Since her upbringing on a remote farm in the hills of the Wairarapa, Kirsty has been left with a legacy of love for our landscape. Now as a Wellington based printmaker, she lives on the rugged south coast, where she has enjoyed translating this love of landscape from her sketch books into fine art, using layers of texture and tone through the printmaking process.
Kirsty’s hand printed landscape and native bush etchings are merged with patterning, printed from bamboo wood engravings. This enables her to convey a narrative, reflecting a sense of this countries journey within a contemporary landscape. Story telling through pattern work is common across cultures here in the Pacific, Kirsty incorporates it into her art as a way to express that. The result can give the impression of masi or tapa cloth from which she draws inspiration, along with Māori toi whakairo (art carving). Kirsty’s work is highly original and imbued with her passion for the beauty and stories of Aotearoa.
Kirsty was studying Interior Design at Massey in Wellington when she fell in love with the printmaking medium in the room next door. After completing her Bachelour in design she worked overseas and travelled extensively before settling back in Wellington to bring up family and re-connect with the printing press. She now works as a full time artist, exhibiting regularly and selling work throughout Aotearoa.
