Artist Biography
Rebecca Smallridge is a visual artist working from her garden studio in Ōtautahi, Aotearoa, New Zealand.
In 2021, Rebecca received a Master of Arts with Distinction under the supervision of ARA Creative Industries and WINTEC. This qualification is an extension of the Bachelor of Design in Visual Arts, which she achieved in 2009. Rebecca has an active exhibition practice and has been included in group and solo shows since 2007. She was the 1st prize recipient of both the Mortlock McCormack Law Art Award and the Will Cummings Memorial Award in 2009, and a finalist in the Zonta Female Art Award in 2020 and 2023. Rebecca’s paintings, original prints and ceramics are held in private and public collections throughout Aotearoa and abroad.
‘My paintings explore the inherent beauty and ecological value of wild places, whilst examining the connections within nature and humanity's vital role of land stewardship. I begin by creating puddles of wet-on-wet paint, ink, and natural pigments on the floor, which are later overlaid with botanical shadows and observational drawings. Imagined biospheres blur the seen and unseen to visually capture the mauri or life force present in Aotearoa’s indigenous ngahere – the forest.’
Awards
2023 Finalist in Zonta Female Art Awards
2021 Master of Arts with distinction - Art Creative Industries
2020 Finalist in Zonta Female Art Awards
2019 Masters Scholarship - Ara Creative Industries
2010 Emerging Artists - Solo show at CoCA
2009 Bachelor of Design in Visual Arts - ARA / CPIT
2009 1st prize Mortlock McCormack Law Art Awards
2009 1st prize Will Cummings Memorial Award
2009 Selected for the Ara Art Collection
Exhibitions
2026 (Upcoming) group show, Chambers Art Gallery, Christchurch
(upcoming) The Radical Art of Enough, three-person show, Stoddart Cottage, Diamond Harbour
2025 Merry Little Christmas, group show, Little River Gallery, Little River
2025 Gaza Fundraiser, group show, Artifact Contemporary Gallery, Duvauchelle
2024 Reverence, group show, Chambers Art Gallery, Christchurch
2024 To Gaza with love, group show, Eastside Gallery, Christchurch
2024 Grow, group show, The Coolstore Gallery, Mapua
2023 Wish List, group show, Little River Gallery, Little River
2023 Fling, group show, Eastside Gallery, Christchurch
2023 WORKING PROGRESS - Ara Post Grad Alumni, group show, CoCA Gallery, Christchurch
2023 Zonta Female Art Award, Finalists group show, Ashburton Art Gallery, Ashburton
2022 Symbiosis, group show, Chambers Art Gallery, Christchurch
2022 Resonance, group show, Little River Gallery, Little River
2021 Curate Me, group show, PG Gallery, Christchurch
2020 Regeneration, Master’s show, Chambers Art Gallery, Christchurch
2020 Zonta Female Art Award, Finalists group show, Ashburton Art Gallery, Ashburton
2020 Shared Lines:S group show, Birdo Flugas Gallery, Sendai, Japan
2019 Reverie, group show, BNZ Centre, Christchurch
2019 Shared Lines: Kaikoura/ChCh, group show, Kaikoura Museum & The Arts Centre, Christchurch
2018 RSM Law Art Show, group show, Aigantighe Art Gallery, Timaru
2018 Art Auction Fundraiser, group show, Fixate Gallery, Christchurch
2017 Shared Lines:W, group show, Thistle Hall, Wellington
2017 AM Art Pop Up Show, group show, Chambers Gallery, Christchurch
2017 SB Surf Club Art Auction, group show, Christchurch
2015 Homeland, two-person show, The Chambers Gallery, Rangiora
2015-17 Rapaura School Art Auction, group show, Blenheim
2014 Birdsong, group show, Kereru Gallery, Mapua
2014 GASP! group show, Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington
2013 Present, group show, Tin Palace, Lyttelton
2013 With Child, group show, Little River Gallery, Little River
2013 Shared Lines, group show, Toi O Tahuna Gallery, Queenstown
2013 Shared Lines, group show, Canterbury Museum
2013 Shake it up, group show, SOFA Gallery, Christchurch
2013 Natural Selection, three-person show, Selwyn Gallery, Darfield
2012 Shared Lines: Sendai/ChCh Art Exchange, group show, Sendai Mediateque & Birdo Flugas Gallery, Japan
2011 ChCh Earthquake Exhibition & Art Auction, group show, The Suter Gallery, Nelson
2010 Fragile, solo show, CoCA Gallery, Christchurch
2010 MortlockMcCormack Law Retrospective, group show, CoCA Gallery, Christchurch
2010 Works on paper, group show, ARA Campus, Christchurch
2009 Modus Operandi, group show, NG Gallery, Christchurch
2009 Ripe, graduate exhibition, Convention Centre, Christchurch
2009 In The Making, group show, NG Gallery, Christchurch
2007-13 WAI Annual Art Exhibition, group show, Waikuku
Gallery representation
2010 - present Little River Gallery, Little River, Banks Peninsula
2020 - present Chamber Art Gallery, Ōtautahi /Christchurch
