Pete Morris - Art Blogger
	Pete is an occasional painter and an art lover. He is a freelance writer with a particular interest in promoting the visual arts in Tauranga.

Meredith Collins is an award winning New Zealand artist who will exhibit at Tauranga's Fisher Brown Gallery in July. Meredith also exhibits in leading NZ galleries and exhibited in New York last year.

Her paintings and drawings explore questions of heritage and identity. Sometimes floral designs and ta moko delicately adorn the faces and bodies of her subjects giving them a subtle tension while revealing the artist's Paheka Maori heritage.

Meredith describes her work as, ''figurative oil painting based on narrative''. She explores intimate, sometimes painful issues on canvas quietly leading the viewer to contemplate and reflect on the image before them. The pale tones, the reserved but engaging expressions in her unconventional portraits of mythological women and children create a serene and introspective mood.

Meredith studied at Waikato Polytechnic, has worked as an exhibitions designer at Waikato Museum, Te Awamutu Museum and the Robert McDougal Gallery in Christchurch.
Her work is included in the Wallace Collecton and the Waikato Trust Collection.
Meredith won the National Painting and Printmaking Award in 2008 and has been a finalist in the NZ Contempory Art Award, Wallace Art Award, Molly Morpeth Canaday Art Award, the Adam Portraiture Award and Australia's Agendo Art Award.

Meredith Collins will exhibit in the group exhibition 'Face and Body' at Tauranga's Fisher Brown Gallery on 9th Avenue, from July 8. For more information and a list of the artists visit www.fisherbrowngallery.com