I am a painter dedicated to the exploration of disrupted realism. Working primarily in oil on canvas, I employ illustrative, painterly marks. This work treads a delicate balance between magical realism and abstraction, inhabiting a slightly dark, disturbed middle ground.
A lot of my paintings balance beauty with the grotesque, the sinister with the benevolent. Through this dichotomy, I interpret and convey resiliency, beauty, pain, and fragility. Each piece reflects on the delicate and often tumultuous relationship between humanity and the natural world.
My art has been described as "other-worldly botanical gardens", these are cultivated from a life spent in the wild, and urban jungles, of Brazil, China, and England, as well as my birthplace of New Zealand
In a number of works, I construct hybrid, fractured forms that merge human and animal anatomies, invoking contemporary concerns around anthropocentrism, ecological collapse, and the ethics of representation. These memento mori portraits act as elegiac tributes to nonhuman lives lost to human intervention, offering a visual confrontation with the violence embedded in everyday existence. In contrast, other works shift focus toward themes of comfort and domestic intimacy, exploring the psychological function of the familiar amidst an increasingly unstable world. Through motifs such as the bed or the canine companion, I examine how ordinary moments become sites of solace, resistance, and meaning-making within the broader context of environmental precarity and cultural fragmentation.
Selected Publications
2025 Studio Visit Magazine
2023 April, The Howler Project
2019 September, D Magazine "D HOME" the Best of Big D: Home and Garden Magazine (Dallas)
2019 September, Dallas Voice Magazine
2018 April Artist's Spotlight in the PPL Times
2016 September/October European Magazine 'Art International'
2016 21st Century Art Book by Effeto Art
2016 Jan/Feb European Magazine 'Art International'
2015 Nov/Dec Italian Art Magazine 'Effeto Arte'
2015 Work published in 'International Contemporary Artists Vol-X'
2013 Coverage in the Shanghai Daily
2012 Featured in ArtReview's 4art.com
Acquisitions
2013 St. Johnson Inc. Architectural Firm Commission for permanent works. Shanghai, China
Awards
2016 Recipient of the Shakespeare in Art Award, at the Verona Art Fair. Verona, Italy - June
2016 Recipient of the Merit Award for Distinctive Art Portfolio, in the Leydan Award Ontario, Canada - February
2016 Recipient of the International Prize Leonardo da Vinci, The Universal Artist. Florence, Italy - January
2015 Recipient of the Michelangelo International Prize, Artists at the Jubilee. Rome, Italy - December
2015 Recipient of an International prize ‘’Artist at the Castle’’ – Nerola, Italy - December
2015 Voted in the top 10 artists in the Con Corse Buenos Aires hosted by OpenArt Milano, Italy - October
Artist Residencies
2023 School of Art & Design at the University of Illinois, USA - June
Latest Exhibitions
Selected group exhibitions
2024 'Candied Cornucopia,' Macon Creek Gallery. Months of October - December
2024 'Crit Ecologies: Artists, Community, Criticality,' Hudson Valley MOCA. Months of September - December
2023 'Minumental,' Stone & Spoon Gallery, Ypsilanti MI - November
2022 'Between Hours,' Jennifer & John Eagle Gallery, ESD, Dallas - Months of August - October
2022 'Confidential,' Fabrication Gallery, Dallas TX - February
2021 'Medallion,' Exposition Gallery, Dallas TX Jan-March
2020 'TAC Small Works Show,' The Art Room, Fort Worth Arts Center, TX - November
2020 '516,' Fabrication Gallery, Tin District, Dallas TX - March
2019 ‘Maelstrom,’ Exposition Gallery, Dallas TX October - December
2019 'TAC Small Works Show,' BNSF Gallery, Fort Worth Arts Center, TX - November
2019 ' FLITE,' Lawley Art Group on Dragon Street, Dallas TX - November
2019 ‘Fervor,’ The Lincoln Experience Center, Frisco TX - January
2018 ‘Art & Words Show,’ Art on the Boulevard Gallery, Fort Worth TX. - Month of September
2018 'New Texas Talent,' Craighead Green Gallery. Juried show by the Contemporary Art Dealers of Dallas - Month of August
2018 'Making Time,' Jennifer & John Eagle Gallery, ESD, Dallas - Months of August - October
2018 TAC 'Texas Artists Coalition' Fort Worth Community Art Center. DFW, Texas - April
2017 'International, Environment Art Exhibition.' Hwain Gallery. Yeosu, South. Korea - October
2017 'International, Environment Art Exhibition.' Haegeumgang Museum, Geoje South. Korea - September
2017 GeniusDen, Deep Ellum. Dallas, Texas. May 13th - June 13th
2017 Three-person show @ Hwain Gallery. Yeosu, South Korea - March
2017 'Shining Light on What's Dark, Love Our Earth.' Duo exhibition with NYC artist Michael Lam. Geoje, South Korea - January
2016 Group exhibition @ Paris Louvre Expo. Paris, France - October
2016 Verona Art Fair. Verona, Italy - June
2015 'To me, you are perfect' Artpassage Milan, Italy - Months of November & December
2013 New Zealand Art Show. Wellington, New Zealand - July
2012 Shanghai International Expat Art Exhibition. Shanghai, China - March
Solo Exhibitions
2025 Macon Creek Gallery, Clinton, MI
Site installation, January- June
2023 'In the Garden of One' CAHOOTS Ann Arbor, MI. May - June
2019 ‘ReWilding’ Solo Show at NHG Gallery, Dallas TX. July - September
2014 'Women of a Golden Age,' International Women's Festival Shanghai, China
2013 Site-specific Commission - St. Johnson Inc. Architectural Firm. November – ongoing. Flatiron Studio. Shanghai, China
2013 PURE – New Zealand artist representative for Villa Maria, in conjunction with Lost Heaven Shanghai – September
2013 'The Road Home' – The Rooster Shanghai, China – August
2013 DAFF - painting performances at Shanghai’s Design Art & Fashion Fair, Spring & Fall Fairs Shanghai, China. May & October
Education
2024 - ongoing
The Crit Lab
Graduate-level critique seminars for artists
2021
Sotheby's Institute of Art
Art Marketing, PR, and Communications
2020
Harvard Graduate School of Education courses
- Education Redesign: Building 21st Systems of Child
Development and Education
- Educating Global Citizens
2019
Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education course
- Mobilizing your Non-Profit Board
2008 - 2015
International Baccalaureate Teacher Training
- Interdisciplinary Teaching & Learning, Category 3
- Diploma Program Theatre Arts & Visual Arts Levels 1-3
- Middle Years Program Visual Arts
2002 - 2003
University of Canterbury, Christchurch New Zealand
Graduate Diploma of Secondary Education
- Fine/Studio Arts and Theatre Arts
1999 - 2001
Wintec - Waikato Institute of Technology, Hamilton New Zealand
Bachelor of Media Arts, Majoring in Painting, minor in Graphic Design
Teaching Experience
2022 - Current
2018 - 2022
Chair of Fine and Performing Arts at Greenhills School Ann Arbor, MI
Chair of Art Around Campus and Art Acquisitions Committee, & Visual Art Instructor at the Episcopal School of Dallas, TX
2014 - 2016
IB Visual Arts Instructor at St. Francis College, Sao Paulo, Brazil
2010 - 2014
IB Visual Arts and Theatre Arts Instructor at Dulwich College, Shanghai China
2007-2010
IB Visual Arts and Theatre Arts Instructor at Shanghai Community International School, Shanghai China
2004-2006
Visual Arts and Theatre Arts Instructor at Barnhill Community College, London England.