Hamish Foote

Born in 1964 in Auckland, Hamish Foote is Senior Academic at the School of Landscape Architecture at Unitec, Auckland. In 2004 he completed his Doctorate of Fine Arts at Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland.

Utilising different mediums over his career from lithographic printing to painting in watercolours, oils and egg tempera; Foote works in the finest detail. Every medium is mastered to further his exploration of the landscape that surrounds us, as well as the beings occupying it. With subjects ranging from living beings to skeletal remains, Foote draws on the rich history of zoological illustration, depicting a variety of species with meticulous natural realism.

Indeed, Foote’s central concern is the exploration of exotic and native plants, birds and insects. Each series of works has progressed from the plant to the landscape to the birds and insects that occupy the land. This progression has happened virtually subconsciously for Foote and highlights his strong interest in the natural world.

Although his choices of medium are traditional, Foote’s treatment of subjects and compositions locate his works strongly within contemporary art practice. Foote highlights not only the lasting impacts of colonization on land, but the constant changes that occur due to human interference.

Foote has also created iconological works in which he has painted insects such as cicadas, wasps and shield-backed beetles. In raising common, everyday subjects to objects of reverence Foote hopes to “authenticate, draw attention to, endorse and glorify his subject matter”.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS AT ARTIS

2008 – The Faces of Nature, ARTIS Gallery, Auckland
2006 – The Feathered Drawer, ARTIS Gallery
2002 – Biota, ARTIS Gallery
2001 – Lyric, ARTIS Gallery
1997 – Halcyon Days – New Watercolours, ARTIS Gallery
1996 – Exotic Native, Lithographs & Paintings, ARTIS Gallery
1994 – Free Flowering, ARTIS Gallery

ACADEMIC HISTORY

2004 – Doctor of Fine Arts, Elam School of Fine Arts
1995 – Master of Fine Arts (First Class Honours), Elam School of Fine Arts
1994 – Bachelor of Fine Arts (Printmaking), Elam School of Fine Art

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2008 – The Faces of Nature, ARTIS Gallery, Auckland
2006 – The Feathered Drawer, ARTIS Gallery
2005 – George Fraser Gallery, Auckland
2004 – Exotica Indigenis Immixta, Lopdell House Gallery, Auckland
2002 – Biota, ARTIS Gallery
2001 – Lyric, ARTIS Gallery
1997 – Halcyon Days – New Watercolours, ARTIS Gallery
1996 – Exotic Native, Lithographs & Paintings, ARTIS Gallery
1995 – Exotic Native, Lopdell House Gallery
1994 – Free Flowering, ARTIS Gallery
Mural, Ellerslie Flower Show, Manukau
1984 – Bowen Galleries, Wellington

AWARDS

2005 – School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture Lecturer of the year, UNITEC Institute of Technology, Auckland
2001 – Awarded Doctoral Scholarship, University of Auckland