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

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. 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 bringin ...

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 Flophouse, Palace Br ...

. In 1993 Crook moved to Port Chalmers and exhibited her first paintings in a cafe in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

in 1995; within a year she was invited to exhibit at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. 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. local time (23:51 UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the entire of the Canterbury region in the South Island, centred south-east ...

destroyed Crook's home in

Diamond Harbour Diamond Harbour () is a town and a municipality of the South 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is situated on the eastern banks of the Hooghly River. It is the headquarters of the Diamond Harbour subdivision. Histor ...

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, San Bernardino County, California, United States. The population was 7,414 at the 2010 census. At approximately above sea level, Joshua Tree and its surrounding c ...

, 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