Josie is a qualified Horticulturist and Fellow of The Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture, a painter, sculptor and ceramicist .
Josie’s work is firmly optimistic and ultimately, derived from the observation of the world around her. Known as a painter for many years, starting out traditionally and evolving into lively, colourful abstract paintings, her work took a turn into sculpture in 1993 adding a new dimension to her work. Josie has been experimenting and working on her visual ideas with open minded seriousness, exploring paint, colour, form and materials intuitively, continually expressing a ‘joie de vivre’ with that hint of mischief which provokes change.
Ever adventurous Josie is mindful of the larger world and other ways of seeing. Josie’s elegant abstract sculptures are seriously playful and a celebration of life. They are surreal, biomorphic entities, whimsical and flamboyant, organic and eccentric. Constantly changing metomorphosing forms confronting or circumscribing void spaces refer to her interest in horticulture reflecting the zany balance of nature.
Her work seems to pulse with a continually evolving sense of growth and development, with unpredictability and surprise in the final results. Josie’s sculptures are in private collections and displayed in her Akaroa terraced garden, along with her large sculpturural mosaic installations. She is currently working on a large light up sculptural mosaic and other mosaic installations.
She is a regular exhibitor with numerous solo and group exhibitions in NZ and overseas. Josie is the recipient of a number of awards and scholarships and has also undertaken art residencies in Assisi, Italy; the International School of Art in Todi, Italy, the Vermount Studio Center in USA and at the MacDowell Art Colony, New Hampsire USA, and South of France.
Josie has done over 20 art residencies in the USA, Italy, France,Spain, China, India,Turkey, Mexico.
Josie’s home “The Giant’s House”, a grand historic home built in 1881. The Giant’s House is a very special, unique and spiritual environment, situated in the historic French township of Akaroa, east of Christchurch.
Her artists garden is open to the public. Josie has a Diploma in Horticulture. Her garden featured on “Maggies Garden Show”, Australian TV, the “NZ Gardener” the NZ House and Garden and in “Next” Magazine.
