I was born in Christchurch and studied art and design at Christchurch Polytechnic, graduating in 1992 with a diploma of Visual Communications. I went on to work as a graphic designer and illustrator along with some time away travelling before taking up painting full-time in 2010.

I’m currently working from my home studio in central Christchurch where I enjoy making work connected to nature and my immediate surroundings. My most recent series has focused on a collection of foraged treasures from the beach and local countryside including birds’ nests, feathers and shells as well as family heirlooms which I curate into still lives, giving a new lease of life to these sometimes overlooked objects.

Alongside this, I’m working on a series of large oil paintings, drawing on old family photographs for inspiration and highlighting the connection we have with our natural environment. In these I’m wanting to convey a sense of movement and energy, an aliveness to the landscape and capture the gestural qualities of the figures moving within them.

My process usually starts with drawing, which I love, and often involves combining abstraction and realism, finding a happy balance between the two. In much the same way I work between painting and printmaking, it keeps things fresh and interesting and gives me plenty of freedom.

I also enjoy working on commissions and bringing peoples’ ideas to life, be that a memory of a special place or an object of affection. In 2019 I was lucky enough to be selected as one of six New Zealand artists for the Avis Art of Discovery ad campaign. I spent a week on Banks Peninsula sketching and gathering material for three semi abstract pieces that featured on billboards at airports around the country.

Exhibitions (selected)

Group Show Cloisters Gallery 2010

Art in a Garden 2011

Arts in Oxford Group Show, May 2012

Peninsula Figures in the Landscape, Solo show, Chambers Gallery, Rangiora, May 2015

Limbs, Solo show, Arts in Oxford Gallery, October 2015

Art in a Garden 2016

Accumulative Group Show, Arts in Oxford, Oct 2016

Cleveland National Art Awards, Dunedin 2017

From the Rivers to the Shore, Group Print Exhibition, Arts in Oxford, Depot Artspace Auckland, 2017

Pegasus Bay Art Show Oct 2017

Sanctuary, group exhibition, Artists Against Slavery, Arts in Oxford 2017

Castle Hill Biennial Easter Art Exhibition 2018

Avis ‘Art of Discovery’ commissions Banks Peninsula 2019

Near and Far, solo show, Arts in Oxford, Feb 2019

Peninsula Art Auction, Lyttelton, May 2019

Openhouse Printmakers Artist Residency, Oxford Gallery, 2020

Print Council of NZ Postcards Exhibition, 2021

Art Box 10 Year Anniversary Show, 2021

Openhouse Printmakers Group Show – New Works, Oxford Gallery, October 2021

Oxford Summer Group Show, Dec-Jan 2021/22

Body Language Group Show, Art on the Quay, Kaiapoi 2022