Sculptor, medallist and designer. She was born in Auckland, New Zealand, and studied sculpture and industrial design at Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland (1979–82), and engraving at the Italian Mint in Rome (1985–86). Her sculptures are mostly in metal and on a small scale, typically combining an erotically charged and distorted treatment of the naked female figure with a range of natural forms (pea-pods, fish, bones) and man-made objects (bowls, cups, bottles), in many cases producing fantastic hybrids that fuse indigenous Maori culture with a Surrealist commitment to organic metamorphosis. Since 1983, her work has been shown in more than eighty solo and group exhibitions throughout the USA, Australasia, the Far East and Europe, and has included a display of her medal designs in Edinburgh during a term as Artist in Residence at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in 1990. She has also undertaken numerous commissions for medals, trophies and relief plaques for clients ranging from the Royal Mint to the America’s Cup. She has lived in Paris since 1981, and returns to Auckland on a regular basis.
Bibliography: Artis Gallery website; Marian Fountain website; R. McKenzie, Public Sculpture of Edinburgh (2 vols), Liverpool, 2018, vol. 1, pp. 270–71.
Ray McKenzie 2018