Artnexus is a collective of visual artists using the web to extend their territory beyond their home base, to showcase their work and to interact with the wider world.
Most members live and work in the Waikato province of New Zealand; some have a long history there, others have arrived from far distant places. Their life stories, ongoing travel and current concerns are reflected in the wide diversity of vibrant and thoughtful work from the group. The artists exhibit physically as well as on-line, and have enjoyed good sales worldwide during their ten years as a collective.
Artnexus artists welcome you to their website.

To view an artist's works, click on the artist's name or photo.

Vicki Carruthers

Painting and sculpture challenge me to think beyond what I can see and to find and express the essence of a subject. In my paintings I want to capture this through line and colour, without full detail, and my work has become more abstract in recent years.

In any subject I look for the underlying movement and strength before applying the surface qualities, but I particularly like painting landscapes. My sculptures are also abstract, and in them I also seek to express form and movement. Much of my inspiration comes from the west coast Raglan landscape; each time I visit I see or experience something in the hills or sea that I didn't see the time before and the challenge is to express this.

Robyn Douglas

As a youngster I developed what some considered was an early aptitude for art. I painted in watercolour for many years using as my subjects flowers, landscapes and still life. However 25yrs ago I switched to oils, tackled portraits and life drawing, and proceeded to explore the exciting world of contemporary art. Later I began using mixed media and acrylics, and started sculpting in Oamaru stone, Hinurera stone and marble. Since moving to North Otago I have acquired a kiln and am very excited by the process of fusing glass Retirement has given me more time to experiment, and to pursue these fascinating and addictive challenges.
More of my work can be seen at www.robyndouglasart.co.nz

Chris Kannegieter-Groves

Energetic life drawings and landscape sketches are an important part of my work, yet there is little local reference in my finished paintings. Apart from an occasional lapse into the figurative, the main body of my work is contemplative and increasingly abstract.
My paintings express an ordered interpretation of reality, a delayed response to experience - memories filtered, emotions reflected. What is essential to me is structure, contrast, balance, proportion and subtle colour manipulation.
For some time the circle has been a recurring motif. I wonder whether, after many years, this is still an immigrant's attempt to unite the northern and southern hemispheres!

Marion Bailey

Form and colour are my passion. My work has structure and a strong design element. Abstraction comes from a representational base, either landscape or the human figure. Solid flesh forms frequently give inspiration. I enjoy sculpting in paint, striving for the illusion of the third dimension.

The original idea is the basis only for the painting. It evolves and becomes a play of rhythms, shapes and colours, positive and negative spaces. The titles come during the painting process.

Having worked for many years in various aspects of graphic art, underlying design forms are subconsciously threaded through my work. Cubism is an ongoing influence. Oils are my preferred medium - I enjoy their textural quality and clarity.

Nancy Caiger

I was born in Singapore, lived in England for 12 years and in 1993, moved to Hamilton, New Zealand.

I started painting in 1994 using water-colours, oils and acrylics. Since 2003, I have increasing used collage as a medium to express my ideas, enjoying in particular the challenge of creating something new from found objects. The element of serendipity in collages adds another dimension to the finished piece - a chanced discovery of an intriguing found object leads to an idea which then necessitates the hunt for other materials to complete the works is what makes collages so exciting to create.

I exhibit regularly, both in group shows - locally and abroad- as well as in solo exhibitions in NZ.
My works can be found in public collections in France, Mexico, USA and Australia and in private collections in New Zealand, England, America, Canada, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong.

More of my artwork can be seen on www.caiger.co.nz

Ruth Manning

I am interested in the Northern European myths and legends of my forebears, and their journeys, across vast oceans, to these shores which we call home.
I see the universal myth in the world all around me.
Most of my painting has been from sketches made in the field, combining these with figure studies.
Being also interested in Genealogy and family research, I am interested in the areas my forebears lived in, and the tools and machines that were available at the time they lived.

Tanya Hollatz

Tanya lives in Hamilton and works from her studio where she produces paintings and ceramic sculptures. She has a background in photography and this has strongly influenced her paintings. Her paintings are a reflection of her love for landscape and the effects that light plays on the land, sea and sky.

"Like so many of my paintings my ideas are drawn from a desire to be close to nature. While expressing my thoughts and feelings through landscape and natural imagery I am able to explore metaphor and symbolism."

Tanya is currently completing her Diploma in Ceramic Art through Otago Polytechnic. Study is not new to her though. Growing up in Christchurch she developed a passion for art and education. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree, majoring in sculpture from Ilam Fine Arts School in Canterbury, is a graduate from Christchurch College of Education, has a Diploma in Teaching NZ and an Advanced Diploma in Photography from Massey University. Tanya has taught art at Waimea College in Nelson and Artmakers Trust in Hamilton. She currently works part time as a pottery tutor at the Waikato University and is an active member of the Waikato Society of Potters.

" I enjoy exploring every art medium and working my ideas into each form, my approach to making art has become quite holistic, where there are no boundaries."

