Shane Foley New Zealand, b. 1955

Shane Foley has worked as a full-time artist in her Auckland based studio since 2018.  During her final year of school in Auckland (1972) Foley won a place on a national sponsored workshop at Victoria University, Wellington.  This experience was pivotal for Foley as an emerging painter – working under the tutelage of Colin McCahon.  

By the end of 1976, she had completed a four-year Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree, majoring in painting.  Don Binney, Robert Ellis and Garth Tapper were among her tutors during these years.

“The notion of identity, through and within the landscape, continues to shape my practice – and has more recently, been informed by my research in family history and my ancestors’ arrival in New Zealand from Northwestern Europe. In my current work, I have chosen to work in oils on ply panels, gessoed with an applied ground. The rigid surface gives me a platform for the application of fine detail.  My palette is deliberately minimal, as I attempt to interpret and reimagine the original colourations of these selected Auckland landscapes from many years ago.”

Shane Foley 2025