About Deborah Duffield
Painting is not easy, sometimes war rages and sometimes it’s pure poetry but the excitement lies in the creation of something that did not exist in this world.
Born in Wales Deborah Duffield is a painter who lives between New Zealand and Wales traveling enroute. She achieved a distinction in oil painting, Broadway Atelier, Cardiff (2021), first class honours in media arts, Wintec, NZ 2010). She cofounded Draw Inc. (now Hamilton Arts Trust NZ), the hub of the thriving Hamilton arts scene and has work in the Waikato Museum collection and private collections in NZ and the UK.
Her travels fuel her fascination with people, cultural nuances and nature, an appreciation of life’s stories, be they animal, vegetable, mineral, all jostling for space in this world.
Philosophical ideas that inform her life and artistic process, derive from Heidegger’s ‘Handlability’; understanding being unearthed with the manipulation of materials, tools, and ideas to create and gain access to the world in an original way and Deleuze’s ‘rhizome’ as a metaphor for multiple and infinite potential routes, connections and shifting planes, seeking resemblance beyond representation.
Like a beach comber she gathers her ideas and returns to her studio where she explores the materiality of oil paint with its infinite potential, seeking connections between thoughts, tools, and paint, creating works that shift between abstraction and representation, offering an indirect resemblance to the world.
Biography
Relevant Education
2021: Distinction, Atelier Diploma in Oil Painting, Broadway Atelier, UK
2010: First Class Honours, Bachelor of Media Arts, Wintec, NZ
Awards/Prizes
March 2025, Made the longlist again for Jacksons International Art Prize 2025
June 2024: Pam X Made in Roath Exhibition at G39 Cardiff. Achieved first prize judges choice.
November 2023: Open Studio Exhibition, Fox Lane Studios, Cardiff
March 2024: Made the long list for the Jacksons international Art Prize, in the top 3% with 2 paintings
Waikato Museum of Art and History purchased a painting, currently in the Museum Collection.
Mark One Comics Award, Outstanding Performance in Visual Narrative.
Waikato Museum of Art and History, Artspost Award for Outstanding Academic Record.
Solo exhibitions
April 2023: สถาบันสอนศิลปะสิรินธร Sirindhorn Art Teaching Institute, Chanthaburi
December 2021: End of year show, The Broadway Drawing School, Cardiff
Homage, Draw Inc Gallery, Hamilton
Ce qu’on dans les rues, Gallery 128, Hamilton
Mélange, Artspost and La Mezz Gallery, Hamilton
Recollections, Gallery 8, Te Awamutu
Searching for lambs, Aquavelvet, Raglan.
Group exhibitions
November 2024: Winter Show MADE, Cardiff,
June 2024: Pam X Made in Roath Exhibition, G39 Cardiff.
November 2023: Open Studios Exhibition, Fox Lane Studios, Cardiff.
Crème Collective, The Bank, Hamilton
‘Human Posts, La Mezz Gallery, Hamilton
Dolly Mix, Mixed Media Gallery, Hamilton
Ribcage, Platform 01, Hamilton
Shall I compare thee to a summers day, Chartwell Gallery, Hamilton