Angela Burns

Angela is a Dunedin based artist who has been painting for over 40 years. Her preferred mediums are oil and acrylic on large scale canvases but lately has returned to exploring mixed mediums on thick Saunders paper. 
After graduating from the Otago Polytechnic school of Art in the mid 1970’s Angela attended teachers college in Christchurch and then embarked on various jobs which included graphic artist, museum work and teaching. Later returning to study Angela completed an Art History degree and teaching diploma and also jointly ran the family business, the Green acorn Café for over 25 years.  Her varied working life, has always been combined with her painting practice, which she sees as her, ‘’main job!’’
Tending towards abstract expressionism, her work reflects local land and seascapes, moving beyond the physical appearance to evoke a sense of relation to place.  ‘’ I am interested in its history, memory and spiritual connections. Light, texture and shape within an image are all important as are the viscosity and application of the paint itself”
Artists which inspire her work are the likes of American painter Pat Steir and in New Zealand Marilyn Webb, Louise Henderson, Anna Caselberg, and John Drawbridge.
Angela has exhibited in many galleries all over New Zealand, the majority of work is now stocked and displayed at Gallery De Novo. Her work has had global appeal with sales throughout The United Kingdom, Australia and the USA.
“My latest project has been to produce a series of works depicting Otago’s Northwest uplands, focusing on Rocklands Station. These works were exhibited in the old Berwick church, now located at the Outram Historical Society Park, at the launch of a book about Rocklands Station, co-written by my husband Ivan in December 2022. This year I want to focus on large canvases again, return to the sea, and explore   more of Otago’s dramatic coastlines.”
The paintings below are based on travels throughout Otago.