Congratulations to Odelle Morshuis, who is the fouth regional winner in The Stuff Art Aotearoa Gold Award 2025, a nationwide series recognising artistic excellence presented by Art Shows Across Aotearoa with the support of the Academy of Fine Arts. 

‘Anonymous’, Odelle’s winning work

 Central Otago-based artist Odelle Morshuis creates sensitive and layered figurative works that explore the movement of people through spaces. Her hand-drawn approach is well suited for capturing a sense of flux, change and flow of people through shared spaces.

"I enjoy the more poetic qualities of our relationship with our surroundings, I see nature as not separate from us but as part of a complex inter-relationship".

“The landscape is not merely a backdrop but a living presence, shaped by and shaping those who inhabit it. The vulnerable lines of the body and the borders of the land are constantly redrawn, redefined, and eroded by time and perspective. Through a dynamic interplay of viewpoints, I capture the quiet tension between human form, built spaces, and the vast, unknowable terrain they inhabit.”

Odelle utilises mixed media in her paintings, harmonising pencil, pastel, and acrylic paint. Figures are layered on top of one another; or blurred into each other, implying connections and shared histories. The non-specific environments of her canvases enable the viewer to imagine a range of settings, inviting reflection on the many shared spaces we inhabit in our day-to-day lives. To create her works Odelle uses video to gather information on a subject. Back in the studio she projects the video onto her support, she draws and paints simultaneously to create a feeling of time and movement within a frame.

Odelle has a Master of Fine Art from London University, (Wimbledon College) and her work is held in many national and international collections. She works from her studio in Bannockburn, Central Otago. She was awarded the Best Contemporary award at the Queenstown Art awards (2019).

 Congratulations also to John Maillard, winner of the Liquitex award, Chris Chisnall, winner of the Winsor & Newton award, and ‘The Space Cowboy’, winner of the Lawson’s People’s Choice award.