Paul Hardy

I have been painting for approximately six years following my introduction to painting through the Hillcrest High School evening classes.

New Zealand's coastal, dry-land and riverine landscapes impress me particularly. While this is reflected in my work I also enjoy painting a variety of other subjects.

Painting, in preference to photography, allows me the flexibility to emphasise and interpret aspects of a subject, and to be creative using the simplest tools.

Pressure on my time has tended to make me an impatient artist and I appreciate the spontaneity I can achieve by use of fast-drying acrylic paint, liberally applied by knife usually at one sitting. At other times the rich lustre of oils attracts and, for me, promotes a considered study of a subject, painted over several sessions.

Artists who impress me include Doris Lusk, Sir Tosswill Woollaston, Frank Auerbach and Giorgio de Chirico.

My aim is to develop a more expressive style, lying somewhere between abstraction and realism.

Robyn McBride

I began painting when my three children were young, pursued other creative outlets during a career as a primary school teacher, and have been painting again for about ten years alongside my teaching advisory job with first and second year teachers. Initially I used oils, had a brief 'fling' with watercolours, have returned once more to the vibrancy and lustre of oil colour and am now experimenting with acrylics once again. My paintings express my thoughts and feelings about things around me - at home, in the garden, and our wonderful New Zealand landscape, particularly the Waikato area where I live.


While my work is largely realistic in style, I enjoy combining elements in unusual ways. I am intrigued by surrealism, particularly the Belgian artist Magritte, with his use of words together with images. I have always admired Aboriginal art, and have used some of the techniques in recent paintings. My wonderfully supportive husband and inspiring 'art' friends encourage me to challenge my boundaries!


I have had works displayed in 'Frankton Junction Cafe', Sandz Gallery (Hamilton), 'Carpe Diem' Gallery in Wellington, 'Artspost' Gallery in Hamilton, 'The Pumphouse' in Auckland and at Vision Forest Lake. In 2008 year I was a finalist in the McCaw Lewis Chapman Waikato Regional Art Competition.

Pam Watson

My paintings are usually a personal response to the Waikato landscape. Certain places haunt me until I paint them. The weather, time of day, cultural objects, images from well known paintings – all become symbols and signs that add layers of meaning. Obsessive layering of paint or dry marks and washes reflect the growing intensity of feeing that comes as I work. I have recently been drawn to interior spaces in the same way.


As a child I was fascinated by paintings. My aunt was a professional painter and my grandfather an ardent amateur. Their transformation into paint of scenes I lived amongst was at once mystery and magic. I was 30 when I first lifted a paint brush in earnest - and was hooked for life. I have been a teacher of painting in Hamilton and the Waikato for 25 years and have attempted to pass on my passion for painting to my students.

I agree with Henry James: “It is art that makes life…. I know of no substitute for the force and beauty of its process”

Loreen Anscombe

I have been interested in Art all my life but family and business commitments have prevented me from pursuing this on a full time basis.In retirement I have found great pleasure and satisfaction in extending my skills as a painter. I have experimented with watercolour and acrylic, which has encouraged me to extend myself.

Jean Horn

Art as a vehicle of commuication has an importance in all cultures, down the ages as well as in the modern world.
Throughout, it has been nurtured in group dynamics which encourage exchange of both practical and philosophical ideas that become the commentary.
I enjoy the practical exchanges as well the journey with fellow artists - a continuum of change, challenge and companionship.

Pauline Tapping

My paintings pay testimony to my love of and response to warm colours. The subjects I favour are those that display an exuberant sense of energy and movement and which have great contrasts of light and depth.

Yvonne Anscombe

Constant diversity in my painting practice allows for construction and formation to reflect my everchanging creative influences and environments

Catherine Smith

I feel a close connection to the natural world and its many dimensions. As an artist I want to represent aspects of Nature’s movement, chemistry, colour and form through expressionism and abstraction.

Life experiences, tramping and travel lead to an accumulation of images. I am fascinated by the mysterious process whereby we observe, absorb, feel and then work up a painting.

My work reflects a personal response to stored images, advocacy for the environment, and a wish to share what I feel with others.

Joy Yeates-Ross

Art is a way to communicate my feelings, experiences and ideas; for me it is a long journey I hope will never end.

Lyn Dyson

Over the last decade my focus has switched from painting to quiltmaking which I aproach as an artist. Selecting fabrics for a quilt gives me the same buzz that a painter gets from the smell of oil-paints. Finding fabric motifs that trigger memories of art eras, design forms or artists inspires most of my quilts.
Quiltmaking provides an opportunity to create a finished article that is unique. I have an extensive collection of found fabrics to use in this process.
I was born in the Waikato where, in my early teens, I had lessons in oil-painting from my Aunt (Violet Watson), an accomplished Waikato artist. I later lived in Vienna for 28 years, where I completed a 2 year art diploma and visited most of the major museums and galleries in Europe. I returned to NZ in 1996 to settle on the Hibiscus Coast.