Nancy Margaret Tichborne (néeKeedwell; 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]
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]
Burton, D., Tichborne, N., & Ashton, J. (1983). Two hundred years of New Zealand food and cookery. Wellington: Reed.[11]
Browne, M., Leach, H. M., & Tichborne, N. (1983). The Australian bread book. Sydney: Doubleday Australia.[12]
Leach, H. M., & Tichborne, N. (1984). 1,000 years of gardening in New Zealand. Wellington N.Z.: Reed.[13]
Burton, D., & Tichborne, N. (1987). New Zealand food & cookery. Auckland, N.Z.: Mural Books.[14]
Burton, D., & Tichborne, N. (1987). David Burton's New Zealand food and cookery. Auckland, N.Z: David Bateman.[15]
Browne, M., Leach, H., & Tichborne, N. (1987). More from the cook's garden. Auckland: Reed Methuen.[16]
Browne, M., Leach, H. M., & Tichborne, N. (1989). The cook's bread book. Auckland N.Z.: Heinemann Reed.[17]
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.[18]
Browne, M., Leach, H. H. M., & Tichborne, N. (1996). The New Zealand bread book. Godwit: Auckland, N.Z.[19]
Tichborne, N. (1999). Nancy Tichborne's flowers. Auckland, N.Z: Godwit.[20]
Browne, M., Tichborne, N., & Leach, H. M. (2000). The cook's salad garden. Milsons Point, N.S.W: Random House Australia.[21]
Tichborne, N. (2000). Nancy Tichborne's cats. Auckland: Godwit.[22]
Browne, M., Leach, H. M., & Tichborne, N. (2001). The cook's herb garden. Auckland, N.Z: Godwit.[23]
Tichborne, N. (2008). Nancy Tichborne's watercolour world: The creative process explored. Akaroa, N.Z: New Zealand Calendar Company Ltd.[24]