New Zealand - isolated, wild, tropical - serves as both a canvas and muse for our endemicworld artists. From illustrative and colourful renditions to detailed and realistic portrayals. We have selected our favourite pieces by ten of our botanic artists and we invite you explore their collections.
1. Georgie Malyon
Our Pick: Love Lies and Coral
Dreamy movement and light is captured in this truely amazing underwater floral sculpture. Ft. amaranth and mushrooms.
Born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand Floral Artist Georgie Malyon has pursued a career for over 10 years dedicated to working with flowers and art. Her photographic images fuse together two enduring universal motifs within human culture – the dark and the light, the ephemeral beauty of flowers.
2. Emma Huia Lovegrove
Our pick: Parataniwha Art Print
A vibrant watercolour study of the intricate accumulations of lichen, fungi and foliage found on the river banks in the Hakarimata Ranges, Ngāruawāhia.
Emma Lovegrove is a visual artist and illustrator from Auckland, New Zealand. Emma uses her art practice as a way to foster her relationship with the landscapes that she visits and the varied nature they contain. She is drawn to locations that feel wild and untouched, but when you look more closely, vibrant ecosystems thrive and intricate patterns are revealed.
3. Amy Wybrow
Our pick: Palm
Lush, tropical plant life photographed in a naturally lit historic glasshouse.
Amy Wybrow creates photographs inspired by early botanical illustrations and photographic documentation of the natural world. She presents them in a clean, contemporary style. Amy explores the tropical and architectural elements of the glass houses which have been built and tempered to create an artificial and ethereal environment for exotic plant species. Amy studied a Bachelor of Fine Arts, and she is currently the Head of the Arts and teaching photography and design at Villa Maria College in Christchurch.
4. Holly roach
Our pick:Manuka
Lovely bursts of colour and careful layering make this print a charming tribute to the native New Zealand Manuka flower. It can be found in many different habitats and Holly spotted it in her garden.
5. Simon Stockley
Our pick: Hydrangea Valley
Hydrangea Valley is an exaggerated memory created by Simon Stockley from his childhood in the 1960's when houses were romantically stylised and the garden were laden with exotic flowers and plants. Simon does not use AI in his artwork, instead he uses old 3D modelling and rendering applications.
Simon Stockley has been producing art for well over 50 years He attended Elam School of Fine Arts in 1979 where he was lectured by Robert Ellis, Dick Frizzell and Don Binney. Throughout the 80’s Simon became a muralist and a freelance illustrator creating a lot of editorial illustrations for publications like Pacific Way, NZ Business and Metro. His most prominent mural is the Southern Right Whales mural on Dominion Road, Auckland which has become somewhat iconic lasting nearly 40 years. From the early 90’s Simon began using Photoshop to create his illustrations and from the mid 90s moved on to 3D applications. For the last 25 years Simon has focused on computer generated images, using them for dance party posters and source material for paintings. More recently has produced finished works in digital medium for printmaking.
6. Sophia Jenny
Our pick: Phantasmagoria 03 Dahlia
This surrealist series of the artist’s legs married with a series of flowers is fun, cheeky, and strangely compelling to look at. Titled “Phantasmagoria,” this sequence has been devised to be dream-like and convey a sense of being “out-of-this-world.”
Sophia Jenny is a visual and photographic artist based on Auckland’s North Shore. Her academic training was at Unitec, but her work is largely informed by lived experience (and practice). She has recently started creating cyanotypes, a slow-reacting process of photographic printing using sunlight, and is currently accepting commissions. “I love the sun, and I’m fascinated by the unique qualities and possibilities of cyanotype. It’s the perfect medium for combining my skills as a photographer with my passion for fine art.”
7. Grace Wilkinson
Our pick: Flower Field
A dreamy, whimsical depiction of a field blooming with wild flowers.
8. Houston & Harding
Our pick: Waiheke Posy Emerald
Waiheke Posy, Emeraldis a limited edition photographic print of Waiheke Island’s vibrant market gardenranunculus and poppies photographed in springtime.
Both interior and floral obsessed. “Six years ago we began building and photographing floral structures and installations as a hobby to create artworks for our own homes and for friends. Following requests, we began offering them through select interior designer.”
9. Becca O’Shea
Our pick: Bud to Bloom
"Floral Propaganda" is an evocative series that captures the journey of flowers from their initial budding stage to full bloom, celebrating the unassuming beauty of weeds and the triumph of nature.
Becca is a Multidisciplinary Designer & Illustrator from Wellington, based in Auckland, NZ.
Her digital illustration work blurs the lines between design and art. Her work can vary from bold colourful floral patterns, to more hyper realistic portraiture. She has a passion for nature and its importance in our world's future ecosystem. The flowers in particular are often portrayed in a lively fashion, or depicting human-like emotions.
10. Abbey Merson
Our pick: Ruby
In this painting, a figure stands as the central focus, holding a bouquet of vibrant red hydrangeas in front of their face. The flowers, full and luxurious, create a striking contrast against the light blue background.
Painting from her studio in Hastings, New Zealand, Abbey’s art encapsulates her love of florals, landscapes and vibrant colours. Having painted daily for the last five years, Abbey’s studio is best described as an explosion in a paint factory. With blooms plonked in jars, art supplies scattered over tables and shelves stacked with sparkly treasures, as paintings of all stages cover every inch of wall space.
For Abbey, painting is a form of escapism, allowing her to make sense of the world and to re visit memorable moments of her childhood. Although Abbey’s work continues to evolve as she explores the never ending world of colour, her art almost always begins with a foraged flower or a treasure gifted to her by a friend, before intuitively taking on a life of its own.
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How to Build an Art Collection: Your Guide to Curating with Confidence
