Cooking up a show!
From Pipi Pizza to painting, Alexandra Tylee has a fresh canvas and a new focus,
ALEXANDRA TYLEE has done a lot of cooking in her life. She still does but these days she’s in her home kitchen rather than at Pipi Pizza Cafe/Restaurant.
The well-known eatery housed in a pink building in Havelock North has been owned and run by Alexandra and her husband Chris for 171⁄2 years.
Alexandra spent her time at Pipi while Chris spent most of his out and about in the Pipi truck.
In September last year they decided it was time for a change.
“We sold the business but Chris stayed on to help the new owners for a while,” Alexandra said.
“He really wanted to do something different and he got his wish. He’s now doing logistics into sustainability.”
Meanwhile, Alexandra has turned her hand to her other passion — painting — and last Friday opened an exhibition at Muse Gallery in Havelock North.
“My family has always loved painting. My aunty Marion Tylee was a New Zealand artist who studied at the Slade School of Fine Art in London.
“After leaving school I didn’t paint for years but when I returned to Hawke’s Bay I started having lessons with Helen
Kerridge who is amazing. I haven’t stopped since. I didn’t have a lot of time while we had Pipi but now I do.”
This is her third exhibition and every painting Alexandra has done has sold.
Her work is still life and she works with paint acrylic on canvas. “I paint food, bowls, my favourite vases and flowers from my garden. I love it. It’s what my aunty used to paint so I grew up surrounded by it.
“Painting fuels me. I love capturing those moments and nature is really important to me.”
Do something with that spare hour
She says she learned while running Pipi and having young children that if you had a spare hour you do something with it.
“That’s when I would go to my studio in the garden and just paint. Sometimes I have doubts halfway through about where the painting is going but I have learned to just push through.
“It’s not a job, it’s what I want to be doing. Time just goes so fast when I’m painting.”
Alexandra, who has also written several books, says cooking and painting feed off each other.
“I love working with food and cooking. While I don’t miss the stress of running a business in the current environment, the late nights, missing out on family time and never being able to guarantee I’d be anywhere, I do miss the people, the connection with the suppliers and producers, and being part of the community.
“Pipi Pizza was a great business. It was honest, accepting and nonjudgmental. We weren’t trying to prove anything, It was all about the customers. It’s a restaurant I would want to go to. We had a lot of wellknown New Zealanders through the doors over the years.
“We also had the most incredible staff. They were like family. One of them was with us when we started and has come and gone over the years and was there when we sold.”
Cooking is still a huge part of Alexandra’s life and she is not done yet.
“I don’t want to stop cooking so I’m looking at some sort of food business in the future, maybe a meal subscription or catering.”
Alexandra’s exhibition titled To Walk In Beauty is on at Muse Art Gallery until July 4.
Gallery owner Kaye McGarva says the title is from a Navajo Indian Beauty Prayer that inspires Alexandra.
“The work is stunning. She is quite exceptional and an inspiration to others,” Kaye said.
The gallery at 5 Havelock Rd, Havelock North is open Monday to Friday 10am to 4.30pm and Saturday 10am to 3pm.
As of Tuesday there was just one painting unsold.
Painting fuels me. I love capturing those moments and nature is really important to me.
ALEXANDRA TYLEE