“My desire as an artist is to enrich lives. I engage with the intangible; time, emotions, human experience and for me making art provides a vehicle for expressing such things."Anna Leary

Anna creates artwork that explores the dynamics of people and place referencing her Pacific location, iconic sites and human nature. She is interested in time and transition as a fundamental part of temporal existence and aims to capture the spirit of time and place.

Often moving beyond traditional perceptions of painting, she utilises found and shaped materials with combinations of oil, acrylic and mixed media. 





She has become synonymous with her Pacific pod works, painted over sequences of time that she arranges in formations. The artworks examine the transition in atmospheric light and colour over the nominated time frame, creating a direct visual reference to the artist's experience and observation of the passing hours, days or seasons.

As a whole this series of work takes on a striking form suggestive of the geometry of nature and its Pacific location. Drawn from the symbology of a seed, each pod represents potential, the quatre formation being the inherent beauty in that being realised.

"Anna Leary uses the artist's palette to chart the unceasing passage of time...In this respect, Leary is an archivist of time, recording in colour the complex interplay of light on land and sea..." Anna-Marie White. Curator. The Suter Te Aratoi o Whakatu

"Leary paints the landscape of mind and spirit...this is elegant work."
Gail Tressider - Art Reviewer

My time at the moment is consumed with getting some collaborative creative projects off the ground and commissions.

Toss Woollaston Visual Arts Scholarship 2000

Introductions: Atkins Gallery: Nelson 2017

Close Commission: Nelson, December 2016

Mirfin Commission: Christchurch, September 2016

Close Commission: Nelson, August 2015

Bremner Commission: Christchurch, July 2013

Leary Foster Blackmore, Red Gallery, Nelson, NZ, April 2013

Nelson Art Expo: Nelson, NZ, July 2012

Miccio Commission: Sydney, July 2012

Reflections Gallery, Nelson, NZ, March 2011

Salon: Reflections Gallery Nelson, NZ, March 2010

Watch This Space: Reflections Gallery, Nelson, NZ, December 2009

Belanger Commission: San Francisco, June 2009

Slattery Commission: Nelson, NZ, April 2009

Ferguson Commission: Light & life, Nelson, NZ, March 2009

Patterson-Green Commission: Time & tide, Paraparaumu Beach, NZ, February 2009

Perrot/Reed Commission: Circular reference, Auckland, NZ, January 2009

Cowe/Bryant Commission: Oneone, Sydney, Australia, December 2008

Anna Leary: Rutherford, Nelson, NZ, December 2008

Stewart Commission: Four infinity, Nelson, NZ, November 2008

Walliser Commission: Tauranga, Marlborough, NZ, October 2008

Inch Commission: Aspects of being, Motueka, NZ, July 2008

Flanagan Commission: Anchor me, United States, June 2008

Leary Madden Clarke Holmewood: Leftbank Gallery, West Coast, NZ, March 2008

Texted: Catchment Gallery, Nelson, NZ, March 2008

Bronte Lodge Commission: Te Koi, Waimea, NZ, December 2007

Re:fine: The Suter Te Aratoi o Whakatu, Nelson,NZ, December 2007

Patterson-Green Commission: Two tides, Paraparaumu Beach, NZ, October 2007

Culturally Routed: Refinery Gallery, Nelson, NZ, October 2007

Bown/Hyde Commission: Not quite centre, Nelson, NZ, September 2007

Collier/Sendall Commission: Thirty days hath September, Nelson, NZ, June 2007

Blackmore, Foster, Leary: Catchment Gallery, Nelson, NZ, March 2007

Reasons for Being: The Suter Te Aratoi o Whakatu, Nelson, NZ, January 2007

Leary | Crawford: Reflections Gallery, Nelson, NZ, November 2006

From Nelson: Statements Gallery, Napier, NZ, November 2006

Anna Leary at Woollaston Estates Gallery: Nelson, NZ, October 2006

Fine - Contemporary Nelson: Shed 11, Wellington, NZ, September 2006

Campbell Island Teal Exhibition: New Zealand House, London, United Kingdom, August 2006

Foster. Blackmore. Leary: Catchment Gallery, Nelson, NZ, June 2006

Vibert Commission: Rise 1, 2 & 3, Nelson, NZ, May 2006

Devine Commission: Like a river to the sea, Nelson, NZ, April 2006

Reflections Gallery: Nelson, NZ, December 2005

Best of...: Catchment Gallery, Nelson, NZ, November 2005

Nelson Rediscovered: Catchment Gallery, Nelson, NZ, October 2005

Fine - Contemporary Nelson: Shed 11 Wellington, NZ, September 2005

Te Moananui a Kiwa - The Pacific Ocean: Catchment Gallery, Nelson, NZ, November 2004

Seven: Reflections Gallery, Nelson, NZ, August 2004

Making Waves: The Suter Te Aratoi o Whakatu, Nelson, NZ, June 2004

Woman's Work: Montana Winery, Gisborne, NZ, June 2004

Meridian Energy Plunket Art Show: Aigantighe Art Gallery, Timaru, NZ, May 2004

Tauranga: The Bay House Gallery, Cape Foulwind, NZ, April 2004

Interface: Reflections Gallery, Nelson, NZ, September 2003

Intangible: Gallery 33, Wanaka, NZ, April 2003

Emerge: The Suter te Aratoi o Whakatu, Nelson, NZ, November 2002

2/3 p: Fish Bowl Gallery, Nelson, NZ, 2002

½ a°: Fish Bowl Gallery, Nelson, NZ, 2001

Walk/Work Performance: Fish Bowl Gallery, Nelson, NZ, 2001

Separate Realities: Fish Bowl Gallery, Nelson, NZ, 2001

Drawcard: Fish Bowl Gallery, Nelson, NZ, 2001

Quotation: Fish Bowl Gallery, Nelson, NZ, 2000

Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology, New Zealand, 2009

Villa Maria College, Christchurch, New Zealand, 2009

Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology, New Zealand, 2001

Bachelor of Visual Arts 2002

Bachelor of Commerce & Management 1995

Nelson Regional Guidebook: Art In It’s Own Place

New Zealand Food Wine & Art

All material on this website is copyright to Anna Leary. The use of any copy/image/artwork must be agreed by the artist in writing prior to use.