A life beyond rowing: athletes drawn to art

As Maadi Cup captures the attention of rowers throughout the country, an underlying issue hinders the future of some of these aspiring athletes.

New Zealand is losing rowers who after school can’t afford to keep rowing, or can’t balance study with the intense training required to row at a professional level.

Others are retiring from the sport, and find they have no career options. 

Vera Bucsu, of Laszlo Boats, witnessed this problem in the tight knit rowing community, and it inspired her to make a difference.

“In athletes we find sometimes when they leave school they find themselves in a vacuum, and they don’t really know what to do with themselves and we really wanted to nurture their skills,” said Bucsu.

They discovered the rowers had other talents as well, and have organised an exhibition at the Maadi Cup to provide exposure for rowers they sponsor who are also artists.

“Rowing is such a poetic sport, aesthetically pleasing for so many reasons.”

The artists include New Zealand lightweight rower Jackie Kiddle, who creates Pets by Pencil, Morgan Dunham, a high performance rower who is an oil artist, and Hamilton Boys’ rower and photographer Ali Henderson.

Kiddle, who is sponsored by Laszlo Boats, started doing her artwork as a way to wind down between trainings and help pay for overseas rowing trips.

“This exhibition is a way of attracting attention to my art and my Pets by Pencil name, and getting me some more customers so I can fund my international campaign,” said Kiddle.

Kiddle, who is studying a BSc in animal behaviour, said the funding and support from Laszlo Boats and scholarships allows rowers to study and prepare for the future.

“There have been many examples of people coming out of rowing that haven’t been able to find jobs and really struggled to transition from the rowing environment at the professional elite level into a normal job,” said Kiddle.

The exhibition will also have artwork by Chris Morrison, an ex high performance rower who has a talent for making sustainable furniture from old row boats.

“Rowing is a very community focused sport and so we always wanted to support the entire community, not just sell boats,” said Bucsu.

This is the second year they have done the exhibition, and it’s already much bigger than last year.

“That’s the thing that when we discover that they are just so talented in not just one area –  in being a successful athlete in being a visual artist – they are really really skilled,” said Bucsu.

Rowers who retire from the sport without a career or experience, are offered internships at Vera and husband Laszlo’s custom boat making factory.

“It puts a lot of pressure on a business if you have to put their training into consideration, but we’re happy to do that.”

The combination of rowing and art is something which is close to Vera and Laszlo. Not only do they produce rowing boats, Laszlo rowed as a national lightweight in Hungary and Vera is an artist.

“I’m a published poet and I couldn’t find an illustrator and it’s a funny story; I ended up being a better artist than poet,” said Bucsu.

The are both members of the Waikato Rowing Club, and row whenever they have time.

The exhibition is in the Don Rowlands Centre, at Lake Karapiro. 

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