Photos: Kathy Elliston
After a life spent travelling the world, 82-year-old Iris Steensma was very happy to settle in the North Island town of Kerikeri.
“When I was younger, a friend and I hitchhiked around New Zealand and discovered Kerikeri then,” she says. “It was a lot safer hitchhiking in those days.”
Iris was born in Amsterdam, but came to New Zealand at the age of 10 when her mother split from her father.
Iris and her husband, Colin Smith, spent a lot of their marriage travelling all over the world. They lived in Germany, England, Papua New Guinea, Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra.
She explains, “I was teaching in Germany when I met Col and he was in the British Army.”
The couple wed in 1967, “when the Army posted him to Cyprus. We got married and I tagged along”.
Then Col moved into working with computers after leaving the army, they spent more time in Australia, where they raised two sons.
“I went to Teacher’s College when I was 17 so I could always find work as a primary school teacher,” says Iris.
But while she was teaching and raising children, she also found time to get a Bachelor of Arts degree in Ancient Greek history and language.
“I had a very good art teacher when I was teacher training. He inspired me and then one year I got a lino print kit as a present from Col,” she says. “The kids had left home and I was working as a guide in an art gallery.”
Iris found lino cuts and printmaking were a good thing to do while having a family.
“Male artists could have a studio. However, women had to fit it all onto a kitchen table so it could be swept away for family dinner.”
Her printmaking was so good, she won an art award in Canberra.
“I made a lino cut inspired by an Erica Jong quote: ‘At 50, the madwoman in the attic breaks loose, stomps down the stairs and sets fire to the house. She won’t be imprisoned any more.’ I had two legs stomping down a staircase with flames in all directions.
“Col encouraged me to enter and I felt so surprised that I won,” admits Iris.
“I started drawing when I was a little kid. I’ve got drawings from when I was about three years old. Back then, my mother sent me to art classes in The Hague. There was an art academy which people founded in the 17th century and was the oldest in the world.”
Iris and Col moved to Kerikeri in 2004, and six years ago, they decided they wanted to live somewhere easier. Metlifecare Oakridge Villas fitted the bill.
“We were living out of Kerikeri and we decided it was time to be closer to town,” she tells. “In Oakridge, we can walk to the shops, the cinemas, the theatre… everything.
“We have our own villa, which sounds a bit posh, but you have your own home,” she says.
Iris and Col go for walks every day, and Iris enjoys having friends over to visit.
“On Sunday mornings, a group of women and I play eight-ball pool here at the village. We also have a group that enjoys opera, so we watch DVDs of some of our favourites. We have plenty of room for our group of friends.”
There’s also a care facility, which builders have nearly finished, at Oakridge and that Iris finds comfort in.
“I guess we’ll end up there one day, but it will be nice not having to move to another facility. We know we can just go there.”
Meanwhile, Iris loves to read – her mother was the librarian in Palmerston North and they lived in the flat attached to it.
“I had the back door key, so I could go in there on Sundays and have all those books to choose from,” she recalls.
Iris also draws in her notebooks – she has filled four of them with her drawings, which often include funny captions.
“My son gave me a lovely book of blank pages, which I thought was too beautiful to draw in,” she shares. “But then a friend of mine who is an artist in Kerikeri challenged me to do 100 drawings in 100 days. So I did that.
“I’ve got four books now and they’ve all got about 200 pages, but eventually I thought that I needed time to do other things too, so I draw every second day now.”
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