Based in Te Papaioea, Palmerston North, Alice Fennessy uses drawing and painting to explore memory, domestic life, and the interior worlds shaped by motherhood. Her work draws on the dualities of maternal experience, beauty and discomfort, tenderness and tension, capturing fleeting moments through stark compositions on paper, silk, or aluminium. With a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons) from Massey University CoCA, she balances her practice with teaching secondary school art.

See Alice's work in our upcoming group portraiture exhibition from August 14-30

Helena is an Auckland based artist working across painting and textiles. Her practice is rooted in abstract expressionism, driven by an exploration of colour, gesture, and materiality. Recently, she has expanded into tufted rug-making, blending her love of craft with surreal, figurative imagery. These works explore dreamscapes, nostalgia, and imagined worlds, drawing influence from American Outsider and Folk art. Helena holds a BFA (Hons) from Elam School of Fine Arts.

See Helena's work in our upcoming group portraiture exhibition from August 14-30

James Sweeting is a self taught visual artist from Tamaki Makaurau, Auckland. His works explore themes of nostalgia, commemoration and the internal world through a mostly figurative approach ranging from traditional portraiture to more expressive and dynamic techniques. He is primarily interested in the human form and movement and how the use of movement and abstraction within different mediums can contribute to storytelling.

See James's work in our upcoming group portraiture exhibition from August 14-30

John Boyd Dunlop is a self-taught visual artist based in Napier. Beginning his creative journey at the age of 68, John has developed a bold, intuitive practice that draws from a rich inner world and a life well lived. His work is playful, imaginative, and unapologetically eccentric, often depicting humans and animals in absurd arrangements. Frequently described as Naïve, Outsider or Art Brut, his paintings defy categorisation but embrace a raw vitality and a keen sense of humour.

See John's work in our upcoming group portraiture exhibition from August 14-30

Kirsten is a self taught Wellington based artist. A symbolist painter, she draws inspiration from biographical journeys and metaphysical concerns, with her work deeply informed by her background as a social anthropologist, researcher and author. Influenced by surrealist and symbolist traditions, as well as post-WWII New Zealand landscape painters, Kirsten creates imagined worlds filled with dominant symbols, dreamlike states and reflections on identity and childhood.

See Kirsten's work in our upcoming group portraiture exhibition from August 14-30

Based in West Auckland, Laurette is a self-taught artist working primarily in acrylics. Her intuitive portraits of contemporary female figures embrace bold colour, softness and quiet strength, rendered in a naïve, expressive style. Influenced by the rhythms of motherhood, and drawing inspiration from natural surroundings and everyday objects, Laurette’s paintings favour atmosphere over narrative, offering space for stillness, reflection and personal interpretation.

See Laurette's work in our upcoming group portraiture exhibition from August 14-30

Robyn Fleet is a Hawke’s Bay based artist working primarily with oil paint and oil sticks. Her practice explores the human condition through an open-ended, intuitive approach that embraces the materiality of paint. Robyn’s work invites reflection on identity and perception, inspired by a vision of a world where character transcends appearance. She holds a Bachelor of Art and Design from Ideaschool (EIT) and has been exhibiting her work since 2013.

See Robyn's work in our upcoming group portraiture exhibition from August 14-30

Sharon is an Pauanui based artist who graduated with an Master of Fine Arts in 2022. Her practice explores the complexities of identity, voicelessness and female agency through a feminist lens, often using the female form to convey psychological states and lived experience. Rooted in the physicality of the body, her work seeks to give shape to internal narratives and create space for dialogue around the challenges faced by women today.

See Sharon's work in our upcoming group portraiture exhibition from August 14-30

Based in Hawkes Bay and still kicking, Tom Armstrong prefers to let the work do the talking. “I paint what I see,” he says, quoting Picasso: “Painting is a blind man's profession.” His paintings draw from a rich and strange mix of; art history, literature, personal memory, and pop culture, all filtered through a vivid, idiosyncratic lens.

See Tom's work in our upcoming group portraiture exhibition from August 14-30