Maryrose Crook (née Wilkinson) is a musician and artist from

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. Crook and her husband, Brian, formed the band The Renderers in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 1989. The band has released music with New Zealand company

Flying Nun Records Flying Nun Records is a New Zealand independent record label formed in Christchurch in 1981 by music store manager Roger Shepherd. Described by ''The Guardian'' as "one of the world's great independent labels", Flying Nun is notable for bringi ...

and American labels Merge,

Siltbreeze Siltbreeze is an American independent record label based in Philadelphia. It is known for its eclectic roster of artists and releases of experimental, noise, folk, and rock-based music. Founded in 1989 by Ohio native Tom Lax, the label evolved out ...

and Drag City, and have toured New Zealand twice as the backing band for American alt-folk star

Bonnie Prince Billy Joseph Will Oldham (born January 15, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. From 1993 to 1997, he performed and recorded in collaboration with dozens of other musicians under variations of Palace (Palace, Palace Brothers, Palace Son ...

. In 1993 Crook moved to

Port Chalmers Port Chalmers () is a town serving as the main port of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. Port Chalmers lies ten kilometres inside Otago Harbour, some 15 kilometres northeast of Dunedin's city centre. History Early Māori settlement The or ...

and exhibited her first paintings in a cafe in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

in 1995; within a year she was invited to exhibit at the

Dunedin Public Art Gallery The Dunedin Public Art Gallery holds the main public art collection of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. Located in The Octagon in the heart of the city, it is close to the city's public library, Dunedin Town Hall, and other facilities such as ...

. She is known for creating large-scale canvases depicting surreal, other-worldly landscapes. Her work is held in public and private collections in New Zealand, Australia, Germany and the United States. The

2011 Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. New Zealand Daylight Time, local time (23:51 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the Canterbury Region ...

destroyed Crook's home in

Diamond Harbour Diamond Harbour is a town and municipality located in the South 24 Parganas district of the Indian state of West Bengal. Situated on the eastern banks of the Hooghly River, it serves as the administrative headquarters of the Diamond Harbour su ...

and she and her family moved to the United States the following year. Based in

Joshua Tree, California Joshua Tree is a census-designated place (CDP) in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The population was 6,489 at the 2020 census. At approximately above sea level, Joshua Tree and its surrounding communities are located in the Hig ...

, Crook and her husband tour as The Renderers and Crook creates and exhibits paintings.

Recognition

Crook won the 2003 William Hodges Fellowship, Merit Awards in the 2005 Waikato Art Award and the 2006 Wallace Development Award.

References

External links

Official website
Living people 21st-century New Zealand artists 21st-century New Zealand musicians Artists from Christchurch People from Port Chalmers Year of birth missing (living people) Musicians from Christchurch {{NewZealand-artist-stub