Nancy Tichborne
New Zealand watercolor artist (1942–2023)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nancy Margaret Tichborne (née Keedwell; 27 August 1942 – 10 February 2023) was a New Zealand watercolour artist.[1] She specialised in paintings of flowers; her work has appeared on calendars, diaries, cards and postage stamps in New Zealand and internationally.[2][3]
27 August 1942
Nancy Tichborne | |
|---|---|
| Born | Nancy Margaret Keedwell 27 August 1942 Levin, New Zealand |
| Died | 10 February 2023 (aged 80) Akaroa, New Zealand |
| Spouse |
Bryan Tichborne (m. 1965) |
| Children | 3 |
| Relatives | Helen Leach (sister) |
Biography
Tichborne was born in Levin on 27 August 1942 to Peggy (née Watkins) and Harvey Keedwell,[4] and grew up in Hāwera, in the North Island of New Zealand.[1] She was the second of three daughters; her sisters were Mary Browne, a cookbook writer, and the food anthropologist Helen Leach.[1] In 1952, the family moved to Dunedin and Tichborne attended Otago Girls' High School.[5] On leaving high school, she went to London on a scholarship and studied art at St Martin's School of Art from 1960 to 1962.[1][4] In 1964, she returned to Dunedin for a short time and her work was included in an exhibition there.[5] She then went on to work in Hong Kong as a fashion illustrator for the South China Morning Post and a fashion designer for an American fashion house between 1964 and 1965, before spending the next five years in England and Wales.[1][5]
In 1970, Tichborne returned to New Zealand and settled in Rotorua. She worked part-time as an art teacher and collaborated with her sisters Helen Leach and Mary Browne on a series of cookbooks, providing the watercolour artwork for them.[1] In 1984, Tichborne and her husband Bryan founded the New Zealand Calendar Company, and started producing calendars with a New Zealand focus.[1][5] Their first calendar featured fishing flies, and later titles featured flowers and cats.[1] Their 39th and last calendar was produced in 2010.[5]
In 1997, Tichborne designed a series of postage stamps and a first day cover for New Zealand Post depicting vineyards of New Zealand.[6] Her artwork was also used on stamps of Bhutan and the Pitcairn Islands.[5] In the 1990s, Tichborne released a series of DVDs on watercolour technique.[7]
Recognition
In 2007, Tichborne was appointed patron of Watercolour New Zealand.[1][8] She remained in that position for 12 years.[5]
Personal life and death
In 1963, Tichborne met Bryan Tichborne—at that time a soldier undertaking officer training at Sandhurst—in Killarney, Ireland, and the couple married in Hong Kong in 1965.[5] They had three sons.[1] In 1994, the couple moved to a property at French Farm, near Akaroa in Canterbury. Tichborne established a garden there that in 2011 was designated a Garden of Significance by the New Zealand Gardens Trust.[1] The couple subsequently moved to a smaller property in Akaroa.[2]
Tichborne died at her home in Akaroa on 10 February 2023, at the age of 80.[5][9]
Publications
- Browne, M., Tichborne, N., & Leach, H. M. (1980). The cook's garden: For cooks who garden and gardeners who cook. Wellington: Reed.[10]
- Browne, M., Leach, H. H. M., & Tichborne, N. (1981). The New Zealand bread book. Reed: [11]
- Burton, D., Tichborne, N., & Ashton, J. (1983). Two hundred years of New Zealand food and cookery. Wellington: Reed.[12]
- Browne, M., Leach, H. M., & Tichborne, N. (1983). The Australian bread book. Sydney: Doubleday Australia.[13]
- Leach, H. M., & Tichborne, N. (1984). 1,000 years of gardening in New Zealand. Wellington N.Z.: Reed.[14]
- Burton, D., & Tichborne, N. (1987). New Zealand food & cookery. Auckland, N.Z.: Mural Books.[15]
- Burton, D., & Tichborne, N. (1987). David Burton's New Zealand food and cookery. Auckland, N.Z: David Bateman.[16]
- Browne, M., Leach, H., & Tichborne, N. (1987). More from the cook's garden. Auckland: Reed Methuen.[17]
- Browne, M., Leach, H. M., & Tichborne, N. (1989). The cook's bread book. Auckland N.Z.: Heinemann Reed.[18]
- Tichborne, N., & Tichborne, B. (1990). Anglers' paradise: Favourite fishing waters of New Zealand and the flies to fish them with. Auckland, N.Z: Bush Press.[19]
- Browne, M., Leach, H. H. M., & Tichborne, N. (1996). The New Zealand bread book. Godwit: Auckland, N.Z.[20]
- Tichborne, N. (1999). Nancy Tichborne's flowers. Auckland, N.Z: Godwit.[21]
- Browne, M., Tichborne, N., & Leach, H. M. (2000). The cook's salad garden. Milsons Point, N.S.W: Random House Australia.[22]
- Tichborne, N. (2000). Nancy Tichborne's cats. Auckland: Godwit.[23]
- Browne, M., Leach, H. M., & Tichborne, N. (2001). The cook's herb garden. Auckland, N.Z: Godwit.[24]
- Tichborne, N. (2008). Nancy Tichborne's watercolour world: The creative process explored. Akaroa, N.Z: New Zealand Calendar Company Ltd.[25]