Art, for Cecilia Mickelsen, is a wonderful thing.
Not only did it help with her grieving process after the death of her son from cancer in 2006, it also helped her find love and a change of career.
Now, she and her wife Megan are sharing their love of art with others, opening the doors to a non-conventional gallery in the Dunedin seaside suburb of St Clair.
Fe29 - The Art Lab is also their home and visitors are welcome to wander around it.
Even the toilet features art, appropriately from Danish artist Louis Moe.
It is a far cry from Cecilia's previous 30-year career as a management consultant, working around the world while also bringing up sons Karl and Black Caps coach Mike Hesson.
Her passion for art came later in life, while she visited art galleries in Europe.
Despite having no prior knowledge of the subject, she found herself moved by many of the works.
She was offered management roles in three major galleries when the owners mistakenly believed she knew about art, such was her excitement.
What she knew was simply what she loved.
On her return to New Zealand in 2000, what started as an interest between projects quickly became the start of a new career in art, which included making jewellery.
When her restaurateur son Karl was opening a business in Wanaka, he wanted his mother to create art for the walls.
She sold her first work of art to former US president George Bush's accountant, who was passing on a cycle tour.
Following Karl's death, Cecilia moved back to Dunedin to be closer to Mike, and opened a gallery.
Then she met her future wife, who had been battling her own challenges.
Like Cecilia, Texas-born and bred Megan Mickelsen came from a diverse background.
With a degree in animal science and a master's in land economics and real estate, she has worked as a real estate valuer and broker, in retail management, hospitality and ranch management, and was certified in livestock artificial insemination and embryo transfer.
Cecilia was looking for artists to collaborate with.
Megan was not an artist "but she was cute'', Cecilia laughs.
At that time, Megan was recuperating after a bad accident.
A horse fell on her, injuring her spine, breaking her jaw and knocking her unconscious, and she required four spinal surgeries.
The couple met eight years ago this week.
Cecilia moved to Wimberley, Texas, in 2009, where they had a gallery and were involved in collaborative art projects.
They married in Los Angeles in 2013.
The return to Dunedin was driven by a desire to be closer to their grandchildren and they bought their Sandringham St home from Mike and his wife, Kate.
When they first walked in, they thought it was "way too small'' for what they wanted to do but, after spending the first night in the house, they decided they loved it.
It proved to have plenty of "art walls'' and the proximity to the beach, including a view of the ocean from the front door, was another drawcard.
The couple wanted people to relax and enjoy the art and were unfazed by opening their home to the public.
They also wanted to help other artists.
The gallery offered a range of works for sale, from jewellery and ceramics to furniture, sculpture, paintings and other large works of art.
Cecilia freely admitted she was "no expert'' but was there to give advice and guidance, if anyone wanted to know what she thought.
To her, it did not matter what an artist meant, it was about what you felt when you viewed the art work - and you did not necessarily have to like it.
Combining their home with a gallery had several benefits.
In a separate gallery, people might look at big pieces and worry they were too big for their home.
This way, they could see they would fit.
It also enabled them to be in a nice environment, and the couple were not sitting in a gallery waiting for customers, she said.
Megan is also redoing her real estate qualifications, which will enable her to sell commercial real estate for Ray White.
Already, the response to Fe29 has been heartening and, while they had to sell some art to make a living, that was not the sole focus.
"People that come are really excited by it. That's what we wanted. We wanted people to come here and enjoy it,'' Cecilia said.
Their home and garden is eclectic, whether it's a grate from New York City, table legs from a printing press in Texas, a gate found in Palmerston but originally from the Queenstown gardens, or works of art traded for a Cadillac and a Volkswagen.
The significance of the name Fe29 was threefold; it was the chemical symbol for iron and the atomic number for copper, the two metals Cecilia first worked with.
Collaboration, which was important for the couple, was like a chemical reaction - putting two elements together and getting "something completely different''.
And it was Cafe Fe that Karl Hesson opened in Wanaka, with its views to Mt Iron, and so it was also a tribute to him.
"He's always with me. He's always there with everything we do. We find things ... we always think it's him looking out for us,'' Cecilia said fondly.
After his death, she candidly admits she was ‘‘in a terrible place'', as she had not properly grieved.
Completing a four-piece work called Umbilical Cord greatly helped that process.
"Art is a wonderful thing,'' she said.
