Connecting with the environment through painting is a focus that has developed through my painting practice and formal training over several decades.
I began my career as an artist by studying at Elam School of Fine Arts which fast tracked a deep curiosity about creating and a love of painting. Supported by the vibrant community at art school I went on to set up a studio practice and have been exhibiting regularly in solo shows, group show, and art awards. I have a practice-led Masters in Arts (Painting), further study in museums and galleries, and a summer school at the Slade in London.
My work appears in commercial and public galleries, public art gallery collections, exhibition publications, and peer-reviewed publications. I have enjoyed the Fred Staub Artist Residency in Otago, and two private residencies in Pukekura, Ngāmotu and in Norfolk in the United Kingdom where I made extensive bodies of work and connected with the communities through the time there. Others have written about my work in peer-reviewed publications, essays and editorials in Art New Zealand, Scopes Journal, and EyeContact.
Alongside my work I sometimes teach fine art at the Waikato Institute of Technology where I am also a Research Associate. Since 2021 I have contributed to academic research in practice-led art through the Journal of Visual Art Practice as an Associate Editor, and as a guest speaker at the Edinburgh College of Art, St Andrews University, and the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design in Scotland and at the University of Otago. Sharing my work and generating discussion about the creative process is important to me, and I have enjoyed being a panel speaker at the Art Association of New Zealand and Australia’s conferences for several years, and at research symposiums in Aotearoa and overseas.
Collections
Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery, Toi o Tāmaki, New Zealand; Waikato Bequests Collection; Waikato Museum Te Whare O Taonga Art Collection; Wallace Art Collection; University of Waikato Art Collection and private collections in Aotearoa New Zealand and further afield.
Research Affiliation
Associate Editor, Journal of Visual Art Practice; Research Associate, Waikato Institute of Technology; PLaCE International Member
Degrees
Elam School of Fine Art, Auckland University; Massey University; Waikato Institute of Technology; Slade School of Fine Art Summer School, University College London [BFA; MA Painting; PGDMuseumSt].
2026 - Recent Commentaries
Amanda Watson: Co-created Art with the Natural Environment. Written by Mary Modeen, published on https://www.amandawatson.com/about May 30th, 2026.
Edged Fields: The tactile vision of Amanda Watson’s site-responsive paintings. Written by Adrienne Dengerink Chaplin, published on https://www.amandawatson.com/about May 30th, 2026.
Vital Union: Painting with Spaces and Places. Cerys Dallaway Davidson. Published essay in exhibition catalouge, 2025.
Amanda Watson Paintings. Norman Franke, EyeContact, 24 February 2026
Artist Book ‘Vital Union: The Paintings of Amanda Watson at Edgefield’ to be published later in 2026.
Exhibitions
2025
Vital Union: Painting with Spaces and Places, Gallagher Performing Art Gallery, University of Waikato, 21st November 2025 - 27th February 2026. [Exhibition Catalogue]; [Exhibition Review}.
2024
Vital Union, St Peters & St Pauls, Edgefield, Norfolk, UK, September 2024; The Vitality of Things. Laree Payne Gallery, Kirikiriroa. May 2024. A New World has Begun. Atelier Gallery, 2024.
2023
In and of the Earth - Ramp Gallery, September 2023; In & of the Earth, Might Could Project Space, Ngāmotu, 2023; Finalist, National Contemporary Art Award Exhibition 2023; Finalist, Art & Ecology Award; Colour Drain, Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts Gallery, 01 May-06 October 2023.
2022
Local Geographies - Ramp Gallery, 2022; Pukekura - March, September 2022 [Residency]; Finalist, Art & Ecology Award 2022
2021
The Fred Staub Artist in Residence - Dunedin School of Art, August & September 2021 [Residency];Finalist, Art & Ecology Award 2021; Finalist New Zealand Painting & Printmaking Award, 2021; Finalist, Molly Morpeth Canaday Award 2021; Rauhī, Ramp Gallery, July 2021.
2020
Painting Encounters With The Land - Ramp Gallery, 11-28 February 2020; Aesthetica Art Prize Exhibition, York Art Gallery, UK, 2020. From the corner of my eye, Ramp Gallery, September 2020.
2019
Finalist New Zealand Painting & Printmaking Award 2019
2018
Recent work - Slade School of Fine Art, University College, London, August 2018 [Group exhibition]; Finalist, Art & Ecology Award 2018
2017
Competitive Advantage - Calder & Lawson Gallery, 16 Oct – 8 Dec 2017 https://www.waikato.ac.nz/academy/gallery/competitive-advantage [Group exhibition]; Nebula, Ramp Gallery, 11-25 October 2017 http://www.rampgallery.co.nz/exhibitions/nebula/ [Group exhibition]; Finalist, Art & Ecology Award 2027. Notes from a poetic universe [group show] nkb Gallery, June 2017.
