Dunedin School of Art, starting in 1975.
Battling limited enthusiasm for study and the attractions of student life, he somehow graduated in 1977. He was also President of the Student's Association that same year - another distraction that failed to derail his progress.
1977 was the year that Punk band The Enemy formed and he was lucky to be at their very first gig at the Beneficiaries Hall - after all it was only 200 meters away from his flat! Former schoolmate Alec Bathgate was a First Year student and Wayne followed his musical journey with some interest after that.
What is a young Art School graduate to do? Why, train as a teacher of course! Wayne travelled to Christchurch for this part of his journey and enjoyed the city so much that he was keen to stay...but no school would employ him. Through an interesting combination of circumstances he applied for a job in Kaeo, Northland and was accepted. His plan was to do his country service (then a compulsory part of a teaching career) for two years then head back to Christchurch. But 2 years went by...then 13 more...before he made another move.
Having been involved in Drama productions as an actor and set painter for several years, he made the decision to explore another side of the creative process and bought a drum kit - learning by playing along to records. His neighbours must have been very tolerant. He joined a 5 piece band that were rehearsing for a gig at the local Convent Fair - the height of ambition back in the day. The gig was played and two members left the band, so they carried on as 3 piece "Absolute Zero" for several years, eventually recording three of their original songs.
Over the next few years Wayne learned to surf, ski, and coached a cricket and soccer team (one of his substitute players was a certain Eric Rush, who went on to greater things as a Rugby player). Of course, Wayne claims he taught Eric everything he knows. Art took a back seat to music over the next 15 years or so until Wayne moved to Hamilton in 1995 to get married. The wedding didn't happen and soon he was playing in 3 bands, as well as starting to develop his Printmaking, Painting and Pastel skills.
He had his first solo exhibition at Artworks Galley in Wanaka in 1999, selling almost all the works to help pay for his wedding (yes, this one did happen) to Clare.
A second Exhibition at the WSA Gallery in Hamilton in 2002 was also well received. One of his bands started to record a full length modern Celtic album at Musicare Studios but before the vocals had been completed there was a split and to this day it remains uncompleted. Wayne and Clare moved to Auckland after that, preparing to go overseas when a suitable teaching position came up. This eventually happened and the family (two boys had somehow appeared by now) went to the Middle East in 2004.
After moving back to Hamilton in 2006, Wayne continued his musical and Art interests, combining these with a full time teaching job in the Art and Technology areas.
A long held ambition to record an original album is now on the horizon after Wayne became part of the Punk/Adjacent band "The Dawks", formed in 2022. The Dawks will continue to record in 2024 and hope to release the finished album by the end of the year. Fame and fortune beckons at age 67! As Wayne moves into retirement from teaching, he is starting to ramp up his art practice and this site will feature new and older works, musical adventures and other (as yet) uncategorised things of interest.
Wayne at Hobbiton
(I WAS there but this one is Photoshopped...)
