Biography
Joanna Fieldes (née Abraham), born in 1959, Feilding, New Zealand.
She grew up in the region of the Tararua District, at the foot of the Tararua Ranges on a sheep and cattle farm, the house surrounded by a huge woodland garden, which her parents created. From an early age her parents nurtured her creative talents and love of our flora and fauna, inducing a healthy respect for our environment.
Joanna moved to Whangārei in 2021, after living on the outskirts of Auckland for nearly thirty years.
Joanna considers herself a self-taught artist, which has enabled her to develop a unique style of her own, unencumbered by conventional modes of representation. She paints using oil paint and in recent years she started printmaking, where she uses oil etching ink, as she loves the lusciousness and result of working with oil mediums. She also enjoys working with mixed-media, particularly overlaying, her so called ‘ghost’ prints.
She has a strong interest in New Zealand history. Using her art as a form of storytelling, she ‘takes history for a walk’, with no firm conclusions, she gives the viewer something to think about and/or to challenge one’s own thinking or perspective.
Since the early 1990’s, her oil paintings have been successfully exhibited in solo, joint and group shows in public and private galleries around New Zealand. Her paintings are in public and private collections in Aotearoa New Zealand and overseas.
One highlight for her was to have been commissioned in 2004, to do a painting for the purpose of a gift, that was to be presented to the Japanese Royal family, which duly happened. The painting is titled ‘Gentian Connection’.
Her artwork is featured in the 2007 Celebrate Art Resource Pack, under the title ‘Identity and Belonging’, used by teachers in schools in both New Zealand and Australia. This gives her a sense of pride.
Biography
Joanna Fieldes (née Abraham), born in 1959, Feilding, New Zealand.
She grew up in the region of the Tararua District, at the foot of the Tararua Ranges on a sheep and cattle farm, the house surrounded by a huge woodland garden, which her parents created. From an early age her parents nurtured her creative talents and love of our flora and fauna, inducing a healthy respect for our environment.
Joanna moved to Whangārei in 2021, after living on the outskirts of Auckland for nearly thirty years.
Joanna considers herself a self-taught artist, which has enabled her to develop a unique style of her own, unencumbered by conventional modes of representation. She paints using oil paint and in recent years she started printmaking, where she uses oil etching ink, as she loves the lusciousness and result of working with oil mediums. She also enjoys working with mixed-media, particularly overlaying, her so called ‘ghost’ prints.
She has a strong interest in New Zealand history. Using her art as a form of storytelling, she ‘takes history for a walk’, with no firm conclusions, she gives the viewer something to think about and/or to challenge one’s own thinking or perspective.
Since the early 1990’s, her oil paintings have been successfully exhibited in solo, joint and group shows in public and private galleries around New Zealand. Her paintings are in public and private collections in Aotearoa New Zealand and overseas.
One highlight for her was to have been commissioned in 2004, to do a painting for the purpose of a gift, that was to be presented to the Japanese Royal family, which duly happened. The painting is titled ‘Gentian Connection’.
Her artwork is featured in the 2007 Celebrate Art Resource Pack, under the title ‘Identity and Belonging’, used by teachers in schools in both New Zealand and Australia. This gives her a sense of pride.