2016
Cataloguing Blue: Works from the University of Waikato Art Collection, Calder & Lawson Gallery, February-April 2017 http://www.waikato.ac.nz/academy/gallery/cataloguing-blue [Group exhibition]; Fleshbag – Skinroom, 18 November – 3 December 2016 [Group exhibition]. The Great Escape, nkb gallery, 2016.
2010 -2015
Finalist, New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Award 2015. Tangled up in Blue, nkb Gallery, March 2015; Inception, nkb Gallery, May 2013;
2000 - 2010
Vision - Morgan Street Gallery, Dec 2005 [Exhibition]; Amanda Watson - Morgan Street Gallery, November 2003 [Exhibition]; And there was light - Morgan Street Gallery, June 2002 [Exhibition]; Here and Beyond: Recent paintings - Morgan Street Gallery, 2000 [Exhibition]; Group shows, nkb Gallery, Auckland; La Mezz Gallery; Braveheart, ASB Showgrounds; Oriel Washington Gallery, UK; Percy Thomson Gallery, Taranaki; Morgan Street Gallery, Auckland; Studio shows
1995 - 1999
Fourth Year Elam Painters - George Fraser Gallery, 1996 [Group exhibition]; We Are - George Fraser Gallery 1996 [Group exhibition]; Third Year Elam Painters - George Fraser Gallery, 1995 [Group exhibition]
Award Exhibitions
Finalist, National Contemporary Art Award 2023; Finalist, Art & Ecology Award 2023, 2022, 2021, 2018, 2017; Finalist New Zealand Painting & Printmaking Award, 2021, 2019, 2015; Finalist, Molly Morpeth Canaday Award 2021; Finalist, Aesthetica Art Prize, 2020; Finalist, Walker & Hall Art Award 2019, 2018; Merit Award, Hibiscus & Bays Art Award 2018; Finalist, Hibiscus & Bays Art Award 2017; Finalist, Northshore City Art Awards 1995
Public Collections
Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery, Toi o Tāmaki, New Zealand; Waikato Bequests Collection; Waikato Museum Te Whare O Taonga Art Collection; Wallace Art Collection; University of Waikato Art Collection and private collections in Aotearoa New Zealand and further afield.
Books
In and of the Earth [Artist Book], published by Amanda Watson: Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023
Commentaries and Reviews
Amanda Watson: Co-created Art with the Natural Environment. Written by Mary Modeen, published on https://www.amandawatson.com/about May 30th, 2026.
Edged Fields: The tactile vision of Amanda Watson’s site-responsive paintings. Written by Adrienne Dengerink Chaplin, published on https://www.amandawatson.com/about May 30th, 2026.
Vital Union: Painting with Spaces and Places. Cerys Dallaway Davidson. Published essay in exhibition catalouge, 2025.
Amanda Watson Paintings. Norman Franke, EyeContact, 24 February 2026
The Lie of the Land: Amanda Watson and the Forest. Laurence Simmons, Art New Zealand, Winter 2024.
Pukekura en plein air: The paintings of Amanda Watson in the environment and in context. Edward Hanfling. Published in In and of the Earth, p24-28, 2023.
Affective Witness. Dr Zara Stanhope. In and of the Earth, p4-5, published by Amanda Watson: Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023.
