Saskia Leek (born 1970) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

painter.

Life and career

Leek has been known to use already existing prints and op-shop images as a starting point for some of her works. Her subject matter has included house pets, sunsets and sunrises, homes and cottages, chimneys and horses. Leek's focus has shifted from representation to Cubism and into Abstraction and thus has reflected the path of 20th century art. Leek was born in 1970 in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

. she lives in Dunedin. She graduated from the Canterbury School of Fine Arts. Leek finished her MFA at the Elam School of Fine Art in 2016 in Auckland. In 1997 she won the

Olivia Spencer Bower Award The Olivia Spencer Bower Award is a residency opportunity for New Zealand artists. It is named after the 20th-century New Zealand painter Olivia Spencer Bower. About the residency The Olivia Spencer Bower Award was established in 1987. Art crit ...

. In 2009, Leek was nominated for the

Auckland Art Gallery Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is the principal public gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It has the most extensive collection of national and international art in New Zealand and frequently hosts travelling international exhibitions. Set be ...

's Walters PrizeDunn, Megan.
Saskia Leek: Desk Collection – review
'. New Zealand Listener, 2013. for her series ''Yellow is the Putty of the World''. In 2012 Nick Austin, Leek's partner, was awarded the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship. This resulted in the couple moving from Auckland to Dunedin for a year and staying on afterwards. In 2022 ''Bordering on the Miraculous'' was published, a collaboration between Leek and the poet

Lynley Edmeades Lynley Edmeades is a New Zealand poet, academic and editor. She has published two poetry collections and held a number of writers' residencies. she is the editor of the New Zealand literary journal Landfall (journal), ''Landfall''. Biography ...

Exhibitions

2009 VARIOUS NIGHTS IN HEAVY LIGHT, Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney, Australia. 2008 Thick Air Method, Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco, USA. 2008 Better Places, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Perth, Australia. 2007 Tunnels, nets and holes, Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney, Australia. 2006 - 2007 The Ian Potter Museum of Art, the University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.

Public Collections

Leek's work is held in the following public collections: * Museum of New Zealand - Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington * Auckland City Art Gallery * Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth * Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin

References

External links

Saskia Leek
in the collections of the

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

1970 births Living people Artists from Christchurch {{NewZealand-painter-stub Elam Art School alumni