Gallery a full-time opportunity they couldn’t refuse

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BY ROB POOLEY

Like many artists Johnnie Daley had always doodled and sketched, and though he leaned towards an art course at University, he found after a short time that art school wasn’t going to take him in the direction he wanted to go. He turned to psychology which led to three years as a drug and alcohol councillor along with wife Becky Burton. However, after three years and feeling “desensitised” the pair went backpacking to Asia. 

On returning home they felt Auckland was not really where they wanted to put down roots so, with both having a long affinity to the eastern Kaipara, they chose Mangawhai. Johnnie commuted for two years working as a coffee roaster until the travel plus the disruption to a family with a youngster prompted the couple to concentrate full time on their art.

While much of her time is taken up in the care of one-year-old Scarlet, after whom the gallery is named, Becky is an artist in her own right. Stained glass is her specialist field.

While a secret ambition was to run their own gallery at some point, the offer of the gallery above Bennetts Cafe vacated by Geoff Mason earlier this year was too good to resist. The space allows the display of art while also offering a workplace for Johnnie where he is regularly seen in deep concentration, performing the delicate art of airbrushing.

“I don’t mind interruptions though, as talking art is what this business is all about,” he says. “People don’t necessarily buy but conversation is good PR and, like counselling it’s all about forging relationships.”

Scarlet Art Gallery displays the works of up to 30 artists. Variety is the spice of life and no more so than in the art world where likes and dislikes are entirely in the eye of the beholder be it as a long-term investment or a special piece for a special place, a new home perhaps, or a memory. 

Support for and from local artists is evident but several works are from further afield. Subjects cover a wide range from realism and impressionism to pop art and abstract, including some fine art and bigger originals to smaller prints, but all of high quality.

Johnnie and Becky have developed a close relationship with local artists and the Mangawhai Art Centre and as people get to know just what’s up the stairs at Bennetts complex, they will realise Scarlet Gallery is the place to be for art in Mangawhai.

Artist Johnnie Daley always had a secret ambition to run his own gallery.

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