Where Do I Come From? What Am I? Where Am I Going? The Problem of Self-Discovery in Art Making as Research Inquiry. Edward Hanfling in Scope Journal Issue 24, 2023
Local Geographies [catalogue] https://rampgallery.co.nz/assets/RAMP-Gallery-Local-Geographies-Catalogue_DIGITAL.pdf
A visual, journal practice: Journal of Visual Art Practice, twenty years on. Jane Birkin, Ed D’Souza & Sunil Manghani, in the Journal of Visual Art Practice, 20:4, 299-315, 2021 DOI: 10.1080/14702029.2021.1995928
En-plein-air with a Difference. Peter Dornauf in EyeContact Magazine [Exhibition review] https://eyecontactmagazine.com/2022/09/en-plein-air-with-a-difference
Encounters with the Land - Ramp Gallery [exhibition catalogue]
A lost and beautiful past – Written by Peter Dornauf in EyeContact, February 2020 [exhibition review] http://eyecontactsite.com/2020/02/a-lost-beautiful-past
From the corner of my eye - Ramp Gallery [exhibition catalgoue]
Encounters with the Land [exhibition catalogue], Ramp Gallery, February 2020 - click here
Hamilton’s Painting and Print Competition – Written by Peter Dornauf in EyeContact, 7 March 2019 [exhibition review], http://eyecontactsite.com/2019/03/painting-and-print-competition
Future Now 2020: 100 Contemporary Artists from the Aesthetica Art Prize [Book], published 2020
Hamilton’s Painting and Print Competition – Written by Peter Dornauf in EyeContact, 7 March 2019 [Exhibition review]
Flat Bed Collaboration - Slade School of Fine Art, London, August 2018 [art book]
Nebula - Written by Heather Olesen and Ed Hanfling, Ramp Gallery October 2017 [Essay] http://www.rampgallery.co.nz/assets/Uploads/Nebula-gallery-hand-out-A3.pdf
Fleshbag at Skinroom – Written by Peter Dornauf in #500words, 2 December 2016 [exhibition review] https://hashtag500words.com/2016/12/02/fleshbag-at-skinroom/
Competitive Advantage - Calder & Lawson Gallery, 2017 [exhibition catalogue];
Cataloguing Blue – Written by Lynda Wilson, Calder & Lawson Gallery, 2017 [Essay]
Residencies
The Fred Staub Artist in Residence, Dunedin School of Art (2021);
Pukekura Private Residency with NPDC with support from Damon Ritae [Ngāti Te Whiti], Zara Stanhope, Edward Hanfling, Wintec Research Office, Chartwell Art Trust (2022-2023);
Edgefield Private Residency, St Peter’s & St Paul’s Edgefield, Norfolk, UK, September 2024, with support from the Wintec Research Office (2024).
Public Presentations
Ink and Gesture: Site-responsive Painting Practices. ANZAAE 2025 National Conference, April 14-16th. Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Art Educators [Presentation and workshop].
Seeing the Real in Site-responsive Painting. Edinburgh College of Art's, Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (ESALA), ‘PROKALO’ Lecture Series, 10th April 2025 [Lecture].
Painting Encounters’, ITIA Research Programme, St Andrews University, Scotland. 4th October 2024 [Paper presentation]
Vital Union: Seeing the Real in Site-responsive Painting. University of Otago, Art & Architecture Winter Intensive, 4-7th July 2025 [Guest Speaker].
‘Vital Union: Seeing the Real in Site-responsive Painting’. AAANZ25 Conference, Australian National University, Canberra. 4-6 December 2025. [Panel speaker]
Painting Encounters’, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design [DJCAD], University of Dundee. 8th October 2024 [Guest speaker]
Guest Speaker, PLaCE International symposium ‘Distinctive Investigations of Place’, 8th March 2024 GMT
WINTEC Research Symposium 2024. ‘Painting Encounters’ presentation.
AAANZ Conference, Griffith University, Australia, 6-8 December 2023 [Panel speaker]
Dundee University, Scotland, UK. October 2023 [Paper presentation]
Creative Practice Research Symposium 2023, WINTEC [Paper presentation]
Creative Practice Research Symposium 2023, WINTEC [Publication]
Ramp Festival 2022 – Drawing Workshop with Amanda Watson, WINTEC [Workshop]
AAANZ Impact Conference 2021 - Painting Places and Territories, World Vision and the South Pacific panel [panel speaker]
The Fred Staub Artist in Residence - Dunedin School of Art, August & September 2021 [Residency]
Dunedin School of Art Public Seminar Programme 2021. https://www.op.ac.nz/about-us/news-and-events/item/8890 ‘ Painting with places and people: Exploring the idea of working collaboratively to see places in unexpected ways’ [Guest speaker]
Creative Practice Research Symposium 2021, WINTEC - “Painting with Places and People”
Artist Talk, Ramp Gallery, March 2020
Published Work
In and of the earth: seeing the real in site-responsive painting. Amanda Watson, Journal of Visual Art Practice, 24(1–2), 117–145. 2025 https://doi.org/10.1080/14702029.2025.2508026. Or follow this link to the full text.
Between Hawaiki Nui and the Liquid Continent: editorial introduction. Amanda Watson, Journal of Visual Art Practice, 24(1–2), 1–9. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1080/14702029.2025.2507484. Or follow this link to the full text.
Painting with Otepoti Dunedin: Artist in Residence at the Dunedin School of Art 2021. Amanda Watson in Scope Contemporary Research Topics, Art & Design Issue 23. https://doi.org/10.34074/scop.1023026 [Article]
Painting encounters with environments: experiencing the territory of familiar places. Amanda Watson, Journal of Visual Art Practice, Volume 20, Issue 1&2, 2021 http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14702029.2021.1925856 [Article].
Photographs taken by Sam Hartnett. Copyright Amanda Watson.