10 November - 3 December 2011
Born in Nijmegen, Holland, Gerda Leenards emigrated to New Zealand with her family in the late 1950s. She studied Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury, graduating in 1970. Her first exhibition of paintings opened in Wellington in 1981 and she has regularly exhibited nationally, and occasionally internationally, ever since.
In 1992, Leenards returned to the Netherlands to take up a 6-month residency at Studio Elba in Nijmegen, and to immerse herself in the artistic traditions of her homeland. After returning to New Zealand, her paintings took on a more moody and poetic style, claiming a sombre, romantic beauty with an unmistakeable sense of the Northern European painting tradition.
Leenards’ intention has always been to convey the inherent qualities of landscape accentuated by dramatic weather conditions. Our visions of the natural environment are always tempered by the constantly changing elements; Leenards’ paintings capture fleeting moments in this endless metamorphosis and allow us to look back, compare and contemplate them.