Amanda was first introduced to painting in her family home. Her mother used to do quick watercolours while at the kitchen bench in the midst of bustling everyday life. Her formal training began under the tutelage of Mark Lander for over 2 years at Hagley High School, which led her to pursue a degree in fine arts. Amanda graduated in the early 1990s with a BFA in painting from the University of Canterbury under the tutelage of Ridwan Tompkins.
Since graduating, Amanda has also tutored private drawing and painting classes from her home and through local community organisations. Amanda uses forms drawn from landscape and reduces them to basic shapes, allowing an examination of the formal relationships between shapes and colours. The layering of abstracted forms creates deeper illusory pictorial spaces and a greater complexity of spatial relationships for the eye to explore. These painterly processes employed by Amanda mirror the same strata and layering of the rock formations she observes.
In her most recent works, Amanda applies thin veils of colour by rubbing back the painted surface and then layering, often employing pastel tones over high-key colours, juxtaposing tints of complementary colours as a foil to their opposite. This gives her work a vibrant luminosity. She has departed from a naturalistic colour palette in favour of stronger hues reminiscent of Gaugin’s Tahitian paintings and the Fauves.
My practice is deeply rooted in New Zealand’s rich landscape tradition. I draw inspiration from the dramatic forms of the Canterbury region, as well as from the legacy of artists, such as Petrus van der Velden, the early head of the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts, and the Canterbury Regionalists of the 20th century. I also look to mid-century American abstraction, the simplified elegance of Canadian artist Milton Avery, and the luminous, meditative qualities in Rothko’s late works.
As a person of strong Christian faith, I approach the landscape from a deeply emotive and intuitive perspective. I aim to reduce the land to its most essential forms, allowing a more profound exploration of colour, shape, and spatial relationships. In my recent work, I apply thin veils of colour through a process of rubbing back and layering, often combining pastels with high-key underpainting. I’ve moved away from a naturalistic palette in favour of more vibrant hues, creating a heightened luminosity and complexity in the pictorial space.
Amanda is currently represented by Wanaka Fine Arts Gallery in Southland, Otago and The Chambers Gallery in Christchurch, and is available to do work on commission.
The God who said, "Out of darkness the light shall shine!"
Is the same God who made His light shine in our hearts,
to bring us the Knowledge of God's glory,
shining in the face of Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:6
Work History:
1989/92 – Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting, University of Canterbury, Christchurch
1991 – Group exhibition, Fine Arts Gallery, University of Canterbury
1992/93 – Exhibition with potter, Philip Hadfield, The Cornerstone Gallery, The Arts Centre,
Christchurch
1993 – (Feb) Invited for solo exhibition at Southland Boys High School.
1995 – Solo exhibition at The Celebration Centre, Christchurch
1998/02 – Exhibitions at The Arts Centre in these years.
1998 - Commission oil painting for the Anglican church
2002 – Group exhibition at Min’s Fine Art Gallery, Merivale, Christchurch
2004/05 – Group exhibitions, The Look Gallery, Redcliffs, Christchurch
2008/11- Group exhibitions at the Arts Centre Gallery, Christchurch.
2009 - Women's painting Tutorial at The Lighthouse Art Studio, and in Christchurch schools
2019 - Work used for the cover of the Ngai Tahu magazine
2021 – (Dec) Series of new work exhibited at Wanaka Fine Arts Gallery, Southland
2022 – (Jan-Feb) Exhibition of drawings and paintings, Wanaka Fine Arts Gallery, (Commissioned
works for a number of different private collectors over these years.)
2022 – Present - Work exhibited in Chambers Art Gallery. The gallery exhibits the work of leading,
new and emerging New Zealand artists, representing artists and their original art. Attention is
around works of quality that are skilful, conceptually rich, spirited and sincere.
2022 – Present - Work exhibited in Wānaka Fine Art Gallery, which is a boutique art gallery, upstairs
on Wānaka’s lakefront, catering to local NZ and international art collectors and buyers, providing
various-sized artworks by Amanda and other top New Zealand artists, mainly sourced from
Canterbury, Otago and Central Otago.
2024 – Present – Conducting community art workshops for women (every month).
Goal - To bring women together of all ages and ethnicities. to build self-esteem and well-being